‘SNL Korea’ Revived as Original Series at Streamer Coupang Play (EXCLUSIVE)

It already saw off Donald Trump, now K-pop is threatening to cause the collapse of North Korea. Or so fears that nation’s leader Kim Jong-un, as South Korean pop music gains popularity in the country.Kim has called South Korean entertainment smuggled into North Korea via China a “vicious cancer”, according to the New York Times.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“F9” became the most-watched foreign film in South Korea since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic on another weekend where Hollywood and Japanese titles dominated the South Korean box office.The weekend box office chart was headed by “Cruella,” which held strong in its third frame and swapped places with newer “The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It.”“Cruella” scored $1.82 million according to data from Kobis, the Korean Film Council’s film tracking service,

Kim Jong-un has labeled K-Pop as a “vicious cancer” that is corrupting the youth of the country he leads. As a result, he is imposing harsher penalties on citizens who are consuming South Korean movies, K-dramas and K-pop videos.The New York Times detailed the secretive anti-K-pop campaign that came to light through leaked internal documents from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).

SEOUL, South Korea -- Bringing her camera to a home for unwed mothers on South Korea’s Jeju island, Sun Hee Engelstoft anticipated an empowering story about young women keeping their babies.Instead, she ended up with a raw and unsettling documentary about how a deeply conservative sexual culture, loose birth registration laws and a largely privatized adoption system continue to pressure and shame single mothers into relinquishing their children for adoption.The shock and grief of mother-child

They aren’t well known in their native South Korea, but that’s poised to change after four-piece vocal group Korean Soul made their debut audition for “America’s Got Talent”.

Kim Convenience‘s Jean Yoon, who stars as the family matriarch, said that a lack of Asian women in the comedy’s writers room made the her time on the series less than ideal.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefSouth Korea enjoyed its biggest weekend box office of 2021 propelled, unusually, by a trio of Hollywood titles. “The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It” topped the chart with a $2.68 million haul, ahead of “Cruella” and “F9.”Aggregate national box office for the three days from Friday to Sunday was $7.12 million, according to data from the Korean Film Council’s Kobis tracking system.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefThe creepy fascination for shamanism that continues to exist in modern-day Thailand and Korea will be on full display this summer in “The Medium.” The film is now confirmed for a July commercial release and may be in line for a midnight screening berth in a major festival.Korean distributor Showbox is gearing up for the film’s outing in cinemas with the release of a first trailer.

CAA has sold a majority stake in Wiip, the producer behind HBO’s Mare of Easttown and Apple’s Dickinson, to Korean company JTBC Studios. It marks the first sale of an agency-backed studio after CAA and the other agencies agreed to end their standoff with the WGA and sell a majority interest in their content divisions.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefMultiplex operators in South Korea have begun to offer significantly reduced cinema tickets to moviegoers who have been vaccinated against the COVID-19 coronavirus.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefCJ ENM, the Korean corporation behind Oscar-winning film “Parasite,” and the “Snowpiercer” TV series, is to expand its investment in entertainment content to a massive $4.4 billion over the next five years.The company is already one of Asia’s largest entertainment companies, but it is now seeking to achieve global significance.“We will move on to the world stage and compete with global platforms and media powerhouses,” said CJ ENM CEO Kang Ho-sung at a press

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief‘F9’ enjoyed a second weekend at the front of the South Korean box office. It was joined by ‘Cruella’ in keeping the nationwide gross total over $6 million for a second week.Action franchise movie, “F9” grossed $3.21 million between Friday and Sunday, according to data from the Korean Film Council’s Kobis tracking service.

Haley Bosselman editorOn April 25, North Korean authorities publicly executed a man who illegally sold USBs and CDs that contained South Korean movies, music videos and dramas, as reported by the Daily NK.The Seoul-based non-profit organization provides coverage of North Korea through its inside network.

EXCLUSIVE: It may be erroneous to call the melding of rapper Tablo, Scooter Braun’s SB Projects, Emmy nominee Jason Kim and Amazon a K-pop supergroup. However, the quartet certainly are embracing the genre, if not the notion.

GOT7 singer BamBam has confessed that he wishes to be “properly recognised” in Korea, and has chosen to focus on his Korean solo activities moving forward.In a new interview with Allure Korea, the singer reflected on the difference in reception in both Korea and his home country of Thailand, saying, “I can walk around [in Korea] with ease.” He then added, “I can’t do anything in Thailand.