K-pop singers have risen to global stardom in recent years, but their popularity has a dark side: Many have become victims of sexual objectification online. The issue came to the fore recently as controversy surrounding artificial intelligence chatbot Lee Luda led to online debate about the sexual harassment of K-pop singers. The chatbot, developed by local startup Scatter Lab in December, came...

“It is sad that we cannot enjoy traveling as we please as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. We hope Koreans and tourists can travel freely in the near future, visiting the 100 Must-Visit Tourism Spots of Korea,” Choi Bo-guen, head of the Culture Ministry’s Tourism Policy Bureau, said. For more information about the 100 Must-Visit Tourism Spots of Korea, check the KTO’s official website at www.vis...

The Korea Tourism Organization has published two books on recent global tourism trends that suggest future developments for the local tourism industry. Like all others around the world, Korea’s tourism industry is facing perhaps the worst crisis in history due to the travel restrictions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a recent survey of 500 tourism businesses by the Korea Cult...

Violinist Kim Dong-hyun will kick off the 2021 Kumho Instrument Bank series with a recital on Feb. 4 at the Kumho Art Hall Yonsei in western Seoul. The Kumho Asiana Cultural Foundation has been running the Kumho Instrument Bank program since 1993, lending musical instruments to young artists through an open audition. The program currently owns 10 instruments, including a piano, cello and eight ...

Though the theater scene is still suffering as a result of the social distancing rules imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic, the month of February may be a turning point as a number of original South Korean musicals are lined up for premieres. According to production company Showplay, the new musical will go onstage next year. It will feature some episodes from the original drama, along with som...

With the COVID-19 pandemic pushing the art industry to shift online, the Seoul Metropolitan Government plans to launch a studio for online streaming in central Seoul to make way for virtual performances. The former Namsan Creative Center, which shut down last year, will be turned into a new studio for production and streaming of virtual art performances. According to the Seoul Metropolitan Gove...

Pianist Cho Seong-jin is set to perform the world premiere of a previously unknown work by Mozart, 248 years after it was composed, in celebration of the great musician’s 265th birthday. Cho will perform Mozart’s Allegro in D major K626b/16 as part of the Digital Mozart Week organized by the Salzburg Mozarteum Foundation on Wednesday, in Austria, according to German classical music record label ...

Universal Ballet, another major ballet troupe here, will present “Don Quixote,” June 4-6 at the Seoul Arts Center. Based on the famous Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes, the ballet work features Spanish folk music and dances, along with classic ballet movements. The ballet troupe will present “Giselle,” a classical ballet masterpiece, Oct. 26 to Nov. 1. Its chamber series, consisting of “Swan...

The 42nd Blue Dragon Film Awards, which were postponed last year due to the spread of COVID-19, will be held on Feb. 9, the awards’ organizers said Tuesday. The awards ceremony, one of the most prestigious film events here, was to have been held on Dec. 11 but it was postponed indefinitely due to the spike in the number of COVID-19 cases in late 2020. “The Man Standing Next” has been nominated ...

The National Theater Company of Korea plans to interact with audiences at home through online screenings of high-quality productions in these COVID-19 pandemic times. Kim Kwang-bo, the new artistic director of the state-run company, said in an online conference Monday that the company‘s online screenings would be systematized, offering performances of a high caliber. Kim took office in November...

At a time when traveling is not an option, global house-sharing platform Airbnb hopes to invite guests to enjoy K-pop backstage through online classes starring hit K-pop bands from Monsta X to The Boyz, along with star dance instructors and makeup artists. Airbnb is hosting “Inside K-Pop” from Jan. 25 to Jan. 30, featuring 14 online experiences that offer insight into how K-pop stars are brought...

Enhance Demand for trips with those closest, such as families, couples and friends, increased. According to the comments made on travel-related posts on social media, users thought of their families, friends and pets. Mentions of package tours decreased in comparison to the year before. The decrease was interpreted to be a reflection of people’s anxiety in traveling with a large number of unspe...

Even as borders closed around the world last year due to the pandemic, that didn’t stop the spread of the Korean Wave, or “hallyu,” from reaching new heights. There were a total of 100 million members in 1,835 Korean Wave-related clubs across the world as of September 2020, marking a 5.45 million increase from the year before, according to the latest report from the Korea Foundation, a public di...

The foundation released the video with seven foreign language subtitles: English, Chinese, Spanish, Arabic, French, Vietnamese and Indonesian, to reach a wider global audience. “Korean content is attracting global interest. I participated in this project, seeing that it would be a good opportunity to promote the beauty of Hangeul as I am supported by international fans. I hope more people can ex...

Big names in K-pop are launching new K-pop bands this year, promising a fresh crop of talented musicians. Shinsadong Tiger was the producer of K-pop sensation EXID and has written hit tracks for several girl bands such as APink, T-ara and Momoland. By Im Eun-byel ( silverstar@heraldcorp.com )