South Korean music label JYP Entertainment has seen a strong quarter on the strength of its veteran players and newcomer acts, along with steady overseas market expansion, a brokerage said Tuesday. “JYP Entertainment has shown a solid third-quarter performance due to the increase in overseas revenue of the major lineup (of artists such as GOT7, Twice) and the rapid growth of the newcomer lineup ...

South Korean political parties across the aisle voiced their stances on the latest pop culture controversy involving a boy band and a certain T-shirt. Japanese broadcaster Asahi on Thursday canceled BTS’ scheduled appearance on its music show “Music Station,” citing a certain T-shirt worn by a member of the band as the reason behind the decision. The T-shirt featured images and phrases linked to...

A heavy fine dust concentration continues to envelop the Korean Peninsula on Sunday, with 5 to 20 millimeters of rain expected in the southern region at night. The average ultrafine dust level stands at 54 micrograms per cubic meter in Seoul, 55 in Siheung city northwest of Seoul, 30 in South Chungcheong Province and 40 in North Gyeongsang Province. While the current ultrafine dust levels aren’...

An animal rights organization in Seoul has teamed up with a boy band to increase awareness of prejudice against dark-furred dogs. Last Wednesday, Stray Kids were named honorary ambassadors for the “Black Dog Campaign” organized by a city-run animal rights nonprofit organization, Coexistence of Animal Rights on Earth, also known as CARE. The campaign kicked off last year to address the tendency ...

South Korean pop culture is spreading in North Korea amid a surge in mobile phone use, according to Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon. “BTS-related content is understood to be circulating among young people in North Korea,” the minister said Monday during a plenary session of the National Assembly’s Special Committee on Budget and Accounts. Cho’s remark came as Rep. Yoon Hu-duk of the ruling...

BTS hit the red carpet at the 2018 MBC Plus x Genie Music Awards, with multiple wins on the horizon. MBC Plus x Genie Music Awards or MGA is a newly launched K-pop music awards co-hosted by South Korea’s major television network MBC and music streaming platform Genie. (Shot and edited by Park Ju-young / The Korea Herald) The boy band won the No.1 spot in seven categories, including boy group o...

Seoul is hosting the 17th international coffee show, “A Cup of the World,” for four days starting Thursday. South Korea is one of the most coffee-infatuated countries in the world. According to the Korea Customs Service, the domestic coffee market was worth 11.7 trillion won ($10.8 billion) as of 2017, which translates to 26.5 billion cups of coffee sold last year alone. In a country populated b...

Lee Jong-suk has returned home to South Korea after being detained in Jakarta, Indonesia, for about two days. Lee visited Jakarta on Nov. 3 as a part of his fan meetup tour, which included visits to Japan in August, and Taiwan and Thailand in September. He was scheduled to board a plane for South Korea the next day, but Lee and his team weren’t granted departure. The actor’s detainment in Jaka...

Sunday will be warmer than average temperatures for this time of the year, with ultrafine dust levels evoking caution. According to the Korea Meteorological Administration, the temperature in Seoul will reach a daytime high of 19 degrees Celsius, Suwon 20 C, Daejeon 18 C, Busan 21 C, Daegu 20 C, Gwangju 20 C, Jeonju 19 C, Gangneung 21 C and Jeju City 20 C. Masks are advised as ultrafine dust le...

BTS is one of the most social media-savvy celebrities around. The band has two Twitter accounts under its name, one managed by the label Big Hit Entertainment (@BTS_BigHit) and another operated by the members themselves (@BTS_twt). The former, followed by 12.8 million users, is more official in tone, primarily used for announcements, press releases and music videos. The latter, with 16.9 million...

Change is taking place on the streets of Seoul for human-cat cohabitation. The Seoul city government’s stray cat policy centers on population control, but there’s more to homeless cats’ lives than reproductive impediment. Where the city government fails to fill in, people who are in touch with their feline neighbors on a daily basis are paving the way for humans and street cats to live together....

A chilly mornings greeted Thursday nationwide, while daytime temperatures will not deviate from the common year average, with the highs and lows differing by about 10 degrees. Morning temperatures in South Korea’s major cities are around 8 degrees Celsius in Seoul, 12 C in Busan, 8 C in Gwangju, 6 C in Daegu, 7 C in Daejeon, 10 C in Gangneung. Seoul will reach a daily high of 21 C, Busan 22 C, ...

A music label with decades of history admitted Thursday to abusing members of one of its boy bands. Media Line Entertainment owned up to the allegations a few hours after local media outlets reported on suspicions of verbal and physical abuse by the label’s CEO and producer of The East Light, a six-member boy band that debuted under the label in November 2016. In the official statement issued i...

South Korea’s culture minister put an end to the debate surrounding whether BTS members would be exempted from military service during a parliamentary audit Wednesday. “All of the BTS members say they will definitely enlist for military service,” said Do Jong-hwan who heads the country’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. His remarks came as Rep. Cho Kyung-tae of the main opposition Liber...

Horror has never been sweeter. The 18th Seoul Dessert Fair, South Korea’s largest dessert festival, will feature a variety of Halloween-themed sweets -- from “blood bags” containing fruit-flavored drinks to Frankenstein candies to zombie cupcakes. To accommodate those with furry friends, the event provides designated pet-friendly zones -- four-legged companions are also welcome to indulge in sc...