Kwon Mee-yoo

Why K-pop’s rise in London is about more than just music

LONDON — It’s a Sunday afternoon near Covent Garden. A crowd begins to form as dancers glide through the sharp, synchronized moves of TWICE’s “I Can’t Stop Me.” The performers — members of iKloud, one of London’s grassroots K-pop cover crews — channel the song’s sleek energy with striking precision. Diverse in race, gender and background, they move as one, drawing out phones and smiles from curious onlookers. Scenes like this — whether K-pop cover shoots, TikTok challenges or random play dances — are now a regular sight at London’s landmarks. From the Southbank to King’s Cross, K-pop’s influence in London runs deeper than dance moves or catchy tunes, reshaping how young Londoners express themselves, build community and foster cultural connection. Community built from ground up London's K-pop fan community flourished in unexpected ways during the COVID-19 pandemic. For Bee and Katie, co-founders of BKT K-pop Events, it started online — watching music videos, discovering new groups and admiring the fashion and choreography. What began as casual fandom soon

With trophies on table, Hue Park reflects on Tony win, sets sights on new stages

Hue Park, writer of this year's Tony Award-winning musical “Maybe Happy Ending,” is living through whirlwind days just weeks after making history as the first Korean national to win Broadway’s highest honor. Park described seeing his two Tony trophies sitting on his New York kitchen table as surreal — a daily reminder of the responsibility he now carries. “I haven’t found a proper place for them, so I just put them on the table. I had breakfast looking at them. It’s still strange to me that these symbolic trophies are now in my humble home,” Park said during a press conference in Seoul, Tuesday. “Maybe Happy Ending” is a musical about two Helperbots in near-future Seoul who discover fireflies, love and the meaning of goodbye. It was first staged in Korea in 2016 and made its Broadway debut in November 2024. Park’s visit to Korea, initially intended as a quiet family reunion, quickly turned into a media frenzy as congratulations poured in for the historic achievement. Despite the fanfare, Park revealed that he and composer Will Aronson kept expectations low during aw

Lim Yun-chan to release new ‘Tchaikovsky: The Seasons’ album in August

Pianist Lim Yun-chan will release his new album “Tchaikovsky: The Seasons” on Aug. 22 through Decca Classics, reinterpreting the Russian composer’s 12-part piano suite as a personal reflection on the final year of a human life. Pre-release track “June. Barcarolle. Andante cantabile,” the sixth piece in the set, dropped on streaming platforms Friday. Rather than a simple journey through the calendar months, Lim’s interpretation offers an emotional journey through sorrow, memory, joy and ultimately acceptance. “‘The Seasons’ contains the story of a life nearing its end,” Lim said in a statement. “It begins with someone sitting by a hearth, the fire gradually dimming, lost in a mix of sorrow, reverie and hope. Eventually, they return to the present, accepting everything and quietly organizing the day that will never come again.” The album was recorded at the Menuhin Hall in Surrey, the U.K., and features cover art by Korean artist and Lim’s longtime friend Choi Ho-yeon, mirroring the album’s introspective tone. Lim praised Choi on Instagram as an artist “whose

PHOTOS Readers flock to Seoul Int'l Book Fair amid 'text hip' trend

From Seoul to Broadway, Hue Park’s Tony win brings Korean stories center stage

When Hue Park stepped onto the stage at Radio City Music Hall, June 8, to accept the Tony Award for Best Book, he became the first Korean national to win one of Broadway’s highest honors. For the Seoul-born writer, the moment marked the culmination of a decade-long journey spanning two languages and cultures, and a creative partnership with American composer Will Aronson. Their Tony-winning musical “Maybe Happy Ending” is a charming love story of two obsolete Helperbots set in a near-future Seoul. But beyond its futuristic yet humane premise, the show stands out in the theater landscape for its originality. In an era dominated by adaptations of novels, films and the real stories, "Maybe Happy Ending" offers a story and characters built entirely from scratch. “'Maybe Happy Ending' is especially important to me because it’s the first original story Will Aronson and I created together,” Park said in a written interview with Korean media. “Building a world and characters from nothing was both an exciting and terrifying process.” Writing across cultures Growing up in Korea and

25 years apart, one fight: Queer icons on shattering Korea's closet

When TV personality Hong Seok-cheon first came out in 2000, it was technically on his own terms — but the fallout was far from what he intended. His initial disclosure, made during the taping of a public broadcast, was edited out by a producer who said it was to “protect” him. Hoping to take control of his story, he then gave a magazine interview, intended as a quiet step forward. But the news was leaked and sensationalized, turning his sexuality into headline fodder — “I am homo(sexual)” — pushing him into a years-long exile from Korea’s conservative television industry. Fast-forward more than two decades to when Bain of K-pop boy band JUST B stood before thousands at a concert in Los Angeles in April and came out in his own words — “I’m proud to be a part of the LGBTQ+ community, as a gay person.” Draped in and waving a Pride flag and singing Lady Gaga’s queer anthem “Born This Way,” he was met with applause. It was a moment that would’ve been unthinkable in Hong’s time. And yet, both moments carried the same weight — the cost of truth and the risk

‘Sleep No More’ to open in Seoul in August

The groundbreaking immersive theater production "Sleep No More" is finally arriving in Seoul, with preview performances set to begin in July ahead of its official premiere on Aug. 21. Reimagining Shakespeare’s "Macbeth" as a noir-inspired, non-verbal experience, the production is already being hailed as one of the most anticipated theatrical events of the year. Spearheaded by Korean immersive content company Ms. Jackson, "Sleep No More" Seoul will unfold inside the newly transformed McKithan Hotel — a reimagining of the former Daehan Cinema in Chungmuro, a symbolic site at the heart of Korea’s film industry. The venue has been renovated extensively to house this large-scale production, marking the largest iteration of "Sleep No More" ever staged, following runs in New York and Shanghai. Originally created by British theater company Punchdrunk in the early 2000s, "Sleep No More" revolutionized modern theater by blurring the lines between stage and audience. Unlike traditional performances, viewers don masks and roam freely throughout a multi-story building, piecing together fragme

'Maybe Happy Ending' wins 6 Tonys, including Best Musical

Composer Will Aronson and lyricist Hue Park's "Maybe Happy Ending" took home six honors, including the Best Musical, during the 78th Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, Sunday (local time). This is the first time an original musical that was created and premiered in Korea has won at the prestigious musical awards. The duo also bagged Best Book of a Musical and Best Original Score Written for the Theatre together. "This season is full of artists working in totally different styles and we are so honored to be among them," Park said in his acceptance speech for Best Original Score. "We tried to blend Korean indie pop, American jazz, modern classical and traditional Broadway, a melting pot of sensibilities, and we are so grateful the Broadway community has embraced us." With the win, Park became the first Korean national to receive the prestigious award, though Korean American artists have previously been recognized. Darren Criss won Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical for his portrayal of Helperbot Oliver; Michael Arden won the Best Direction for a

Korean musicals can resonate beyond border, says Broadway producer

At the Link Arts Center in downtown Seoul, as Korean and international producers and creators gathered for the K-Musical Market's annual showcases and pitches, Rachel Sussman — Tony-winning Broadway producer and co-founder of The Business of Broadway — took the stage with a clear message: Korean musicals are closer than ever to finding their place on the international stage. When Sussman first partnered with the Korean Arts Management Service (KAMS) in 2022, the goal was to foster mutual understanding between Korean creators and the American theater industry. Four years later, that partnership has produced workshops, showcases and now, a growing optimism that Korean musicals — if attuned to universal themes and cultural nuances — could soon become a regular part of the global theatrical circuit. "My organization, the Business of Broadway, which is an educational initiative in New York, began a partnership where producers from the KAMS program would come to New York and we could teach on how the Broadway business operates from the producer's perspective,” Sussman told The Kore

Who was Hungarian bomb expert behind Korea’s fight for independence?

In the 2016 film "The Age of Shadows," a mysterious foreign explosives expert named Ludvik (Foster Burden) assists Korean independence fighters against Japanese colonial rule. Though dramatized for the screen, the character was inspired by a real yet little-known historical figure — a Hungarian bomb technician known only as “Magyar,” a word that simply means “Hungarian” in his native language. The identity of this enigmatic foreign ally was recently unearthed by Mozes Csoma, former Hungarian ambassador to Korea and now a professor at Karoli Gaspar University in Budapest. Through archival research, Csoma has confirmed that Magyar was not just a generic reference to a Hungarian national, as previously assumed, but likely the man’s actual surname. Csoma identified him as Gabor Jozsef Magyar, born in 1896 in Selmecbanya, who was captured by Russian forces during World War I and detained in Siberian prisoner-of-war (POW) camps. The search for Magyar began in 2019, during Csoma’s diplomatic posting in Seoul. The Hungarian Embassy co-hosted an academic conference with Dankook Uni