The Korea Times

Miryang's only punk band speaks up

Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province, is known for a few things: its traditional culture, its apples and its mountains. Punk rock is nowhere on that list. Paper Cruise, the city's only punk band, has both benefited from and been hurt by its unique status. The band members admitted it was tough for their band to fit in in the traditionally conservative city, and shared their own initial reactions to the genre, known for its rebellious and youthful energy. "My first exposure to punk was at a local festival, where I saw a band. I think I was about to start kindergarten at that time," said Cho Yeong-geun, bassist of Paper Cruise. "Looking back, I think it was a skate punk band. I remember they were wearing baseball caps and plaid shirts. It was an outdoor concert, and the audience was all seated, just watching the performance, so the performer said, 'Everyone, get up! I came because Miryang people said it would be fun, but this is nothing.' That memory really stuck with me, and I think that’s why I could easily get into punk." When asked about the punk scene today, they said there isn't muc

Nov 5, 2025By Jon Dunbar

Global Community

Itaewon Film Festival challenges boundaries that define, divide 'us'

Cannes, Sundance, Venice and now Bogwang-dong? The world's newest film festival is coming to a small theater just south of Itaewon, central Seoul's multicultural neighborhood that has been going through many changes. The inaugural Itaewon Film Festival (ITF) will present over 20 films made in Korea and around the world at Bokwang Theater from Nov. 13 to 16. Simon Chong and Brittany Lee, the Korean American husband-and-wife co-founders of ITF, noticed a distinct lack of grassroots film festivals when they moved back to Korea recently. "Unlike other big cities around the world, we found that Seoul doesn't have many neighborhood- or community-driven film festivals," Chong told The Korea Times. But they had trouble finding cinemas that could host a film fest in Itaewon. Broadening their search, they found Bokwang Theater, a small venue that can seat about 30-40 people, a little south of Itaewon's bustling area, in a neighborhood that is undergoing large-scale urban redevelopment. "I have always believed that in-person connection with our neighbors is essential to building community. I have com

Oct 31, 2025By Jon Dunbar

Itaewon Film Festival challenges boundaries that define, divide 'us'

Global Community

Tizzard to give talk on Korean cinema

When David Tizzard first encountered Korean cinema, he found it hard to understand. "Climaxes would hit like a punch to the face, heroes would fail and stories would end unresolved. Things simply didn’t make sense," he said. Over time, however, he realized these films reflect deeper truths about Korean culture, social norms and morality, truths that textbooks or academic seminars didn’t always make immediately obvious. "Why does Park Chan-wook’s 'Decision to Leave' end the way it does? What does Lee Chang-dong’s 'Burning' reveal about modern society and the crushing existential anxieties of young adults? Why do I still wake up at night gripped by the terror of Na Hong-jin’s 'The Wailing'? And how does Yoon Je-kyoon’s 'Ode to My Father' still make me emotional, despite having watched it dozens and dozens of times?" questioned Tizzard, a professor at Seoul Women’s University and Hanyang University, a podcaster and a Korea Times columnist. "There was a language running through these movies, subtle and unconscious, yet that made perfect sense to the directors and the audience.

Oct 23, 2025By Jon Dunbar

Global Community

India's DJ Spindoctor ready to take over Lit Lounge turntables

India's top hip-hop DJ is coming to Seoul this Saturday for one show only, as Lit Lounge in Itaewon prepares for a high-energy night featuring The Spindoctor alongside local favorites DJ Bora and DJ D.Yana. The Spindoctor, real name Sanjay Meriya, is an internationally recognized turntablist and performer who has rocked stages from Mumbai to Boston. A Red Bull Dance Your Style India finalist and co-founder of song request platform SpinItUpOfficial, he has built a reputation for blending technical mastery with crowd-moving energy. Promising "pure energy and real DJing — no gimmicks," Spindoctor's sets fuse hip-hop, R&B, Afrobeat and global club sounds into a signature performance that keeps dance floors alive from start to finish. "I’m all about creating a journey on the decks, blending genres, scratching, remixing live and making the crowd feel something real," he told The Korea Times. "Expect absolute madness, big vibes and a set that’ll take you from hip-hop to house to global beats — Spindoctor style." The show was put together when Spindoctor found Lit Lounge while researchin

Oct 13, 2025By Jon Dunbar

India's DJ Spindoctor ready to take over Lit Lounge turntables

Books

BOOK REVIEW 2nd sequel of 'Banned Book Club' explores trauma, spiritual healing, life under dictatorship

Kim Hyun Sook and Ryan Estrada are back with the third book in their "Banned Book Club" series, a semi-autobiographical story set in Korea's authoritarian 1980s that, in an ironic twist, has been subject to modern-day book bans in the United States. After releasing the second book in the series, "No Rules Tonight," last year, "Good Old-Fashioned Korean Spirit" proves the project's sizeable audience across national borders and generations. Although the title doesn't offer quite the bold mission statements that "Banned Book Club" and "No Rules Tonight" provided, this graphic novel also takes a good, hard look at how social trust is broken down by authoritarianism, and just as importantly, how it can be regained. Anarchy, queer love and traditional Korean spirituality are all on display, but at its heart, the book is a screwball comedy with blueprints for overcoming modern-day political crises. After a snappy, entertaining "We're putting the band back together" sequence that serves as a handy reintroduction of the main characters, the story pairs them off narratively, if not romantically.

Oct 7, 2025By Jon Dunbar

[BOOK REVIEW] 2nd sequel of 'Banned Book Club' explores trauma, spiritual healing, life under dictatorship

Global Community

Korean, Ukrainian musicians team up to offer hope amid hardship

"You," Korean composer Ian Chung's collaborative single with the Ukrainian band MBreeze, was released online on Thursday. The acoustic folk song delivers a message of comfort and encouragement to people navigating the small and large challenges of everyday life, as well as to those persevering through unstable circumstances such as war and conflict. "All those miles have brought you here," Alex Bilyak, lead vocalist of MBreeze, sings on the refrain with a voice that's both vulnerable and powerful. Chung said the song is very personal to him. "'It was born out of moments when life felt overwhelming — when it seemed easier to give up than to keep going. In those times, I found strength not only in myself but also in the people around me, who reminded me that resilience is often quiet and ordinary, yet deeply powerful," he said. "This song is for anyone who wakes up every day and chooses to carry on despite the weight they carry. I hope 'You' feels like a companion — something that sits with you in your hardest moments and gently reminds you that your perseverance matters, your strength

Oct 2, 2025By Jon Dunbar

Korean, Ukrainian musicians team up to offer hope amid hardship

Society

Korea’s tattooists celebrate legalization, await next challenges

Tattoo artists across Korea rejoiced after the National Assembly voted overwhelmingly on Sept. 25 to decriminalize their industry, paving the way to their legitimization. "This marks a historic turning point that pulls Korean tattooing out of the shadows where it had remained for decades," Kim Tae-nam, operator of Sunrat Tattoo, told The Korea Times. "This change is not the achievement of any one individual, but a victory created collectively by every tattooist in Korea. The sweat shed out of sight, the principles we defended and the solidarity we showed one another made the impossible possible. The path was never easy ... but we never stopped. Holding on to each other, we walked to the end. And today, at the end of that long journey, we welcome a new beginning." Kim, who has been tattooing since 2004, founded Ink Bomb Tattoo Convention in 2009 and kept it running annually until 2014, when police showed up and shut down the event. Although tattoos have enjoyed near-mainstream visibility in Korea for at least a decade, tattooing has long been an underground industry, as the relevant law

Sep 29, 2025By Jon Dunbar

Korea’s tattooists celebrate legalization, await next challenges

Global Community

PHOTOS Music and arts festival rocks the block in central Seoul's Haebangchon

The fourth annual Block Party Music & Art Festival wrapped up its two-day run on Sunday, after a weekend of entertainment across about a dozen venues in central Seoul's multicultural Haebangchon and Gyeongnidan neighborhoods. Over 100 performers participated, including musicians, actors, dancers, drag queens, shamans, pro wrestlers, pole dancers, a magician and a face painter. This year's event went smoothly, with the venues feeling even more crowded than last year according to many participants. At various times barricades were placed along the main street of Haebangchon, and traffic control workers were deployed. The festival was held in cooperation with Haebang Week. "Block Party 2025 was nuts. Probably the best one yet!!" organizer Jamie Finn said in an online post thanking the festival's staff, volunteers, performers, venues and attendees. "You always bring such great energy and enthusiasm to Block Party but this year, you were CRAZY. Thank you everyone. See you in 2026??" Visit @blockpartykorea on Instagram for more information.

Sep 25, 2025By Jon Dunbar

[PHOTOS] Music and arts festival rocks the block in central Seoul's Haebangchon

Global Community

Asian Rockabilly Festival brings rockers together for 2nd 'Rumble in Seoul'

The Asian Rockabilly Festival is back for its second year, bringing together bands and DJs representing Korea, Japan, the U.S. and the Netherlands. Japanese bands the Biscats and the Stompin' Riffraffs are joining five local music acts for the two-night festival. Chief among the Korean acts is Streetguns, the cornerstone of the local rockabilly scene. They're joined by the Hoppers, punk-folk singer-songwriter Jinu Konda, country-rock band Texas Karaoke and ska-punk band Lazybone. Rockabilly is a subgenre of rock 'n' roll, which dates back to the 1950s and originated in the American South. It's characterized by a retro sensibility and style. "To me, rockabilly is rock 'n' roll in its most undiluted form, amped up with teenage hormones — the flash of light off a switchblade, or the bright red lipstick on the kissing lips of a pin-up chick," said Brian Offenther, or DJ BO, one of the four DJs set to perform at the festival. "Picture delinquent kids in the mid-1950s taking blues and country material and putting it to the propulsive whack of a stand-up bass. Equally as important to the sou

Sep 22, 2025By Jon Dunbar

Asian Rockabilly Festival brings rockers together for 2nd 'Rumble in Seoul'

Global Community

Through their lenses: 4 live music photographers on life in pit

Live music scenes the world over are places filled with creativity. But while attention is naturally focused toward the musicians on stage, there are other creative pursuits that are less prominently on display. One group of such creatives is live music photographers, who work tirelessly to document what goes on at concerts. Photographers are the ones who offer a window into the live music world and help keep the memories alive afterward. Each of them has their own techniques, objectives and motivations. Often they work in poor lighting conditions and chaotic environments, with frequent threat of injury or equipment damage. To learn more about life in the trenches at live music events, The Korea Times interviewed four foreign photographers living in Korea who can often be seen snapping musicians at play: Nikki Bell from Buffalo, New York; Blair Kitchener from New Zealand; David Smith from Saginaw, Michigan; and Chewy Thomson from Canada. What gear do you use? Nikki: Nikon D750 with the stock kit lens. Blair: A Panasonic S1 and a Leica SL2-s with 28mm, 35mm and 50mm M-mount prime lenses. I

Sep 17, 2025By Jon Dunbar

Jon Dunbar

Read more

Miryang's only punk band speaks up

Itaewon Film Festival challenges boundaries that define, divide 'us'

Tizzard to give talk on Korean cinema

India's DJ Spindoctor ready to take over Lit Lounge turntables

BOOK REVIEW 2nd sequel of 'Banned Book Club' explores trauma, spiritual healing, life under dictatorship

Korean, Ukrainian musicians team up to offer hope amid hardship

Korea’s tattooists celebrate legalization, await next challenges

PHOTOS Music and arts festival rocks the block in central Seoul's Haebangchon

Asian Rockabilly Festival brings rockers together for 2nd 'Rumble in Seoul'

Through their lenses: 4 live music photographers on life in pit

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