The Korea Times

Hanbok expo highlights shift toward everyday wear

Rolls of silk in deep blue, pale jade and translucent pink covered one corner of Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) on Friday, as merchants unspooled the fabric across their tables and walked visitors through the differences in weight and weave. A few steps away hung cropped tweed jackets, button-front skirts, jeans, mini bags and jewelry, all of them drawing inspiration from hanbok, or traditional Korean clothing. None of the items seemed designed for the weddings and holiday gatherings closely associated with wearing hanbok in the modern era. The 2026 Hanbok Expo opened Thursday at DDP Art Hall in central Seoul for a four-day run through Sunday. Organized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Craft and Design Foundation, the ninth edition has drawn 149 hanbok businesses and institutions. The timing is deliberate. "Hanbok saenghwal," meaning "hanbok lifestyle," was designated a National Intangible Heritage in July 2022, and a campaign backed by the ministry is now working toward a UNESCO's Intangible Heritage listing by 2030. A booth near the exit collects visitor sig

Aug 14, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min

Hanbok expo highlights shift toward everyday wear

K-pop

For sEODo Band, 'Joseon pop' is feeling before formula

Before sEODo BAND had much of an audience, it had a problem familiar to every new act — it needed 30 minutes of music to play at performances. The solution came from a source most rock bands would not think to raid. The band took the highlight passages of the traditional pansori "Chunhyangga," strung five of them together and found that the half-hour set told the whole story of the 18th-century Korean love epic from beginning to end. That set is now, nine years later, the band's first full-length album, "ONE," expected for release on Friday. "It turned out to be more fully realized than we expected," the band's vocalist, sEODo, said during an interview at The Korea Times headquarters in central Seoul, Aug. 3. "Making a full-length in that shape became something the band had wanted to do for years." The album's title carries more in Korean than it can in English. "ONE," or "won," means circle in Korean. It is also the "won" of resentment and of longing, the two forces driving the lovers through the "Chunhyangga" story. The plot itself loops — a couple meets, parts and meets again. It

Aug 14, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min

For sEODo Band, 'Joseon pop' is feeling before formula

K-pop

Mnet-born rock band Splayit turns survival show run into debut album

Splayit, the five-member K-rock band assembled through Mnet's global band-making survival show "Steal Heart Club," released its debut album "SPLAY : CHAPTER 01" Thursday, entering a local rock scene that has spent the past few years absorbing new arrivals at a steady clip. The band consists of vocalist Yoonchan, drummer Eunbin, keyboardist and sub-vocalist Kyunguk, guitarist Aydn and bassist Eunchan. The name combines "splay" and "play it," a nod to the members' stated aim of spreading out their individual charms through music. Hours before the debut album's drop at 6 p.m., the band played its first official stage at Ilchi Art Hall in Seoul's Gangnam District, where the members performed the album and spoke about their debut. "When I first heard we were debuting, I thought the five of us would make our journey so much fun," Yoonchan said. "I could see a clear concept and real synergy, so I was excited. I'm grateful to the fans and the staff who got us to this moment." Aydn said the name fit before it was even chosen. "It suited the kind of music we make and the ambitious direction we're h

Aug 13, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min

Mnet-born rock band Splayit turns survival show run into debut album

K-pop

Fewer than 4 in 100 K-pop groups ever sell 300,000 of an album: study

Nearly half of Korean idol groups vanish within three years of debut, and only 3.55 percent ever sell 300,000 copies of a one album, an analysis of K-pop acts over the past three decades showed. The findings confirmed that while the K-pop industry has gone global, its rewards have narrowed to only a handful of names. The study was published late last month in the Journal of Korea Entertainment Industry Association by Kim Jeong-seop, a professor at the Graduate School of Cultural Industry & Arts at Sungshin Women's University. It covers all 1,182 groups registered with the Korea Popmusic Industry Association that debuted between 1996, the year boy band H.O.T. set the template for modern idol production, and the end of 2025. Soloists and coed acts were excluded, leaving 588 girl groups and 594 boy groups, with an average of 39.4 debuts a year. Ninety-seven groups, or 8.21 percent, have sold more than 100,000 copies of an album, the threshold at which a working fandom is generally considered to have formed. A total of 42 cleared 300,000, the figure the industry uses as the break-even point o

Aug 13, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min

K-pop

How K-pop turned album previews into events worth ticketing

The most sought-after free ticket in Seoul this month is for a show where nobody performs. On Aug. 19, which marks the 20th debut anniversary of K-pop icon BIGBANG, fans are expected to pack the Mulbit Stage at Yeouido Hangang Park, western Seoul, for drones, fireworks and a DJ set built entirely from songs the group will not be singing. The album will make an appearance, but the band will not. It is an unusually literal illustration of something the industry has been moving toward for years. Somewhere between the collapse of physical albums, CDs and the arrival of the algorithm, the act of hearing a record before everyone else stopped being a courtesy extended to critics and became a product with a venue and a guest list. The trend traces back to 2022, when BTS member J-Hope played his solo work "Jack in the Box" for an invited crowd — celebrities Zico, BIBI, HyunA and Yoon Mi-rae — ahead of its release. The event worked because it was closed, and the people who could describe it became the story. Pop culture critics followed, and their notes on production choices reached fans befor

Aug 13, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min

K-pop

Remakes find new life across generations, borders in K-pop

Remakes are accounting for a growing share of K-pop releases this year, with rookie idol groups and established vocalists alike reinterpreting hits from past decades. Rookie girl group AtHeart will release its take on "3! 4!," a 1996 hit by hip-hop and dance pop group Roo'Ra, on Aug. 19. The single is the second installment of the group's "Time Travel Project," a series built around songs that were hits in 1996 in Korea and the United States. The multinational seven-member group, which debuted in August 2025, has framed the concept as a 30-year leap intended to connect generations of listeners. It opened the series in June with "Say It," a recreation of The Cardigans' "Lovefool" that charted on Melon's HOT100. Girl group RESCENE has seen the strategy pay off. The five-piece girl group's remake of "Pretty Girl," a 2008 hit by second-generation K-pop girl group KARA, has taken three music show trophies since its release, beginning with a win on SBS M's "The Show" on July 14. It added two more on MBC's "Show! Music Core." The original version by KARA never won a music show award. Veteran voc

Aug 12, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min

Remakes find new life across generations, borders in K-pop

Arts & Theater

Cha In-pyo plays mentor onstage, questions whether he is one offstage

Every night at curtain call, the flowers go to Cha In-pyo. Thirty-three years into an acting career that has made him one of the most recognizable faces in the country, that is simply how it works. Lately, however, the flowers and cheers have started to bother him. "I already have fans. When a show ends, I get piles of gifts and bouquets," Cha said at a press conference held Tuesday in a fourth-floor rehearsal room at NOL Theater Daehangno Woori Card Hall in central Seoul. "A lot of the young actors in the team don't. I feel bad about it, and I keep asking myself what I could do to change that." It is a strange thing to hear from the man currently playing the lead role in "Dead Poets Society," which runs through Sept. 13. Cha plays John Keating, the English literature instructor who tells the boys of Welton Academy to seize the day and think for themselves. Onstage he is the mentor, but offstage, at 59, he is not convinced he has earned the title. "The adult I believe in is someone who doesn't take the whole harvest, who stands one step back and shares it with the people coming up," he sa

Aug 11, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min

Cha In-pyo plays mentor onstage, questions whether he is one offstage

K-pop

Small stage, big reminder of K-pop beyond spotlight

Last Saturday belonged to the arenas. K-pop girl group aespa filled Gocheok Sky Dome, one of the largest concert venues operating in Seoul, while veteran boy band 2PM filled Inspire Arena in Incheon and HYBE Labels' ENHYPEN pulled fans down the peninsula to Busan. Among them they divided the evening, the kind of night that forces a choice on anyone with a ticketing calendar. Some fans, however, made a different one and walked into the relatively small YES24 Live Hall in eastern Seoul's Gwangjin District at 5 p.m. the same day, where boy band LUN8 was holding "OFF-ZONE," the Fantagio boy band's first fan concert since debuting in June 2023. In Korean fandom slang, LUN8 is referred to by some as a member of "nugudom," a term coined from "nugu," or the Korean word for "who," used for acts the wider public cannot name. It is a ranking disguised as a joke, and it has a way of settling the question of talent before anyone asks it. The first thing staff handed over at the door answered that question in its own quiet way. LUN8 has no official lightstick, a piece of merchandise most groups treat

Aug 10, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min

K-pop

BLACKPINK meets fans for 10th anniversary

K-pop girl group BLACKPINK marked its 10th debut anniversary Saturday with a meet-and-greet for 40 fans at the National Museum of Korea (NMK) in Seoul, closing a week during which the group's fandom accused its agency of mishandling the milestone. All four members — Jennie, Jisoo, Lisa and Rosé — attended. It was the first time the group appeared before fans in Korea since its Goyang concerts in July last year. "Today is the day BLACKPINK turns 10," Jisoo said on a Weverse live broadcast before the Saturday event. "It's an important day for us." Rosé said the decade had gone by in a blur, and that it did not feel like 10 years had passed. She then brought out a cake topped with a "10" candle and handed each member a bouquet, prompting Jennie to call her "the romanticist of our team." Lisa said she had been too nervous to eat and had listened to BLACKPINK songs while getting her hair and makeup done. Jisoo also used the broadcast to address criticism of the event. "We originally wanted to see many more people," she said. "We knew this was an important day, but there seems to have bee

Aug 9, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min

BLACKPINK meets fans for 10th anniversary

K-pop

BLACKPINK marks 10th anniversary with National Museum heritage collection

K-pop powerhouse girl group BLACKPINK is set to release a merchandise line created with MU:DS, the official goods brand of Korea's national museums, to celebrate the group's 10th debut anniversary, according to YG Plus, Wednesday. The BLACKPINK HERITAGE COLLECTION, comprising seven items, draws inspiration from the "jeogui wonbon," a garment pattern for an empress's ceremonial robe housed at the National Museum of Korea (NMK). Painted on traditional "hanji" paper, the pattern features 12 rows of pheasant motifs symbolizing the empress, alongside plum blossom designs representing the imperial household of the Korean Empire. Developed under the slogan "Heritage, Where Time Becomes Value," the collection "reinterprets the royal motifs through the group's visual identity, presenting itself as a branding project rather than conventional artist merchandise," according to YG Plus. The items go on display Saturday at the merch shop inside the museum's permanent exhibition hall, with preorders opening the same day on YG SELECT's online stores in Korean, English, Japanese and Chinese. Online orde

Aug 7, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min

Pyo Kyung-min

Read more

Hanbok expo highlights shift toward everyday wear

For sEODo Band, 'Joseon pop' is feeling before formula

Mnet-born rock band Splayit turns survival show run into debut album

Fewer than 4 in 100 K-pop groups ever sell 300,000 of an album: study

How K-pop turned album previews into events worth ticketing

Remakes find new life across generations, borders in K-pop

Cha In-pyo plays mentor onstage, questions whether he is one offstage

Small stage, big reminder of K-pop beyond spotlight

BLACKPINK meets fans for 10th anniversary

BLACKPINK marks 10th anniversary with National Museum heritage collection

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