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Year-end brings Verdi, Wagner, Puccini, Bizet and Gluck operas to Korea

As Korea’s opera scene heads into the year’s final stretch, major companies across the country are unveiling high-profile productions that underline the growing ambition and scale of the nation’s oper

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'Telecom Derby' showdown: T1 and KT Rolster face off in all-Korean Worlds

South Korea is sweeping this year's global League of Legends stage, with Faker’s T1 and veteran squad KT Rolster charging into the 2025 World Championship Finals set for Friday in Chengdu, China. League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK), the Korean professional League of Legends league long recognized for its dominance in esports, has produced both finalists this year — marking the first all-Korean Worlds final since DRX faced T1 in 2022. Both T1 and KT Rolster have endured grueling runs througho
Nov. 4, 2025
Seoul’s high-rise push sparks world heritage alarm

Seoul’s approval of a 141.9-meter (approximately 34-story) building across from Jongmyo — Korea’s first UNESCO World Heritage site — has resurfaced a longstanding question: how far should urban renewal go when internationally recognized heritage is at stake? The city recently revised height limits for the Sewoon District No. 4 redevelopment zone, easing the cap from the previous 71.9 meters to 141.9 meters on the Cheonggyecheon side. The change comes seven years after limits were first imposed f
Nov. 4, 2025
Seoul’s top spots for book lovers this fall

In a city defined by screens and speed, many Seoulites are finding comfort in turning real pages again, trading scrolling for reading as a new form of rest. According to a September survey by the Korean Publishers Association, 87.8 percent of South Koreans read at least one paper book in 2024. The largest share said they read “to broaden their knowledge and become cultured,” followed by those seeking fun, self-improvement or emotional healing. As reading gains traction as a fashionable hobby, ca
Nov. 4, 2025
Pritzker-winning Riken Yamamoto warns Seoul faces crisis without new housing vision

Japanese architect Riken Yamamoto, winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2024, warns that Seoul's future is in jeopardy if its record-low birth rate persists — a crisis he believes is deeply tied to how the city conceives of and inhabits housing. “Many of the fundamental problems stem from housing. Because housing, at its core, is about how we choose to live,” Yamamoto said during an interview with a group of reporters at Seoul City Hall this September. The Japanese architect, who has com
Nov. 3, 2025
Gyeongju National Museum to limit visitor numbers to Silla gold crowns exhibition

The Gyeongju National Museum will limit the number of daily visitors to an unprecedented exhibition showing six gold crowns discovered in the royal tombs of the Silla Kingdom (57 BC-AD 935) in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province. "Silla Gold Crowns: Power and Prestige,” organized to coincide with APEC 2025, opened to the public Sunday, with a long line forming outside before the museum opened at 10 a.m. The state museum announced Sunday that the number of visitors would be limited to 2,550 per d
Nov. 3, 2025
5-year-old Music Festival Pohang continues to experiment, evolve

Known more for its steel and shoreline than symphonies, Pohang is redefining its cultural identity. This week, its growing classical music festival returns in its fifth edition. "Five years may sound like a short time for a festival, but this fifth anniversary means a great deal to us. So this year, we’ve put together an especially varied and generous program to celebrate it," Park Yu-shin, cellist and music director of Music Festival Pohang, told reporters during a press conference Monday in Se
Nov. 3, 2025
Everland offers three autumn healing routes blending foliage, fantasy and spa

With peak foliage setting in across much of Korea, Everland is pitching a trio of fall experiences — colorful trails, fantasy-themed attractions and spa time. The park said visitors this week will find the grounds at their autumnal best, from the crimson maples along the 1-kilometer Sky Garden path to the golden tunnel of gingko trees near the Rose Garden. At the Four Seasons Garden, marigolds, globe amaranths and pampas grass add to the scenery. For thrill-seekers, the park’s rides offer elevat
Nov. 3, 2025
Ji Chang-wook returns for revenge in 'The Manipulated' on Disney+

Korean heartthrob Ji Chang-wook is once again driven by vengeance in the upcoming Disney+ original thriller, "The Manipulated." The series marks a rare film-to-series adaptation for Disney+ Korea, bringing director Park Shin-woo and Ji back together to reinterpret Park’s 2017 action hit "Fabricated City" through a fresh lens. At the story’s core is a premise familiar to the original: Tae-joong (Ji Chang-wook), an ordinary man whose life is upended after being falsely accused of a brutal crime, d
Nov. 3, 2025
Designer Woo Young-mi breaks obsession, embraces openness in Wooyoungmi Itaewon

More than two decades after launching her eponymous high-fashion label in Paris, South Korean designer Woo Young-mi has returned home with a landmark debut: Wooyoungmi’s first flagship store in Itaewon, Seoul, on Wednesday. “Itaewon is a town of diversity where different cultures and nationalities coexist, creating a young and hip energy. Embracing such diversity is our brand’s most important philosophy,” Woo said in an interview with The Korea Herald. The store’s striking architecture reflects
Nov. 2, 2025
Gallery Hyundai signs artist Christine Sun Kim, who redefines sound and language

Korean American artist Christine Sun Kim has joined the roster at the Seoul-based Gallery Hyundai. Based in Berlin, Kim draws on her personal experience navigating between signed and spoken languages to question established frameworks for understanding sound and language. Kim wittily brings attention to the ways sound operates within society, confronting the systemic marginalization of the Deaf community through her art, encompassing drawing, performance, video and installation. Musical notation
Nov. 2, 2025
Talk of Beijing's lifting Hallyu ban 'premature': Presidential Committee on Popular Culture Exchange

Amid rising hopes that Beijing will lift its unofficial Hallyu ban, following South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and Chinese President Xi Jinping's in-person summit on Saturday, the Presidential Committee on Popular Culture Exchange remained cautious, stressing it remains too early to draw conclusions. In a press release Sunday, the committee dismissed news reports that Xi had "responded favorably" to Park Jin-young's suggestion during the Korea-China banquet that Korean artists be allowed to
Nov. 2, 2025
Naver’s Webtoon Translate to shut down

Webtoon Translate, the official fan translation platform operated under Naver subsidiary Webtoon Entertainment, will cease operations on Nov. 26. New user registration has been disabled since Sept. 24, and the platform will shut down later this month, with access to the site permanently discontinued. According to Naver, all translation data will be deleted once the service ends and will not be retained or archived. Former users of Webtoon Translate who wish to preserve their work have been advis
Nov. 2, 2025
From 'oppa' to 'ajumma': How honorifics shape K-drama

If you’re a K-drama fan, chances are you’ve come across the world of Korean honorifics -- those small yet powerful words that can define entire relationships. In a language built around relationships, these titles, from "oppa" and "eonni" to "seonbae" and "hubae," serve as emotional cues that drive storytelling and shape character dynamics in ways that English subtitles cannot replicate. Here, we explore some of the most commonly used terms that shape the subtle subtext of K-drama storytelling.
Nov. 2, 2025
Walking through Yangdong Village, where time appears to stand still

GYEONGJU, North Gyeongsang Province — Nestled 16 kilometers northeast of Gyeongju, Yangdong Village offers visitors a glimpse into the past where tiled-roof hanok, thatched cottages and the rhythm of Confucian life remain preserved amid the hum of the 21st century. Recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2010, Yangdong is not a museum but a living community, home mainly to descendants of the Wolseong Son and Yeogang Yi clans. The village unfolds along Hyeongsan River on the Angang plain, a
Nov. 2, 2025
G-Dragon, Cha Eun-woo light up APEC 2025 gala dinner in Gyeongju

K-pop icons G-Dragon and Cha Eun-woo added star power to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit’s gala dinner in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, Friday, captivating global leaders and delegates gathered at the event. The dinner, hosted at Lahan Select Hotel’s grand ballroom, opened with Cha Eun-woo, a South Korean singer and actor currently serving in the military, who stepped out of uniform to host the evening in fluent English. “I never imagined I would be here as an emcee in front
Nov. 1, 2025

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