Jimin of boy band phenomenon BTS has become the first Korean singer to have three songs on Spotify to each surpass 50 million streams. Seven months after “Intro: Serendipity” and “Lie” hit 50 million streams on Spotify, Jimin has extended his record and set a new high-water mark for Korean singers with “Serendipity (Full Length Edition).” No other Korean act has achieved two songs with 50 milli...

Racing model Woo Joo-ahn will take legal measures against people spreading false rumors about her on the internet following a recent incident involving her ex-boyfriend, singer-songwriter Kangta. “I will take legal action against those spreading false stories, libelous comments, insulting rumors,” Woo said on Instagram on Sunday. “(The legal action) will cover the three main portals, Instagram ...

A teenager has been unconscious for six days after she inhaled toxic gas at a restroom in a fish market in Busan. According to local police on Saturday, the 18-year-old was found unconscious around 3 a.m. Monday in the bathroom of the fish market near Gwangan Beach in Busan. She was discovered by her friend, who was waiting for her outside the restroom. “She had not come out for 20 minutes,” t...

“The arrogant sun.” This is what Koreans called the source of scorching summer heat during the Joseon era (1392-1910). Summer was always sizzling and humid here. Just how did our ancestors cope with the sweltering heat with no air-conditioning and electric fans? Hints can be found at Namsangol Hanok Village. A cup of cold omija tea is provided before the nap. Made of red omija berries, the tea ...

A YouTuber here is facing heated public criticism and possible punishment over his behavior in live broadcasts. An online petition calling for authorities to punish the streamer gained almost 120,000 signatures in just four days after he was seen apparently abusing his dog in livestreaming video. Infuriated by his actions, animal rights organization Catchdog Team, working with authorities, on T...

South Korea’s presidential office Cheong Wa Dae is now required to reveal its official position on a petition calling for the ban of real-size sex toys. The online petition exceeded 200,000 signatures on Wednesday in less than a month from its filing, becoming eligible for a response. On July 8, the petition titled “Ban imports and sales of RealDolls” was filed on the presidential office’s webs...

A female online broadcast jockey sent the local social media abuzz with chatters about her lucky day. On Monday, she received digital currency worth 120 million won ($101,500) in donation from her fan during a live show. The streamer named Yu Hye-ji is known for her mukbang (eating show) while chatting with viewers on the Korean video-streaming platform Afreeca TV. In a phone interview with The...

The number of South Koreans accessing the darknet, a network of encrypted websites that cannot be accessed through search engines, has tripled in 2 1/2 years. Statistics released by Tor Metrics on Monday showed that the average of 5,156 South Korean users per day accessed the darknet at the end of 2016. The figure had jumped to 15,951 users as of July this year. The number of global darknet user...

South Korea’s top court ruled that sharing torrent files that contain only metadata about pornographic videos and not the video content itself can be taken as the act of distributing such videos, and is thereby subject to punishment. Torrent files contain metadata for files and folders, and users tend to share and download videos and other files through such torrent files found in directories an...

The CEO of TheFasta, the local agency in charge of the exhibition match between Juventus and South Korean league All-Stars team, said her Italian counterpart had apologized to the agency about Cristiano Ronaldo’s benching. During an interview with local media outlet Sports Seoul, Robin Jang, TheFasta’s CEO, said she was able to reach Juventus’ project manager on Saturday and received an apology....

Soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo landed at Incheon Airport on Friday afternoon. He will be leading Juventus in an exhibition match against the K League All-Star team, slated to take place at Seoul World Cup Stadium on Friday at 8 p.m. Hundreds of soccer fans waited at the airport to welcome the 34-year-old Portuguese player, who last visited Seoul in July 2007 for an exhibition match with Man...

The parents of a child YouTuber, who had garnered enough money to buy a 9.5 billion won ($8.06 million) building, are receiving criticism from the public related to child abuse concerns raised in the past. South Korea’s most popular YouTuber Boram received huge attention from the public after the Maeil Business Newspaper reported Tuesday that Boram Company -- the family company operating two You...

The South Korean government has begun to use artificial intelligence technology in its fight against illegal sex videos. The state agencies said Monday that they have started applying the AI technology to search and delete illicit sex videos shared on the internet. The technology has been adopted by the Gender Equality Ministry’s center for supporting victims of cybersex crimes. The center expe...

The family company of a 6-year-old South Korean YouTube celebrity has garnered enough money to purchase a building in one of the richest areas of Seoul. According to a report from Maeil Business Newspaper on Tuesday, Boram Family -- the company that operates two YouTube channels featuring 6-year-old girl Boram -- bought a five-story building worth 9.5 billion won ($8.06 million) in Cheongdam-don...

More South Koreans are utilizing social media for sources of entertainment contents than as a means of communications with friends, according to a report released by DMC Media on Monday. According to the survey conducted on 1,000 people here aged between 20 and 60 over the last month, “viewing casually entertaining contents,” selected by 64 percent of the respondents, was the most popular reason...