The Korea Times

1-star motels, cult villages, N. Korean restaurants: YouTuber goes where viewers won't

When YouTuber Inevitable Yunhwa walked into North Korean restaurants in China, she spoke nothing but English, convinced she was passing as a foreigner, only to realize while editing the footage at home that she looked unmistakably South Korean and that the staff had most likely let her slide. Born in 1999, Yunhwa is a religious studies graduate who once planned to go to law school. Now, she runs one of the more unusual channels on the Korean side of YouTube. Since posting her first video in February 2024, she has drawn 570,000 subscribers as of Monday, not with "mukbangs" (eating broadcasts) or daily vlogs but with long, meticulously edited videos that take her into one-star motels and bars, villages run by religious groups with criminal histories and North Korean state-run restaurants. She insists she is not a journalist, yet her audience increasingly holds her to the standards of one, a tension that shapes nearly every decision she makes as she sets her sights on viewers beyond Korea. 6-month experiment The channel was never meant to last. Yunhwa had quit her office job to prepare for l

Oct 13, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min

1-star motels, cult villages, N. Korean restaurants: YouTuber goes where viewers won't

K-pop

SM founder Lee Soo-man returns home with tech-driven double debut

Three years after a boardroom battle pushed him out of SM Entertainment, the company he founded, K-pop mogul Lee Soo-man unveiled two new idol groups on Monday in his first music project in Korea since his noncompete agreement with HYBE expired in February. His Singapore-headquartered A2O Entertainment introduced 15-member boy group A2O Soul and nine-piece girl group A2O Lite at a joint showcase at KINTEX in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, where both groups performed live for the first time. Their digital singles, “Superstar” and “Neon,” come out at 6 p.m. Tuesday. The launch also uses an unusual format — two groups debuting at once, linked through a shared fictional universe centered on "Soulite," an alien planet. “The question I get asked most is what makes A2O different,” said Lee, who took the stage at the showcase. “As long as K-pop groups are classified as singers, what a singer needs most is a song. I wanted everything, from the song to the dance, music video, performance and concert, to be different from what came before.” Being different alone is not enough, he adde

Oct 12, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min

SM founder Lee Soo-man returns home with tech-driven double debut

K-pop

SEVENTEEN's Hoshi drops love song 'Boyfriend' during military service

Hoshi of K-pop boy group SEVENTEEN is dropping a new digital single, "Boyfriend," at 6 p.m. on Saturday, the latest in a string of solo releases since his military enlistment last year. "Boyfriend," according to the singer's label Pledis Entertainment, is an R&B-based pop track about carefully approaching a loved one. Hoshi co-wrote the lyrics, and the song is built on breezy shuffle rhythms and synthesizer sounds. Hoshi enlisted in the Army as an active-duty soldier on Sept. 16 last year, becoming the fourth SEVENTEEN member to begin mandatory military service. He is scheduled to be discharged on March 15, 2027. On the day he enlisted, he released "Take a Shot," a hip-hop track for which he co-wrote the lyrics. Pledis has since continued to put out his music during his service, releasing "Fallen Superstar" in November and "Baby, Honey" in March this year. "Snapback," which Hoshi co-wrote and co-composed, followed in June. Other SEVENTEEN members are also pursuing individual projects as the group works through its members’ military service schedules. Jun released his first Chinese-langu

Oct 10, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min

SEVENTEEN's Hoshi drops love song 'Boyfriend' during military service

Society

Ceiling collapse at Daegu building injures 38

Thirty-eight people suffered minor injuries Saturday when part of a ceiling collapsed at a building in Daegu, fire authorities said. According to the Daegu Fire and Safety Headquarters and the Buk District Office, the incident occurred at 10:16 a.m. on the second floor of a four-story building in Gwaneum-dong, Buk District. At the time, a vendor was selling kitchenware and other goods to elderly customers when a section of the ceiling finish collapsed. All 66 people inside evacuated the building on their own following the collapse. A total of 38 people were reported to have sustained minor injuries, with nine of them transported to hospitals. None of the injuries are believed to be life-threatening. Firefighters were dispatched to conduct a search and implement safety measures at the scene. A thorough search following the evacuation revealed no additional casualties. Police also deployed officers around the site to manage traffic. Built in 1994, the four-story building previously housed a grocery store on the first floor, which had suspended operations in September. Authorities plan to in

Oct 10, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min

Ceiling collapse at Daegu building injures 38

Law & Crime

US prison term counts toward Korean military exemption, court rules

A Korean-born man who spent 14 years in a U.S. prison for armed robbery does not have to serve in the Korean military, a Seoul court has ruled, extending an exemption for convicted inmates to those who have served their jail sentences overseas. The ruling rejects the Military Manpower Administration's position that only inmates transferred to Korea to complete their sentences qualify for exemption. The court did, however, attach a condition meant to keep the exemption from becoming a loophole for draft evasion. Under the Military Service Act, anyone sentenced to 18 months or more in prison is placed in wartime labor service, a category that exempts a person from peacetime duty and calls him up only for labor support in the event of war. The man, whose name was withheld, moved to the U.S. with his family and later became a permanent resident there. He was convicted of robbery and aggravated assault in 2010 and was deported to Korea after completing his sentence last year. A physical examination classified him as eligible for alternative service as a social service agent, but he sought ass

Oct 10, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min

US prison term counts toward Korean military exemption, court rules

Korean Heritage

Learning Korean? 3 people share what works for them

As Korea celebrates Hangeul Day's 100th anniversary this month, The Korea Times asked three people learning Korean what drew them to the language, where they struggle now and which study habits have worked best for them. They range from a beginner in the United States to advanced speakers pursuing graduate degrees in Seoul. Name: Adrian Adams Level: Beginner Study tip: Constant exposure, repetition and practice For Adrian Adams, a 22-year-old church secretary in Springfield, Missouri, Korean began as a way to fill the long days of the COVID-19 lockdowns, when a friend recommended a few BTS songs and K-dramas. Adam's interest quickly became something more than a pastime. "Korean culture is so beautiful and intricate," Adams said. "I was amazed by the respect and beauty found in the spoken language." Wanting to understand what the singers and actors were actually saying, Adams started learning in 2022 by following Korean teachers on social media and picking up Hangeul through YouTube videos, then hired a tutor to prepare for a trip to Korea that Adams' parents gave as a surprise high school g

Oct 9, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min

Learning Korean? 3 people share what works for them

People & Events

181 language learners travel to Korea for Sejong Institute contest

HWASEONG, Gyeonggi Province — Amira Kamal Mohamed says she used to be a shy person who rarely spoke. That began to change a decade ago, when she took up Korean while living in her home country of Egypt. She found the language gave her far more ways to put her feelings into words than her native Arabic. "In Arabic, 'sad' is just 'sad' and 'happy' is just 'happy,' but Korean has so many different expressions," said Mohamed, who studies at the King Sejong Institutes in Cairo and hopes to become a Korean language interpreter. "It let me express my emotions much more richly." Mohamed was among 181 outstanding learners from 71 countries invited to Korea by the King Sejong Institute Foundation. On Wednesday, they gathered at Hotel Prumir in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, to cheer on the 20 finalists of the foundation's Korean speaking and writing contests. The event came two days before the 100th anniversary of the establishment of Hangeul Day this Friday. It offered a glimpse of how far interest in the Korean language has spread, as many participants traced their first engagement with the lang

Oct 8, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min

181 language learners travel to Korea for Sejong Institute contest

K-pop

IVE, Illit, RIIZE collide as October K-pop comeback race heats up

The Asian Games and the Chuseok holiday have come and gone, and the air has finally turned crisp with the arrival of autumn, but K-pop's race to the top of the charts is running as hot as ever. October brings more than a dozen notable releases, building to a single day on Oct. 26 when three of the industry's biggest names put out new music at once. Before then, the calendar fills with quick returns from rising groups, a virtual idol act fresh off its first stadium show and a new solo EP from BLACKPINK's Lisa. Early-month rush KickFlip, one of JYP Entertainment's youngest boy groups, returns on Tuesday with the mini album "KICK OFF THE WALL Pt. 1," about six months after "My First Kick" in April. The eight-track album is led by the double title tracks "Puzzle Piece" and "Kick Off The Wall," featuring U.S. rapper iann dior, with every member taking part in writing all the songs. Oct. 12 is the month's first crowded evening. NCT WISH of SM Entertainment releases its fourth mini album, "I SPY," with six tracks led by the title track of the same name. It comes about six months after the group

Oct 6, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min

IVE, Illit, RIIZE collide as October K-pop comeback race heats up

Music

Zara Larsson sets Seoul ablaze with 'Midnight Sun' tour

Zara Larsson, the popstar who rose to fame by winning a Swedish talent show at the young age of 10, is now in the strongest stretch of her career. The Swedish singer won two American Music Awards (AMAs) in May, and "Lush Life," released a decade ago, returned to the Billboard Hot 100 after a fan-dance video went viral. Her fifth album, "Midnight Sun," arrived last year to strong listener reviews and has taken her around the world on a tour of the same name. On Sunday, that tour reached Myunghwa Live Hall in western Seoul for her first-ever headline show in Korea. She had visited only once before, for the 2017 Asia Song Festival. Demand was high enough that a second night was added, and both sold out. For an artist of her current profile, Myunghwa Live Hall, a performance venue with a capacity of about 1,600, is a surprisingly small room, but nobody in it on Sunday night seemed to mind. Many in the crowd were fully glittered and glammed up, flowers in their hair and all, dressed as if the night was a party of their own. Larsson opened the 7:30 p.m. show with the title track, "Midnight Sun

Oct 5, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min

Zara Larsson sets Seoul ablaze with 'Midnight Sun' tour

K-pop

CLOSE YOUR EYES channels jazz-fueled swagger on '256th Note'

Multinational K-pop boy band CLOSE YOUR EYES has released its fourth EP, "256th Note," a jazz-inflected record that comes just five months after the group's last release. The seven-member act — Jeon Min-wook, Ma Jingxiang, Jang Yeo-jun, Kim Sung-min, Song Seung-ho, Kenshin and Seo Kyoung-bae — debuted in April 2025 through JTBC's audition show "Project 7." In the year and a half since, the group has steadily raised its international profile, collecting awards at home and abroad and taking its "BEYOND YOUR EYES" world tour on the road since January. Hours before the album dropped on Wednesday, the members sat down with reporters at a hotel in Seocho District, southern Seoul, to walk through how the record came together. "We wanted to make good memories with our fans, so we went into this with a lot of excitement," Jeon said. "Because the album draws on jazz, we set out to show a side of us people haven't seen before." The album takes its spirit from jazz improvisation, the members explained, where each instrument's spontaneous turns produce split-second moments that pull both players

Sep 30, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min

Pyo Kyung-min

Read more

1-star motels, cult villages, N. Korean restaurants: YouTuber goes where viewers won't

SM founder Lee Soo-man returns home with tech-driven double debut

SEVENTEEN's Hoshi drops love song 'Boyfriend' during military service

Ceiling collapse at Daegu building injures 38

US prison term counts toward Korean military exemption, court rules

Learning Korean? 3 people share what works for them

181 language learners travel to Korea for Sejong Institute contest

IVE, Illit, RIIZE collide as October K-pop comeback race heats up

Zara Larsson sets Seoul ablaze with 'Midnight Sun' tour

CLOSE YOUR EYES channels jazz-fueled swagger on '256th Note'

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