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Lee Hae-rin

Korea Times K-Culture Reporter

Lee Hae-rin is a City Desk reporter at The Korea Times, covering social issues, tourism and taekwondo. She is passionate about speaking up for the rights of minorities, including women, LGBTQ+, people with disabilities and animals as well as discovering the latest makgeolli trend in town. Feel free to reach her at lhr@koreatimes.co.kr.

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Arts & Theater

Musical 'Frozen' premiere brings blizzard of spectacle to Seoul

On one of Seoul’s hottest summer nights of August, winter arrived at Charlotte Theater. An hour before the Korean premiere of Disney’s “Frozen,” the theater lobby was already humming with families, couples, friends and solo musical fans. Long lines formed at the merchandise shop and in front of a call board and photo zone featuring a towering ice sculpture and illuminated snowflakes. Children in Elsa capes, sparkling crowns and princess shoes waited patiently beside adults eager to document the long-awaited arrival of the global musical hit. The sold-out audience came for snow and spectacle. It received both — along with a polished Korean production anchored by powerhouse turns from Jung Sun-ah as Elsa and Park Jin-joo as Anna. Based on Disney’s 2013 animated film, “Frozen” follows the estranged royal sisters Elsa and Anna. Elsa, terrified that her power to freeze everything around her will hurt those she loves, retreats into isolation. Anna sets out to save both her sister and the kingdom of Arendelle from an endless winter. The stage musical, which premiered on Broadway

Aug 14, 2026By Lee Hae-rin
Musical 'Frozen' premiere brings blizzard of spectacle to Seoul
Music

Korean Chamber Orchestra to spotlight rising talent in 2026 debut concert

The Korean Chamber Orchestra (KCO) will bring together young musicians and a teenage composer for its 2026 Debut Concert on Sept. 12, offering a compact showcase of Korea’s next generation of classical musicians. The concert, set for 5 p.m. at Seoul Arts Center's Doam Hall, will feature musicians identified through KCO’s camps and competitions. The program opens with the world premiere of “Nachtlicher Monolog” (Nocturnal Monologue), a work by Lee Tae-hwan, winner of the 2026 KCO Composition Competition. The piece, written for clarinet, viola and piano, traces the unsettled thoughts and emotions, such as regret and anxiety, that surface during a sleepless night. A freshman at Sunhwa Arts High School, Lee began composing music in elementary school and has since developed an interest in both classical and contemporary genres. The evening will also feature violinist Park Ye-hoon, the grand-prize winner of the 2025 KCO Competition; violinists Yoo Ji-min, Yoo Ye-seul and Wang Ruiyi; cellist Moon Ji-won; and clarinetist Kim Ye-eun. Conducted by Kim Jae-yoon, the program pairs the musicia

Aug 14, 2026By Lee Hae-rin
Korean Chamber Orchestra to spotlight rising talent in 2026 debut concert
Arts & Theater

'Human Error' finds creative possibility in imperfection at Buk-Seoul Museum of Art

The ideal of technology perfection meets the unruly realities of bodies, identities of human relationships in the Buk-Seoul Museum of Art’s new exhibition, “2026 Title Match Inhwan Oh vs. Seo Young Chang: Human Error.” The 13th edition of the museum’s annual title match exhibition, on view from Thursday through Oct. 25, brings together two Seoul-based contemporary artists whose practices differ in medium and generation but converge on a shared question: What remains distinctively human when technology is increasingly expected to be frictionless, efficient and even creative? The exhibition’s title borrows a term commonly used to identify mistakes caused by human limitations. Rather than treating human error — mistakes arising from physical or mental imperfection — as a defect to overcome, the exhibition reframes it as a condition of human existence and a source of creativity, curator Yoo Eun-soon said, spotlighting the two artists’ distinct efforts to disrupt and move beyond technological systems rather than simply conform to them. Oh, 61, presents “We’re Not One; Neit

Aug 13, 2026By Lee Hae-rin
'Human Error' finds creative possibility in imperfection at Buk-Seoul Museum of Art
Arts & Theater

Brazilian artists find new inspiration in Seoul ahead of Gwangju Biennale

Brazilian choreographer and performer Maruan Sipert has been roaming Seoul for days, observing street cleaners, traffic, weathered walls and construction sites. For the Lisbon-based artist, these are not simply scenes from his first trip to Korea. They are choreography. The dancer brings these encounters back to the Brazilian Embassy where he is currently working to shape a new performance and installation for the 16th Gwangju Biennale, scheduled to open on Sept. 5. While Brazilian artists have been invited to the exhibit before, this year marks a milestone: Brazil will have its own national pavilion for the first time. “My interest is the discourse of the cities,” he said as to the source of his artistic inspiration. Seoul’s scale, relentless pace and workplace pressures have become central to his reading of the city, he said, where people seem perpetually in motion and urban life can feel both rhythmic and constraining. Sipert is one of nine Brazilian artists taking part in the pavilion. The Brazilian Embassy in Seoul has offered them space to prepare their works, opening the studi

Aug 13, 2026By Lee Hae-rin
Brazilian artists find new inspiration in Seoul ahead of Gwangju Biennale
Arts & Theater

Myeongdong Theater in Seoul stages free lunchtime performances

The National Theater Company of Korea will launch a new outdoor lunchtime series at Myeongdong Theater this month, inviting office workers, residents and tourists to performing arts shows in the middle of Seoul’s bustling shopping district. Titled “Myeongdong Theater at Noon,” the program will take place every Wednesday from Aug. 19 through Oct. 28 at the theater’s outdoor plaza, presenting a total of 10 free performances. The initiative is designed to make art more accessible to people by staging short performances during an hour when most people are free, rather than requiring them to enter a traditional theater venue. No reservations are required to attend. The lineup features veteran artists and groups experienced in outdoor festivals and street theater. It includes traditional mask dancing by the Bongsan Mask Dance Preservation Society, as well as percussion and sangmo — Korea’s traditional ribbon-hat dances — performances by Yeonhui Jeomchuri and Yeonhui Group The Gwangdae. Project Tong, known for movement-based physical theater, will also participate. Theater Asura w

Aug 12, 2026By Lee Hae-rin
Myeongdong Theater in Seoul stages free lunchtime performances
Music

Organists Olivier Latry and Lee Shin-young return to Seoul after 8 years for homecoming duet

It is a strikng image: two musicians sharing a narrow bench, their hands crossed crossing hands over keyboards as four feet delicately coordinate over pedals. For married organists Olivier Latry and Lee Shin-young, the organ is a stage where they work together as a single musical mind. The couple will bring their partnership to Seoul’s Lotte Concert Hall on Oct. 6 in “Four Hands,” their first Korean appearance together in eight years. The program moves from Rameau to Stravinsky, revealing the organ as a rhythmic, theatrical and orchestral instrument. From restraint to musical trust In a recent written interview with The Korea Times, the duo said their partnership began with a restraint. Latry, then 23 and a titular organist at Notre-Dame de Paris, said he fell in love with Lee years before she entered his class at the Paris Conservatoire. “That was not easy, not to show anything during her studies,” he said, adding that he waited eight years until she was no longer his student to reveal his feelings. Lee recalled him as disciplined and reserved, but exceptionally severe in her l

Aug 12, 2026By Lee Hae-rin
Organists Olivier Latry and Lee Shin-young return to Seoul after 8 years for homecoming duet
Books

Before Nolan's 'The Odyssey,' Hong Eun-young helped generation of Koreans enjoy myths

For many Korean viewers watching Christopher Nolan’s new epic “The Odyssey,” the story of Odysseus’ homecoming did not begin on a cinema screen. It began in elementary school classrooms, neighborhood libraries and friends’ homes two decades ago, in the colorful pages of “Greek and Roman Myths Through Comics,” illustrated by Hong Eun-young. When Odysseus finally confronts the suitors who took over his home in Nolan’s film, Park Ji-hoon, a 32-year-old office worker in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, said he felt a childhood story reach an ending that had long eluded him. “The most satisfying moment was watching Odysseus take revenge on the suitors in his palace,” Park said. “The drawing style changed just before that part of the story in the comics I loved as a child, so his return home had remained unfinished for me.” Park remembers sharing the books with classmates during breaks and competing to borrow them at the school library. Watching Nolan’s version, he said, brought a new thought: “I also wondered how Hong Eun-young would have directed that scene.” “For me,

Aug 11, 2026By Lee Hae-rin
Before Nolan's 'The Odyssey,' Hong Eun-young helped generation of Koreans enjoy myths
Others

Catholic culture fair begins countdown to World Youth Day 2027

A popular stone wall path near Deoksu Palace in Seoul usually known for its quiet strolls and autumn foliage was filled with mini-game stations, rosary-making tables and conversations about faith over the weekend as Seoul began its one-year countdown to World Youth Day (WYD) 2. The 2026 Vocational Fair, held Saturday and Sunday, brought Catholic religious orders, apostolic groups and young visitors together along the road near Deoksu Palace and Seoul City Hall’s Seosomun Annex. Organized by the local organizing committee for WYD Seoul 2027 and supported by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the free event was designed as a small-scale preview of next year’s global festival. WYD, a global gathering of young Catholics, will take place in Seoul from Aug. 3-8, 2027. Its program will include a youth festival and vocational fair, alongside major liturgies and events involving Pope Leo. WYD Seoul will be the second such gathering in Asia, following the event in Manila, Philippines in 1995. Organizers expect more than 1 million participants for what is set to become one of the larg

Aug 9, 2026By Lee Hae-rin
Catholic culture fair begins countdown to World Youth Day 2027
Shows & Dramas

Love with deadlines, digital hearts: Korea's dating reality boom tests ethics of romance TV

Korea’s dating reality boom has entered a new, uneasy chapter — one where terminal illness and artificial intelligence (AI) join ex-lovers, divorced couples, shamans and LGBTQ+ participants on television, raising fresh questions about how far romance entertainment should go. SBS’s “Love Against Time,” which premiered Monday, follows young adults in their 20s and 30s who have received terminal diagnoses or survived life-threatening illness as they search for “the remaining love” in their lives. In its first episode, eight contestants exchanged small talk and shy smiles, then carefully unfolded their “treatment diaries” — recounting stage 4 cancer, total gastrectomy and nights when they felt death approaching. The show’s matching device, a “room of time,” gamifies scarcity. Each evening, participants receive 100 minutes, divided into 10 segments lasting 10 minutes each, to allocate to potential dates. If two people send at least a combined 100 minutes to each other, they can earn a date lasting between 100 and 200 minutes. Time — once a private reminder of limit

Aug 7, 2026By Lee Hae-rin
Love with deadlines, digital hearts: Korea's dating reality boom tests ethics of romance TV
Korean Heritage

How Joseon era Koreans beat the heat without AC

Long before air‑conditioned staycations, Koreans in the premodern era escaped the summer heat with scheduled days off, marathon reading sessions and village festivals where farmers washed their hoes and put work on hold, records show. The Korean Studies Institute released records Thursday to illustrate how people in the Silla (57 B.C.–935), Goryeo (918–1392) and Joseon (1392–1910) eras took steps to rest their bodies and minds during the hottest months of the year. While there was no concept of annual paid vacation, officials enjoyed institutional holidays, scholars turned to books and fellowship and farmers celebrated communal breaks. According to the institute, Goryeo officials were granted “chilga” — days off that fell on the first, eight, 15th and 23rd of each lunar month, or roughly every seven days. They could also take leave to recover from illness, care for parents or visit family graves. In the Joseon period, people were offered time off for weddings, funerals, ancestral rites and family duties, while King Sejong (1397-1450) introduced “sagadokseo,” a sabbatica

Aug 6, 2026By Lee Hae-rin
How Joseon era Koreans beat the heat without AC
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