In This Issue: A round up of the best Korean entertainment news from around the world for the week ending 28th September, 2014
41st L.A Korea Festival attracts 400,000 people
The extensive festival, covering food, herbal remedies and K-Pop was held in L.A recently attracting close to 400,000 people. The even is run over 4 days and was created to help local Korean people source their homeland goods but recently has taken as more K-Pop inspired twist with a full night of K-Pop musical events.
Samsung expands music streaming service ‘Milk’
Originally only available on Samsung’s Galaxy phones, the tech giant has moved onto providing the service for its WebTV and wearable technologies. Milk has become a very strong competitor to Spotify and Pandora and with the expansion we could see further movement in the streaming service industry.
MU:CON Event announces line-up
MU:CON announced the full line-up for the event on Monday. The event is already well known for attracting a high number of industry experts from around the world for the conference part of the event. The concert part will play host to 45 music acts including 29 Korean acts and 16 international acts.
G.O.D to bring 15th Anniversary to L.A and N.Y
Powerhouse have announced K-Pop legends, G.O.D, will be commencing their first ever American concerts in celebration of their 15th Anniversary. Although no specific details have been made available, a teaser image has been released.
Korean Film ‘Sea Fog’ selected for Oscar nominations
Many countries are now beginning to pick their homegrown movies to pit against one another for the coveted Oscars. Sea Fog (Haemoo) is an ocean-set drama focusing on the Chinese economic refugees and the fisherman-turned-human traffickers who transport them. This film will be Korea’s submission for the Foreign Language Feature. (Source: deadline.com)
Mystic89 and Apop collaborate
Mystic89, the label behind acts like Eddy Kim and Lim Kim will be joining Apop who is responsible for penning hit songs for IU and Gain. The two labels announced via social media that they will be merging and starting to function as a multi-label enterprise. (Source: Soompi.com)
JYJ have first public broadcast in 4 years
As the ambassadors for the 17th Asian Games, JYJ participated in a lot of activities to promote the event, which also included their first public broadcast in 4 years. Despite not being able to be on public television the trio is one of the most successful acts in Korea.
Tazza 2 makes record debut
The sequel to the hugely popular film Tazza: The high Rollers has smashed the records for the most tickets sold in just 7 days for the R-rated movie. Tazza 2 attracted 2 million admissions in its first week of opening on September 3.
2NE1’s CL working on first solo album
CL recently revealed to Vanity Fair Italia that she is preparing for her first solo album. There are current rumours floating around that the album could be a mix between Korean and English.
ZE:A’s Taehun participates in MMA program
Taehun has already joined the controversial program and took part in an MMA fight for the September 23 episode where he sustained a nose injury, which required surgery. When asked if he would prefer to be an idol or an MMA fighter, Taehun stated ‘I would choose MMA’.
B1A4 are the first idol group to see iPhone 6 plus
Australia was the first country to receive the iPhone 6 and lucky for the boys of B1A4 our interviewer, Johnny, got his hands on one first! During the interview the idol group spotted the phone and were so surprised they stopped the interview. B1A4 are now officially the first K-Pop idol group to see the iPhone 6 plus.
2Pm’s Nichkun joins boxing reality show
JYP Entertainment have announced that Nichkun will be joining ‘Brave Heart’, a boxing reality program set to be aired in China. You can put your fears to rest as the idol won’t be participating as a boxer rather a team manager.
BTS are now Swarovski designers
In collaboration with CeCi Magazine and jewellery brand Swarovski, BTS have designed and produced bracelets. BTS leader, Rap Monster, actually drew the initial design for the bracelet and the other members pitched in ideas. The final product was a bracelet that represented the meeting between a girl and a boy. The group displayed the bracelets in their shoot for CeCi Magazine.