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Pyo Kyung-min

Korea Times K-Culture Reporter

Stay tuned for Pyo Kyung-min's latest K-pop stories, where she digs into the backstories that matter. She’d love to hear from you — share your thoughts at pzzang@koreatimes.co.kr. After all, every article gets better with insights from those who love the scene, just like she does!

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K-pop

AHOF sprints toward love with 3rd EP 'RUN TO YOU'

K-pop boy band AHOF kicked off an all-out sprint toward its fans Wednesday, releasing its third EP "RUN TO YOU." Hours before the album drop, the nine members, Steven, Jeongwoo, Woongki, Shuaibo, Han, JL, Juwon, Chih En and Daisuke, met with the press at Yes24 Live Hall in Gwangjin District, eastern Seoul, to share the story behind the album and their thoughts on the comeback. "We're nervous, but only because we've worked so hard preparing this with all the members," said Steven, the group's leader and eldest member. "I feel both jittery and excited," Jeongwoo added. "Just like the title 'RUN TO YOU,' we're going to keep running full speed, so please keep your eyes on us." "RUN TO YOU" arrives eight months after the group's last release. According to the members, the new record captures "the resolve to charge straight toward the one you love without ever looking back." "We packed both our refreshing charm and a more intense side into this album," Jeongwoo said. "You'll see the AHOF you know, along with a fiercer look we haven't shown before. We've grown another step, so please watch us cl

Jul 8, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min
AHOF sprints toward love with 3rd EP 'RUN TO YOU'
Books

Horror books for your summer reading list

Koreans have long known a secret about surviving the summer: fight heat with fear. For decades, the arrival of the monsoon season meant horror specials on Korean television, ghost stories and horror anthologies programmed precisely when tropical nights made sleep impossible. The logic, half science and half folklore, holds that a good shiver down the spine cools the body better than any electric fan. The tradition survives today in summer horror film releases and haunted house pop-ups that appear across Seoul every July. But for readers of English, there is now an alternate route to that seasonal chill, one that does not involve jump scares or formulaic slasher plots. Korean horror and crime fiction has quietly become one of the fastest-growing corners of translated literature, with a shelf of novels that trade cheap thrills for something colder and more lasting. The timing invites comparison with Japan. English-language publishers have spent the past decade riding a wave of translated Japanese mysteries, from Seishi Yokomizo's classic locked-room puzzles to Yukito Ayatsuji's "The Decago

Jul 7, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min
Horror books for your summer reading list
K-pop

MONSTA X's Kihyun trusts his gut on 'BORDERLINE'

With one day left before deadline, Kihyun of K-pop boy band MONSTA X has yet to choose the title track for his upcoming solo album, "BORDERLINE." The MONSTA X main vocalist had another song penciled in, but a nagging feeling would not leave him. So he did what the album itself is about — he trusted his own instinct and eventually went with "So Good," a rock-based track carried by delicate, technically demanding vocals. Kihyun has anchored MONSTA X as its main vocalist since the group debuted in 2015, with the voice that carries its choruses and its highest of notes across a decade of albums, tours and festival stages. Away from the six-member act, he has built a parallel solo identity rooted in belt-heavy rock, starting with the 2022 single "VOYAGER" and the mini-album "YOUTH." "I chose [the title track] with the mindset of trusting my own choice," Kihyun said in an interview with The Korea Times, Wednesday, at the Starship Entertainment headquarters in Gangnam District, Seoul. "And I think it really was a great choice." That decision anchored "BORDERLINE," Kihyun's second mini-album a

Jul 7, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min
MONSTA X's Kihyun trusts his gut on 'BORDERLINE'
K-pop

K-pop group i-dle turns up summer heat with 9th EP 'We made'

K-pop girl group i-dle returned Monday with its ninth EP, "We made," serving up a sultry summer night through Latin-inflected title track "Gimme Dat Love." "We made" marks the group's first release in six months, following January's digital single "Mono (feat. skaiwater)." Hours ahead of the album's release, members Miyeon, Minnie, Soyeon, Yuqi and Shuhua met with the press at Yes24 Live Hall in Gwangjin District, eastern Seoul, to share stories behind the album and their thoughts on the comeback. "It doesn't feel real that we're already releasing our ninth EP," Miyeon said. "We've come back with another song that suits summer, but this one fights heat with some more heat. We prepared it with everything we've got, so please give us lots of love and support." According to the members, "We made" carries a pop appeal distinct from the music i-dle has presented so far. The album captures the group's expanded present, some seven years of evolution since its second EP, "I made," released in 2019. "'We made' continues the 'We' series that began with 'We are' after our rebranding, following the

Jul 6, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min
K-pop group i-dle turns up summer heat with 9th EP 'We made'
K-pop

July packed with K-pop career milestones

Not every comeback is just another comeback. July's K-pop release calendar is filled with milestones. Some artists are releasing their first full-length albums after years in the industry. Others are launching new units, returning to solo work after lengthy absences or expanding into overseas markets. Rookie groups, meanwhile, are using the month to build on recent momentum and start new chapters of their own. The result is a lineup defined not simply by new music but by moments that could reshape some of K-pop's most famous careers. The month begins with girl group i-dle, which will release its ninth mini-album, "We made," on July 6. Led by "Gimme Dat Love," the five-track album recalls the group's 2019 EP "I made," suggesting a thematic connection between the two releases. The comeback continues the group's activities following its rebranding last year from (G)I-DLE to i-dle, while expanding on the identity it has cultivated over the past year. A day later, boy band MONSTA X's main vocalist Kihyun returns with "BORDERLINE," his first solo release in three years and nine months. The seven

Jul 3, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min
July packed with K-pop career milestones
K-pop

Keyveatz debuts with fresh take on girlish hip-hop

Hip-hop and R&B label AOMG's first-ever girl crew Keyveatz made its official debut Tuesday, dropping its title track "OXY" and staking a claim in one of K-pop's last open spaces — girlish hip-hop. The five-member group — Son Ju-one, Newy, Um Ji-one, Kim Yu-na and Kang Ye-seul — have been deliberate about the "girl crew" label, positioning themselves apart from the typical girl group mold for an identity rooted in "subculture and underground aesthetics." Hours before the release of its debut EP "OXY_GEN," the group met press at YES24 Wanderloch Hall in Seoul, arriving in sharp streetwear but radiating first-day nerves. "I'm incredibly nervous," said Son, the group's leader. "Standing on an official debut stage, I feel excited and anxious all at once. A lot of time and effort went into getting here ... Our slogan is 'Don't miss what's next,' so we're asking you to keep an eye out for us." On what "girl crew" means in practice, the members pushed back against the idea of image as something manufactured. "It's built on attitude, not concept," Kim said. "Creating unpredictable individual

Jun 30, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min
Keyveatz debuts with fresh take on girlish hip-hop
K-pop

Global BTS conference to explore next chapter of Korean wave

As K-pop juggernaut BTS enters a new era following the release of its latest album, "ARIRANG," scholars from around the world will gather in Korea to examine the group's cultural influence through fandom, technology, politics and globalization. The fifth BTS: A Global Interdisciplinary Conference will take place Thursday and Friday at the International Convention Center of Jeonbuk National University, under the theme "The Next Generation Hallyu & BTS." Hallyu refers to the Korean wave. Hosted by the International Society for BTS Studies (ISBS), the conference will bring together 50 presenters from 10 countries, including Korea, the United States, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Mongolia, the Czech Republic, Canada, Australia and Japan. The event is co-organized by Jeonbuk National University's Namwon Glocal Campus Administration, Center for Glocal University Project, department of K-entertainment and Big Movement. Opening the conference, Lee Ji-haeng, professor of K-entertainment at Jeonbuk National University, will deliver the keynote address exploring the cultural significance of

Jun 30, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min
Global BTS conference to explore next chapter of Korean wave
K-pop

RESCENE's rise proves small K-pop agencies still have a chance

In a K-pop landscape where entertainment giants hold most of the cards, one five-member girl group is proving the rules can still be bent. RESCENE is winning over the public through a playbook that looks nothing like conventional K-pop marketing, fueling hope that small agencies still have room to break through, even as industry watchers debate exactly what RESCENE's formula is. RESCENE debuted in March 2024 with the album "Re:Scene" under The Muse Entertainment, a newly formed agency. The multinational lineup, made up of Woni, Liv, Minami, May and Zena, built its identity around an unusual concept: reviving a "scene" through "scent." But without the backing of a major label or a big-budget marketing push, the group struggled for years to make a name for itself. Momentum finally arrived this year through social media. In March, content showing Woni and Minami sporting Japanese "gyaru"-style (a flashy, dramatic Japanese street-fashion look) makeup while touring Woni's rural hometown of Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province, went immensely viral online. The YouTube moment also sent a spotlight

Jun 30, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min
RESCENE's rise proves small K-pop agencies still have a chance
K-pop

K-pop Report Card From meme hooks to industrial pop, here's what defined K-pop's wildest 2 months

For K-pop, May and June were gloriously messy. Over the past two months, artists bounced between internet memes and club sounds, nostalgia and reinvention, minimalist production and maximalist spectacle. Veteran acts proved they could still evolve without losing themselves, while younger groups continued searching for sounds they could truly call their own. Some experiments paid off. Others raised more questions than answers. Here's what stood out, or fell flat, in K-pop's latest wave of releases. BABYMONSTER, 'CHOOM' EP — title track released May 4 Verdict: Nearly there BABYMONSTER deserves some credit for refusing to chase trends. The track is unmistakably YG: a throwback packed with production choices that recall the label's glory days, when BLACKPINK, or even 2NE1 before them, defined its identity. The instrumental, in particular, feels lifted from that era, and there's certainly an audience still hungry for that sound. The question is whether nostalgia is the right strategy for one of K-pop's youngest groups. A familiar formula can keep longtime YG fans happy, but whether it's the s

Jun 30, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min
[K-pop Report Card] From meme hooks to industrial pop, here's what defined K-pop's wildest 2 months
People & Events

Photo of Gaya tombs wins top prize in UNESCO heritage photo contest

A photograph of tombs from the Gaya Confederacy (42 B.C. – A.D. 562) in southeastern Korea won the Grand Prize in the Discover Korea's World Heritage Photo Contest, according to The Korea Times, Monday. The competition was hosted by The Korea Times in collaboration with the Korea Heritage Service (KHS) ahead of the 48th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, which will be held in Busan from July 19 to 29. Korea is home to 17 UNESCO World Heritage sites and 12 tentative sites. Participants were invited to submit photographs featuring one of the country's World Heritage or tentative sites. From a total of 576 entries, The Korea Times and the KHS selected 60 winners. Grand Prize winner Tim Schilstra of Canada captured the Songhak-dong Tumuli in Goseong, South Gyeongsang Province, one of the seven burial sites that make up the Gaya Tumuli, which were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2023. The burial mounds belonged to the Gaya Confederacy, a polity that flourished in the southeastern Korean Peninsula during the Three Kingdoms period (57 B.C. – A.D. 668) but is oft

Jun 30, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min
Photo of Gaya tombs wins top prize in UNESCO heritage photo contest
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