
Seoul to host inaugural 'MyK Festa' in June, showcasing full spectrum of hallyu
Fans of Korean cultural content and global entertainment industry leaders will converge in Seoul this June for the first-ever MyK Festa, a large-scale festival celebrating the Korean Wave, or hallyu, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced Thursday.
Co-hosted by the ministry and the Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange, the four-day event will run from June 19 to 22 at Olympic Park and surrounding venues in southeastern Seoul.
Designed as a comprehensive celebration of Korean culture, MyK Festa will feature major K-pop concerts, a global content industry conference, interactive exhibitions, cultural experiences, and business programs aimed at supporting Korean companies with global ambitions. The event will also promote regional tourism, according to organizers.
The festival will open with a star-studded K-pop concert at KSPO Dome on June 19, featuring WayV, Lee Young-ji, aespa, ILLIT and Hearts2Hearts. Additional performances on June 21 and 22 will include ITZY, Chungha, Heize, Lyn, Lee Mu-jin, and BE'O. The final concert will shine a spotlight on Korean traditional music, with contemporary reinterpretations by groups such as ADG7 and Uheeska.
From June 19 to 22, the SK Olympic Handball Gymnasium will house a large-scale exhibition space featuring interactive booths and showcases from about 100 domestic companies across sectors such as music, television, webtoons, cuisine and lifestyle.
A global conference on the future of the content industry will be held on June 20, drawing key figures from across the international media landscape.
'Hallyu is evolving beyond popular entertainment to influence broader industries and global consumption patterns,' said Yune Yang-su, director of international cultural affairs and public relations at the culture ministry. 'With MyK Festa, we aim to deepen global fan engagement and unlock new industrial value for Korean culture worldwide.'
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Korea Herald
7 hours ago
- Korea Herald
Seoul's chronic shortage of venues has concert organizers looking elsewhere
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On Saturday, the Korea Entertainment Producers' Association (KEPA) issued a statement calling for the issue to be properly addressed, even suggesting that the National Assembly site could be a suitable location for a dedicated concert area should the National Assembly be relocated to Sejong City, as has been suggested by President Lee Jae-myung during his election campaign. 'Building a concert venue requires a massive budget, which makes it financially burdensome. On top of that, it's difficult to secure suitable land within the limited space in Seoul, and the lack of administrative support has repeatedly led to the cancellation of large-scale venue projects,' Kim Myung-soo, head of KEPA, told The Korea Herald on Wednesday. He added, 'Due to the shortage of concert venues in Seoul, event organizers are increasingly turning their attention to venues in the greater metropolitan area.' "Booking a concert venue is always a fierce competition. There are far too few venues dedicated solely to festivals or concerts," an official from a concert organizing company also said. Goyang City committed to large-scale concerts Goyang City, home to one of South Korea's largest concert venues, Goyang Sports Complex, has made it clear since last year that it is committed to attracting large-scale performances at the municipal level. Concert venues fall under different categories: arenas, which accommodate around 8,000 to 20,000 seats; domes, which hold between 20,000 and 30,000 seats; and stadiums, which can host concerts for more than 30,000 people. With a capacity of approximately 50,000, Goyang Sports Complex falls into the stadium category. Goyang Sports Complex offers excellent accessibility for both domestic and international audiences, with its proximity to Incheon International Airport, Seoul Metro Line 3, and the GTX-A line. 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Weverse Con, a joint festival organized by Hybe, was held at Inspire Entertainment Resort for two years in a row, taking advantage of the indoor and outdoor venues. On Feb. 18, Jang Hyun-ki, the general manager of the venue, announced that in 2024, the venue hosted a total of 69 events, attracting 519,000 attendees. 'This year, we are aiming for 60 billion won in revenue and 700,000 visitors. By the third year, once fully stabilized, we expect to attract 800,000 visitors annually,' he explained. He also emphasized efforts to develop in-house productions, saying, 'We aim to go beyond being just a concert venue and focus on creating original content as well.' Striving to overcome shortcomings Goyang Sports Complex faces challenges due to its open-roof structure, making it difficult to host events in winter and during the monsoon season. Meanwhile, Inspire Arena is not easy to reach as it is located on Yeongjongdo, Incheon. Goyang City is open to expanding or renovating Goyang Sports Complex to address its shortcomings. 'Discussions are underway on measures such as installing protective mats to preserve the sports lawn and adding a roof to enable performances even in inclement weather,' a Goyang City official told The Korea Herald. Inspire Arena is also working to resolve its biggest drawback — accessibility. While its proximity to Incheon International Airport makes it convenient for overseas visitors, domestic concertgoers have frequently raised concerns about the long travel time to the island. The venue estimates that it takes approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes to 2 hours to reach from central Seoul. Their goal is to reduce this to under 1 hour and 30 minutes. Artists performing at Inspire Arena have also attempted to alleviate the problem by offering shuttle bus services bundled with concert tickets. Infinite, for example, held its 15th-anniversary encore concert, "Limited Edition," on April 12-13. To improve accessibility, the organizers partnered with the Kakao T application to sell round-trip shuttle bus packages connecting the venue with major subway stations in Seoul, as well as major cities such as Daejeon, Daegu, Jeonju, Gwangju and Busan.


Korea Herald
9 hours ago
- Korea Herald
Say 'kimchi': How photobooths have filled Korean streets
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Korea Herald
9 hours ago
- Korea Herald
Different layers of motifs, puzzles bring stylish take on 65-year-old female killer
'The Old Woman with the Knife' and its film adaptation offer diverging visions of aging, violence and redemption "The Old Woman with the Knife" by Gu Byeong-mo follows a female assassin nearing the end of her career — a striking and compelling premise that has proven irresistible for adaptation. The hardboiled Korean action-thriller novel, originally published in 2018, was reimagined as a musical last year and its film adaptation premiered at the 75th Berlin International Film Festival. It follows the story of Hornclaw (played by Lee Hye-young), a 65-year-old assassin whose age is beginning to catch up with her, and Bullfight (Kim Sung-cheol), an enigmatic young man who trails her with unclear motives. Her line of work, already dangerous, grows more precarious as she ages, and the world around her begins to see her as obsolete. 'She's like the legendary gunman whose hands have started to shake,' said director Min Kyu-dong at a press conference. 'Then a hotheaded newcomer shows up and challenges her to a duel. When she refuses, he starts firing wildly to provoke a confrontation.' Both the novel and the film center their narratives on this aging killer. But while the book turns inward, delving into the psychological weight of growing old — questions of powerlessness and the meaning of existence — the film leans outward, embracing visual spectacle through action-packed confrontations, tense chases and uneasy alliances. At its best, the film is not a retelling, but a divergent reflection of the same story — like a puzzle assembled from the same pieces, yet arranged into an entirely different picture. Bullfight and Hornclaw: Rivalries in two registers One of the starkest differences between the novel and the film lies in the characterization of Bullfight. In the film, his backstory is clearer and more emotionally grounded, hinting at a traumatic event that not only fuels his obsession with defeating Hornclaw but also his desperate need to leave a mark on her life. For the film to work, Bullfight's world had to be as robust as Hornclaw's, according to the director. "What could have pushed a young man to seek out a showdown with an aging killer? Perhaps a traumatic event, powerful enough to upend his entire life, is what drives him," said Min. 'With a novel, if something doesn't make sense, you can close the book and come back later. In a film, the moment passes, and if you don't understand, the rest of the story might not land.' The novel resists clarity. Bullfight's motivations remain ambiguous, his feelings toward Hornclaw unreadable. Gu has consistently declined to offer any clarification since the novel's release. 'It's the part readers are most curious about,' she said. 'But if I give a clear answer, the mystery disappears. I want readers to sit with their own questions.' Power struggle Another key divergence appears in the portrayal of the fictional company. In the novel, the shadowy organization of contract killing is referred to only vaguely as 'the agency." Both Hornclaw and her former partner and mentor, Ryoo (Kim Moo-yul), recognize the moral compromise inherent in their line of work, fully aware that their so-called 'clean-up' jobs are, in the end, acts of unforgivable violence. In the film, the moral framing is more ambiguous — even somewhat palatable. Hornclaw describes her work as a kind of sacred duty, targeting only those whose crimes seem to warrant death. There are boundaries, rules that govern her actions. The agency's director, Son (Kim Kang-woo), harbors ambitions to modernize it and ultimately edge Hornclaw out. Their conflict deepens as Son aligns with the newcomer, advocating for new ethics and methods within the agency. This clash reflects not only generational tensions but also a clash over justice, efficiency and the value of human life, leaving the aging Hornclaw increasingly sidelined and dismissed. Moral ambiguity Similar to the ethics of the agency that Hornclaw clings to, the film portrays her as a figure holding onto some sense of justice and righteousness, with her first love, Ryoo, also lingering as a sacred yet mysterious presence in her past. For example, Hornclaw's first murder is deliberately ambiguous in the film. The novel, however, offers a harsher, more unsettling interpretation: Ryoo intentionally abandons the young Hornclaw in a dangerous situation, out of a need to take care of the offender. Far from heroes, the novel suggests that neither Hornclaw nor Ryoo was innocent or virtuous. The novel devotes considerable space to Hornclaw's troubled history: her years of drifting from place to place, during which she was driven to steal not out of necessity but recklessness, her fraught relationship with Ryoo, and her child (omitted entirely from the film). This portrayal adds a layer of moral ambiguity and emotional complexity to the story. Many symbolic motifs — existence and disappearance, wounds, loss and recovery, salvation and violence — are intricately woven into the book. The film, likewise, is layered with motifs and puzzles. According to the director, even something as simple as a car's license plate hides a code. 'I hope that discovering these subtle details will be a small but rewarding pleasure for the audience and book fans alike," said Min "The Old Woman with the Knife" novel is available in English, translated by Chi-Young Kim, as well as in several other languages in 13 countries. hwangdh@