The Korea Times

TWICE to close record-setting world tour with 3-night finale in Seoul

After spending the last year filling massive stadiums from Texas to Tokyo, K-pop girl group TWICE is returning home to close out the most expansive and lucrative concert tour of its decade-long career. The group’s agency, JYP Entertainment, said Tuesday that the nine-member ensemble will perform a three-night encore series from July 10-12 at the KSPO Dome in Olympic Park, located in southeastern Seoul. The highly anticipated shows will serve as the official grand finale for its sixth world tour, titled "This Is For." The upcoming Seoul concerts will cap off a remarkable 12-month marathon. Since launching last July with a sold-out opening night at the Inspire Arena in Incheon, the tour has spanned 44 cities worldwide for a total of 81 performances. The sheer scale of the trek has reestablished TWICE’s position as a dominant global touring force, even as an aggressive new generation of K-pop acts competes for international streaming numbers and headlines. The group’s recent run through North America, which concluded in Austin, Texas, this past April, drew an estimated 550,000 fans a

Jun 2, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan

TWICE to close record-setting world tour with 3-night finale in Seoul

Korean Heritage

Seoul exhibition traces 140 years of French-Korean ties through diplomatic gifts

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the Korea Heritage Service opened a joint special exhibition Tuesday commemorating the 140th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Korea and France, showcasing historic gifts exchanged between the two countries' leaders spanning nearly a century and a half. The exhibition, titled "Gifts and Records: 140 Years of Korea-France Friendship," runs through Aug. 2 at the National Palace Museum of Korea in central Seoul, then moves to the Presidential Archives in Sejong from Aug. 14 to Sept. 13. The Presidential Archives is an institution under the Ministry of the Interior and Safety that preserves official records of Korea's heads of state. An opening ceremony was held Tuesday at the National Palace Museum, with remarks from Kim Min-jae, vice minister of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, and Huh Min, administrator of the Korea Heritage Service, followed by congratulatory remarks from French Ambassador to Korea Philippe Bertoux. The exhibition is organized across five sections tracing the arc of bilateral relations from their earliest root

Jun 2, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan

Seoul exhibition traces 140 years of French-Korean ties through diplomatic gifts

K-pop

BTS turns to vinyl instead of streaming to mark 13th anniversary

Next week, the members of BTS will arrive in the southeastern port city of Busan to take the stage for a massive, two-day stadium celebration marking 13 years since their debut. But ahead of that massive homecoming, the world’s biggest boy band announced Tuesday that it is releasing a highly personal, limited-edition vinyl project — one that trades slick pop production for candid, behind-the-scenes conversations about anxiety and survival. The release, a collectible picture disc vinyl of its fifth album, "ARIRANG," will drop June 12. Modeled as a special gift for their anniversary, it includes two new bonus tracks that give fans a rare, unvarnished look at the lives of the seven bandmates behind the pop machinery. The announcement arrives just as the group kicks off "2026 BTS FESTA," its traditional two-week festival celebrating its June 13 debut anniversary. The annual event is a favorite among its global fan base, known as ARMY, featuring a rolling schedule of lighthearted content, new "family portraits" of the band and interactive online events. It all leads up to the June 12-13

Jun 2, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan

BTS turns to vinyl instead of streaming to mark 13th anniversary

K-pop

T.O.P to hold fan meeting at Yokohama arena next month

In the highly transactional economy of global K-pop, where entry to intimate artist events routinely requires hundreds of dollars in album purchases or premium subscription fees, the rapper and singer T.O.P is attempting a radically different approach to celebrity commerce. His agency, TOPSPOT PICTURES, announced Tuesday that the musician will host a large-scale solo fan meeting on July 9 at the Pia Arena MM in Yokohama, Japan. The event, which seats approximately 10,000 people, will be entirely free of charge for members of his official paid Japanese fan club — an unconventional move for an arena-sized event in the region. The announcement comes on the heels of a surprisingly robust commercial resurgence for the artist, whose legal name is Choi Seung-hyun. After a decade-long hiatus from solo musical projects and his eventual departure from the foundational K-pop group BIGBANG, T.O.P released his debut solo studio album, “Another Dimension,” on April 3. The project quickly reestablished his footprint in a hyper-competitive market. Driven purely by digital downloads and streaming

Jun 2, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan

T.O.P to hold fan meeting at Yokohama arena next month

Defense

PHOTO Security strategy leaders

Gen. Jin Young-seung, front row eighth from left, chairman of the Republic of Korea Joint Chiefs of Staff, poses with defense, diplomacy and technology experts during the first-half 2026 Policy Advisory Committee plenary meeting at Nine Tree Premier ROKAUS Hotel Yongsan, Seoul, Friday. Courtesy of Republic of Korea Joint Chiefs of Staff

May 29, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan

Society

Seoul, Airbnb team up to turn stay-at-home moms into hospitality entrepreneurs

As Korea rides a historic wave of international tourism — projected to draw an unprecedented 19 million foreign visitors this year — municipal officials are turning to the digital economy to solve a persistent domestic challenge: bringing women back into the workforce. The Seoul Foundation of Women and Family announced a joint public-private initiative with the city’s Women’s Resources Development Center and Airbnb to launch the third year of its specialized Shared Accommodation Host Training Program. The project specifically targets "career-interrupted" women — stay-at-home mothers and professionals who left the workforce to care for family — leveraging home-sharing platforms as a flexible runway back to financial independence. In a local culture where rigid, arduous corporate environments often force women out of the job market after childbirth, digital hospitality offers an appealing alternative, as running a boutique guesthouse allows women to manage an enterprise on their own schedules. The program has seen explosive demand since its inception. A modest pilot project in

May 29, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan

Seoul, Airbnb team up to turn stay-at-home moms into hospitality entrepreneurs

Travel & Food

Korea rolls out digital navigation guides for foreign visitors to ease travel anxiety

For international travelers landing at Incheon International Airport, navigating Korea’s highly efficient but densely layered public transit system can be an intimidating task. To address this, the Korean government unveiled Friday multilingual digital transit guides designed to eliminate the logistical friction of traveling beyond the capital. The initiative, spearheaded jointly by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization, introduces a suite of visual, data-driven infographics. Produced in English, Japanese, and both simplified and traditional Chinese, the resources are being deployed across state tourism platforms, social networks and physical information hubs nationwide. Instead of heavy administrative text, the campaign leans into intuitive, user-centric design. The rollout focuses on three distinct components: a visual flow chart mapping transit options based on traveler profiles, a comprehensive payment guide detailing where and how to use foreign credit cards, as well as a highly detailed, step-by-step instructions for the country’s domina

May 29, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan

Korea rolls out digital navigation guides for foreign visitors to ease travel anxiety

South Korea

SNU to help modernize national tax system with AI

The National Tax Service (NTS) signed an agreement Friday with Seoul National University’s (SNU) Artificial Intelligence (AI) Institute to integrate AI into the state tax system, a move aimed at accelerating public services while tightening data security. The NTS and SNU said they will work together in three main areas: advising the NTS on how to introduce and expand AI in tax administration, conducting joint research on how to run AI systems safely and responsibly, and training NTS staff in hands-on AI development skills. The NTS highlighted wanting to go beyond basic AI tools. It is developing personalized services — such as an AI system that can help individual taxpayers fill out returns or get tax advice based on their own financial data. Because this involves sensitive personal information, the agency said strong data security and privacy protections are essential. It plans to lean on SNU experts for guidance in these areas. To build internal AI skills, the NTS currently runs a three-level training program — basic, intermediate and advanced — for its employees. It now plans

May 29, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan

SNU to help modernize national tax system with AI

Companies

Naver Connect Foundation partners with SNU on AI talent development

Naver Connect Foundation and Seoul National University (SNU) on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding to expand artificial intelligence (AI) education and talent development in Korea. Under the agreement, the two institutions will jointly develop and operate AI education programs and support university students across the country in accessing quality training. They also plan to pursue joint research and explore new education models on an ongoing basis. The partnership will launch with the AI Agent Challenge, a hands-on program for 200 students from 10 regional national universities conducted in cooperation with SNU's University Alliance Regional Talent Development Center. Participants will design and build AI agents to address problems encountered in daily life. Developers and planners from the Naver group of companies will serve as mentors, providing group feedback and lectures to help students build practical skills. Naver Connect Foundation said it has worked to bring practical AI education to university settings. A course on AI-assisted frontend development, co-developed with S

May 29, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan

Naver Connect Foundation partners with SNU on AI talent development

Companies

Korean Air, Asiana complete joint emergency drill ahead of merger

Korean Air said Thursday it has successfully completed a joint emergency evacuation drill with Asiana Airlines cabin crew, a key milestone in the two carriers' ongoing integration process. The drill, conducted this week at Korean Air's headquarters and cabin training center in western Seoul under the supervision of aviation safety inspectors from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, marked the first time the two airlines' cabin crew have trained together across two different aircraft types simultaneously. Some 200 executives, employees and ministry officials attended the training, including Korean Air Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Woo Kee-hong. Twenty-eight cabin crew members — 14 from each airline — took part alongside eight Korean Air flight crew. The drill covered four areas: oral examinations on emergency landing and ditching equipment, a life raft boarding demonstration, an aborted takeoff evacuation on a Boeing 737-900 simulating an engine fire during the takeoff roll, and a water ditching evacuation on a Boeing 787-9 simulating a dual-engine failure requirin

May 29, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan

Jhoo Dong-chan

Read more

TWICE to close record-setting world tour with 3-night finale in Seoul

Seoul exhibition traces 140 years of French-Korean ties through diplomatic gifts

BTS turns to vinyl instead of streaming to mark 13th anniversary

T.O.P to hold fan meeting at Yokohama arena next month

PHOTO Security strategy leaders

Seoul, Airbnb team up to turn stay-at-home moms into hospitality entrepreneurs

Korea rolls out digital navigation guides for foreign visitors to ease travel anxiety

SNU to help modernize national tax system with AI

Naver Connect Foundation partners with SNU on AI talent development

Korean Air, Asiana complete joint emergency drill ahead of merger

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