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Kwon Mee-yoo

Korea Times Politics & City Reporter

Often found at theaters and museums, Kwon Mee-yoo has covered a wide range of cultural fields from K-pop and dramas to theater and fine art for over a decade. Now as K-Culture Desk editor, she tries to connect Korean culture with global readers through fresh perspectives.

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K-pop

B2ST, 4Minute to hold concert in England

By Kwon Mee-yoo With K-pop’s increasing popularity in Europe, Korean singers B2ST, 4Minute and G.NA will hold a concert in the United Kingdom in November. Cube Entertainment, the singers’ management agency, said it plans to hold the “United Cube Concert” in London on Nov. 19. “We were asked to hold a concert there by a local concert promoter. European concert organizers are much more interested in K-pop after the SM Town Live World Tour in Paris in June,” an official of Cube Entertainment said. “England is the home of pop music and we are glad to hold a K-pop concert there.” This is the first time for Korean singers to host a paid concert in the U.K. The entertainment company will hold the “United Cube” concert first in Seoul on Aug. 14 and travel to Tokyo on Aug. 25. The agency said they are also preparing for another concert in Brazil. Meanwhile, other K-pop fans in the U.K. are scheduled to hold a flash mob gathering “Bring YG to the UK” at Trafalgar Square in London Saturday to request a concert of singers who belong to YG Entertainment, according to the group’

Jul 8, 2011By Kwon Mee-yoo
Arts & Theater

Weekender Summer musical treats

From Broadway classics to K-pop jukebox musical By Kwon Mee-yoo The summer is usually considered a slow season for musicals but a wide variety of hot shows are here this season. From Broadway classics to jukebox musicals featuring K-pop, offering spectacles to tempt people to spend their vacations in theaters. Classics with modern touch Broadway classics “Guys and Dolls” will raise its curtain at LG Arts Center in southern Seoul on Aug. 2. The redesigned production shows off a star-studded casting from singer-turned-musical actress Ock Ju-hyun and musical star Kim Moo-yeol to actors Jin Goo and Lee Yong-woo who are taking the stage for the first time. Premiered on Broadway in 1950, the musical has been staged in Korea 16 times since 1983. Lee Ji-na, who portrayed Adelaide in 1989, directs the show this time. She says the new production will transform the stage originally set in 1929 New York in a stylish way to satisfy the modern audience. Tickets range from 50,000 to 130,000 won. Visit www.guysanddolls.co.kr for more information. Homegrown hits return

Jul 7, 2011By Kwon Mee-yoo
Arts & Theater

Kolleen Park portrays mentally-ill woman in Next to Normal

By Kwon Mee-yoo “Next to Normal,” a Broadway hit revolving around a “normal” modern-day family, will hit Seoul in November. Charismatic Kolleen Park plays the lead role of Diana, a mother struggling with bipolar disorder. Park sang several numbers from the musical, including “You Don’t Know,” “Make up Your Mind,” and “Why Stay?” at a press conference Monday. Though her Korean pronunciation was not perfectly clear, she expressed the despair of an edgy woman who gave everything to her family. Park is an established musical director here, having been involved in shows such as “The Last Empress,” “Rent” and “Chicago.” She became well-known among the general public when she shaped a motley crew into a working choir at a KBS variety show “Qualifications of a Man.” Park said she saw “Next to Normal” on Broadway some two years ago and thought she could return to the stage as an actress as the character Diana. “Though I’m not married and I don’t have children, I feel similar things with my students — some left me while some still stay with me. I will find the emotions

Jul 6, 2011By Kwon Mee-yoo
Arts & Theater

Ahn Jae-wook returns with Jack the Ripper

Hallyu star gets back in touch with stage roots in the musical By Kwon Mee-yoo Hallyu star Ahn Jae-wook returns to the local musical scene as Daniel from “Jack the Ripper,” and says he’s happy to get back in touch with his roots on the stage — a place that “never lies.” “The stage is where I started and studied acting. I can have a broader image onstage, different from the bright but wounded characters I played in television dramas,” Ahn said during an interview on Thursday. The 40-year-old returns to the stage to play Daniel in the musical that opened in Seoul on Tuesday. Set in the late 19th century London, the story is about Daniel, a passionate doctor who is driven to catastrophe after a suspicious deal with serial killer Jack. It’s the third time for Ahn to play the lead role since the musical premiered in Korea in 2009. “I feel more of a burden than confidence, though I had played this role before. There always are new audiences who come and see me perform for the first time and I don’t want to hear that I am not better than what they heard me to be

Jul 5, 2011By Kwon Mee-yoo
Shows & Dramas

Disney Channel launched in Korean

‘High multi-channel penetration makes Korea notable emerging market’ By Kwon Mee-yoo From Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck to Hanna Montana and Captain Jack Sparrow, all-time favorite Disney characters will hit the small screen here on the 100 percent Korean-language Disney Channel and Disney Junior. The Disney Channel began airing Friday, featuring worldwide hits such as “Phineas and Ferb” and “Good Luck Charlie” via satellite, digital cable and IPTV. The channel is available in HD multiplex as well as SD format. Targeting children aged six to 14 and their families, the channel strikes a balance between animation and live action programs. The channel also offers Disney movies from classic franchises such as “The Little Mermaid” and “Beauty and the Beast” as well as Pixar’s “Wall-E” and “Finding Nemo” — every evening. Disney Junior is poised to embark on July 11. The channel targets a younger audience from two- to seven-year-olds and offers programs stressing storytelling, including Korean-dubbed “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse” and “Jake and the Never Land Pirates”. Th

Jul 3, 2011By Kwon Mee-yoo
People & Events

Korean musicians shine at Tchaikovsky Competition

By Kwon Mee-yoo Korean musicians scooped five prizes, claiming vocal, piano and violin awards, at the 14th International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, Russia, Thursday. This is an exceptional year for Korean artists, winning five awards at a single international music competition. The contest was held in Moscow and St. Petersburg from June 15 to 30. Bass Park Jong-min, 24, won first prize in the male solo vocal section, while soprano Seo Sun-young, 27, took the Gold Medal in the female solo vocal category. "I really feel like I am in a dream," Yonhap News quoted Park as saying. "I came to cherish a hope of participating in this competition when I was a high-school student after watching a video clip of my teacher singing in the 1990 competition. But I never thought that I would succeed him by becoming a winner." Park and Seo are the latest Koreans to win first prize in the competition following the 1990 male solo vocal winner, baritone Choi Hyun-soo, also known as Hans Choi. Promising pianists Son Yeol-eum, 25, and Cho Seong-jin, 17, won second and third prize

Jul 1, 2011By Kwon Mee-yoo
Shows & Dramas

Campus romance to pull at Heartstrings

Director Pyo brings performing arts school to small screen By Kwon Mee-yoo The life and love of university performing arts students will hit the small screen today through MBC’s new drama “Heartstrings.” Star director Pyo Min-soo returns with “fresh green” stories set at a performing arts school. “The word ‘youth’ reminds me of many things. I will portray the sweat and passion of artistic people in this drama,” Pyo said during a press conference last Thursday. “This drama is about people dreaming of art.” Pyo is known for expressing the delicate world of professionals such as “Full House” (2004) and “The World That They Live in” (2008). Heartthrob Jung Yong-hwa, CNBLUE’s singer and guitarist, plays Lee Sin, an applied music student and guitarist of a school band “The Stupid.” It’s his second time to star in a television drama, following “You’re Beautiful” (SBS, 2009). The singer-actor’s eyes lit up when he talked about the role. “I fell in love with my character and researched him a lot. He might seem curt and cold, but he is dedicated to music, his family an

Jun 28, 2011By Kwon Mee-yoo
Arts & Theater

Spring Awakening reveals naivete of youth

Musical featuring provocative teen themes returns to Korea By Kwon Mee-yoo Charismatic but inexperienced, curious about the secrets of her body and haunted by dreams of a woman’s legs, the daring teens of the Tony Award-winning musical “Spring Awakening” returned to the stage at Yonkang Hall of Doosan Art Center in central Seoul. The musical is based on a late-19th-century play of the same title, created in the United States in 2006 and premiered here in 2009. However, the dynamic, daring heartbeat of teenagers speaks the same language in Korea with alternative indie rock music. Kim Min-jung, the local director of the show, said “Spring Awakening” can change by the different textures of the actors and the new actors have brought freshness to this year’s production. There are no top stars, but young, aspiring actors breathe fresh air into the second production in Korea. Yoon Hyun-min, who plays the role of a model student-turned-rebel Melchior, was a baseball player with the Hanwha Eagles and Doosan Bears. He fell in love with the stage after watching the musical “F

Jun 27, 2011By Kwon Mee-yoo
Arts & Theater

Lee U-fan retrospective opens in NY

Guggenheim exhibition explores sense of infinity via dots, lines By Kwon Mee-yoo Korean artist Lee U-fan’s retrospective “Lee Ufan: Marking Infinity” at the Guggenheim Museum in New York opened Friday. The exhibition introduces the prominent artist-philosopher and his post-Minimalistic artistic world to North America. Lee’s artworks expand the sense of infinity by simply using dots, lines, square steel plates and round stones. Lee is only the third Asian artist to have a retrospective at the prestigious museum, following the late Korean video artist Paik Nam-june (1932-2006) and Chinese contemporary artist Cai Guo-Qiang. “Lee U-fan is an artist of extraordinary creative vision. Admired, even revered, abroad, Lee is surprisingly little known in North America, and this late-career survey, which we offer to the public as part of the Guggenheim’s Asian Art Initiative, is overdue,” Richard Armstrong, director of the Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, said in a press release. Some 90 works by Lee, ranging from paintings and sculpture to a new site-specific installation, a

Jun 24, 2011By Kwon Mee-yoo
Travel & Food

Korea, emerging market in US tourism

By Kwon Mee-yoo The United States is making harder-than-ever efforts to boost tourism and Jim Evans, new CEO of the Corporation for Travel Promotion (CTP) has pledged to market “Brand America,” making the U.S. one of the most sough-after tourist destinations in the world. "It is an exciting time for the travel and tourism industry, for our country and for me personally as the challenge of promoting the United States will require great skill, creativity and dedication to build a program that brings billions in new spending and millions of jobs to the U.S. economy," said Evans at a press conference during the 2011 International Pow Wow (the travel industry's premier international marketplace and the largest generator of “Visit USA” travel) in May. Before becoming CTP CEO, Evans mostly served in the hospitality industry, including positions at Jenny Craig International, Best Western International and most recently Ardent Hotel Advisors. Evans listed three priorities for CTP ㅡ building a world-class organization by hiring top talent in marketing, sales, partnerships and ope

Jun 23, 2011By Kwon Mee-yoo
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