Lee Jong: Last News

Korea’s Busan International Film Festival has announced the ten films in this year’s New Currents competition line-up, along with ten films selected for its Jiseok Section. Both competition sections feature titles from Bangladesh’s vibrant young industry as well as from Japan. 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Escape,” a Korean-made action drama that has been on release for most of the month, took the lead at the South Korean box office over the latest weekend. The film recounts the story of a North Korean soldier who dreams of defecting and the South Korean officer who pursues him. It is directed by Lee Jong-pil, who previously made surprise 2020 hit “Samjin Company English Class.” It stars Lee Je-hoon and Koo Kyo-hwan in the lead roles. “Escape” earned $2.61 million between Friday and Sunday, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic).

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Disney’s “Inside Out 2” held very strongly in its fourth weekend of release in South Korea to reach a cumulative score of $48 million. It earned $6.30 million between Friday and Sunday, earned from 906,000 ticket sales, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic). That represented a week-on-week decrease of just 11%.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Iqbal H. Choudhury’s “The Wrestler” and Mori Tatsutya’s “September 1923” were announced joint winners of the New Currents competition at the Busan International Film Festival. “The Wrester” “was like a single round match, magically depicting an exciting narrative,” the jury said.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The main competition section of the Busan International Film Festival is set to showcase two new features from Bangladeshi directors, the feature debut of Japanese documentary maker Mori Tatsuya and ruminations on Hong Kong by mainland Chinese director Choi Ji. The festival on Wednesday unveiled its New Currents competition section, reserved for films by directors making their first or second works of fiction, as well as its Jiseok section, a showcase for somewhat more established Asian auteurs. In addition to the Bangladesh duo, New Currents includes two films from Japan, two from Korea and one each from China, Thailand, Malaysia and India. From Bangladesh, Iqbal H. Chowdhury’s “The Wrestler” sees an old fisherman challenge a wrestling champion to combat, and in “The Stranger” Biplob Sarkar tells a coming-of-age, gender-identity tale. From Japan, Mori recounts the events of the Great Kanto earthquake in “September 1923,” while Yamamoto Akira delves into profound and shocking love in “After the Fever.” New Currents’ Korean contributions come from Lee Jong-su, whose “Heritage” tracks a man who opts out of military service and his supervisor, and Sohn Hyun-lok, whose “That Summer’s Lie” blurs truth and fiction in memories of a past romance. India’s Rajesh S.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Physical 100,” the first unscripted Korean show to top Netflix’s non-English global charts, is being given a second season. The show falls between a talent contest and a survival competition with 100 contestants, including Olympians, professional fighters, bodybuilders and former soldiers, through a series of quests to challenge their strength, endurance, agility, balance and willpower, and to develop the perfect physique. Controversially it mixed men and women and amateurs and professionals. The show incorporated a plaster cast of each contestant’s torso. This was destroyed with a sledgehammer when they were eliminated.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief CJ ENM is putting an emphasis on TV content over feature film at the upcoming FilMart rights market in Hong Kong. The South Korean behemoth, which operates multiple studios and the TVing streaming platform, is touting at least six shows and formats. Sebastian Kim, the group’s director of international content sales and acquisition, will also be taking part in a Monday morning seminar “Spotlight Conversation: The Asian Wave in 2023 and Beyond” at FilMart. His lineup is headed by “The Heavenly Idol,” a fantasy, romance series which sees a priest from a different era transported to the present day as a pop idol. His training makes him a hopeless celebrity, but he has to learn to adapt. Starring Kim Min-gue and Go Bo-gyeol, the 12-part series began airing mind-February on tvN.

South Korea’s military appears to want to conscript members of the K-pop supergroup BTS for mandatory military duties, as the public remains sharply divided over whether they should be given exemptions.

The door for members of BTS to put their music careers on pause to serve in South Korea’s mandatory military draft is still very much open. In comments flagged by the Associated Press, Lee Ki Sik, commissioner of the Military Manpower Administration, said on Friday that it would be “desirable” for BTS members to take part in the draft in order to preserve the appearance of fairness. The government of South Korea appears close to deciding on whether or not the members of one of the biggest pop groups in the world will be forced to serve in the military.

whether they should be given exemptions.Lee Ki Sik, commissioner of the Military Manpower Administration, told lawmakers on Friday that it’s “desirable” for BTS members to fulfill their military duties to ensure fairness in the country’s military service.Earlier this week, Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup made almost identical comments about BTS at a parliamentary committee meeting, and Culture Minister Park Bo Gyoon said his ministry would soon finalize its position on the issue.Whether the band’s seven members must serve in the army is one of the hottest issues in South Korea because its oldest member, Jin, faces possible enlistment early next year after turning 30 in December.Under South Korean law, all able-bodied men are required to perform 18-21 months of military service. But the law provides special exemptions for athletes, classical and traditional musicians, and ballet and other dancers who have won top prizes in certain competitions that enhance national prestige.Without a revision of the law, the government can take steps to grant special exemptions.

BTS’ potential military exemption.South Korea’s Ministry of National Defence has followed-up on minister Lee Jong-sup’s previous comments regarding a potential public poll on BTS’ military exemption, announcing that it will not be going forward with the poll.During an August 31 parliamentary hearing, defence minister Lee Jong-sup told lawmakers of plans to implement a national survey to gauge public opinions on exempting the boyband from mandatory military service. The ministry later clarified that officials were only examining the need of such a survey at the time.As of September 1 however, it confirmed that it will not be conducting a poll on BTS’ enlistment.“The Ministry of National Defence will not arrange a public poll on the matter, nor making decisions on the issue of BTS’ military service solely based on the result of the poll,” it shared through an official statement, as reported by SBS News.All able-bodied male citizens of South Korea are to enlist in the military by the age of 28, serving at least 18 months of mandatory service under the current law.

Big Mouth has come under fire for dialogue that allegedly perpetuates racial insensitivity.In the second episode of Big Mouth, which first aired on July 30, the series’ main character Park Chang-ho (played by Lee Jong-suk) provokes a fellow inmate on death row, asking if his mother had seaweed soup after giving birth to him.In South Korea, it is custom for Korean mothers to have seaweed soup after giving birth. However, Chang-ho continued to rile the inmate up by asking what his mother had eaten after his birth for him to grow into a psychopath.“Did your mother eat seaweed soup after giving birth to you? I am really curious as to what she ate to have given birth to a psycho like you.

BTS exemptions from mandatory military service.Debates over the necessity of BTS’ fulfilment of local military conscription requirements have long been a point of public contention, which have recently intensified as the boyband’s oldest member, Jin, is due to turn 30 this December. The law calls for all male Korean citizens – no older than age 30 – to enlist in the military for mandatory service.On August 31, The Korea Times reported that South Korea’s defence minister Lee Jong-sup told lawmakers that he has ordered officials to implement a survey to gauge the public’s opinions on BTS’ enlistment.

Officials in South Korea announced they are considering conducting a public survey to discern whether members of the K-pop band BTS should be exempt from the mandatory military service required of all men in the country. The oldest band member, Jin, will soon be forced to enlist, after he turns 30 in December, leading South Korean officials wondering how to move forward.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefK-pop sensation BTS may be allowed to practise and perform overseas even if they enter South Korea’s mandatory military service, the country’s defense minister said on Monday.All able-bodied men in Korea are required to enlist for service before age 30 unless they are given an exemption. The oldest BTS member Jin would normally be expected to enlist later this year.Korea has previously offered exemptions to athletes and artists in other fields who have created national prestige.

Big Mouth, starring Girls’ Generation’s YoonA and Lee Jong-suk.The newly released visual starts off on a lighthearted note, with scenes from Park Chang-ho (While You Were Sleeping’s Lee Jong-suk) and Go Mi-ho’s (Girls’ Generation’s YoonA) earlier days as newly weds. Things quickly turn awry after Chang-ho is publicly and wrongly accused for a murder, with Mi-ho declaring to the press, “I sincerely hope you reveal who on earth would do such a thing.”Chang-ho tries to juggle both clearing his own name and ensuring the safety of his wife in snippets shown through the teaser as he gets himself into physical altercations, telling his aggressors: “Don’t touch my wife.

Seungri, who was once part of the boyband Big Bang, will serve the entirety of his 18-month jail sentence after a South Korean court upheld the sentence.Today (May 26), the South Korean Supreme Court rejected the 32-year-old singer’s appeal for a lighter sentence, over nine separate charges he received over his involvement in the Burning Sun scandal, according to SBS Star.The singer was originally sentenced to three years behind bars in August 2021, after a lower court found him guilty of all nine charges, which ranged from misappropriating funds to procuring prostitution for investors. At the time, he had also been ordered to pay ₩1.15billion (roughly £700,000) in restitution.However, Seungri’s sentence was halved earlier this year in January when the High Military Court of the Ministry Of Defense in Seoul held the final appeal trial.