Latest news with #KimDong-yeon
Korea Herald
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Korea Herald
'The First Great Show' reimagines origin of Korea's musical theater
Seoul Metropolitan Musical Theatre's new comedy blends fact and fiction to pay tribute to musical pioneers while playfully poking fun at the genre Don't take the title "The First Great Show" too seriously. The new musical by the Seoul Metropolitan Musical Theatre may be about the beginnings of Korean musical theater — loosely inspired by the real story of the Yegreen Troupe, Korea's first private company founded in 1961 to pioneer original musicals — but the show itself doesn't aim to be a reverent history lesson. After all, making a 'great' show is hard for anyone — let alone the first-timers who were inventing the genre as they went. The story plays with the idea of how confusing and bold the "first" musical attempt may have been, especially in an era when the genre was not well understood in Korea. So, as the Seoul Metropolitan Musical Theatre reimagines the troupe's story, they've chosen to explore the pioneering but chaotic spirit of early Korean musical theater through comedy. The story was also fictionalized to avoid being boxed in by facts and to better connect with audiences. 'Dealing with stories from the past, political or historical realities in Korea is a bit sensitive. So the challenge was to present this material in a way that could make audiences laugh without feeling burdened or uncomfortable,' Kim Dong-yeon, a seasoned stage director, said during an interview on Thursday. Still, the work is more than just a comedy. It's both a tribute to Korea's early musical theater pioneers and a self-aware reflection on the genre itself. 'The work honors those whose failures and efforts laid the foundation for what is now a 460 billion won ($330.5 million) musical industry — the largest share of Korea's performing arts sector,' Kim Deok-hee, artistic director of the musical theater, said. Describing it as a 'musical about musicals,' Kim said the show playfully poses meta-questions such as: 'Why do characters suddenly sing?' and 'Does it always have to end in a happy ending?' He added that the work also aims to embody the identity of the Seoul Metropolitan Musical Theatre, which traces its roots to the historic Yegreen Troupe that remains relatively unknown despite a history spanning more than 60 years. Composer Choi Jong-yoon said that he drew from a wide range of musical theater traditions — over 100 iconic numbers from Korean and Western musicals. Rather than imitation, these were intended as respectful tributes to predecessors. The score spans genres like country, soul, folk, disco and even trot, evoking the textures of the era, Choi said. Writer Park Hae-rim said the musical began with the question: 'What if you were tasked with making the first-ever musical in a time when no one knew what a musical was?' Although fictional, many scenes in the show are inspired by actual anecdotes from the early 1960s — like performing without microphones or casting non-musical actors. The cast includes veteran actors and ensemble members of the Seoul Metropolitan Musical Theatre, joined by guest performers such as Lee Chang-yong and Cho Hyung-kyun. 'The First Great Show' runs May 29 to June 15 at the M Theater of the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts. gypark@
Korea Herald
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Korea Herald
'The First Great Show' reimagines origin of Korea's musical theater
Seoul Metropolitan Musical Theatre's new comedy blends fact and fiction to pay tribute to musical pioneers while playfully poking fun at the genre Don't take the title "The First Great Show" too seriously. The new musical by the Seoul Metropolitan Musical Theatre may be about the beginnings of Korean musical theater — loosely inspired by the real story of the Yegreen Troupe, Korea's first private company founded in 1961 to pioneer original musicals — but the show itself doesn't aim to be a reverent history lesson. After all, making a 'great' show is hard for anyone — let alone the first-timers who were inventing the genre as they went. The story plays with the idea of how confusing and bold the "first" musical attempt may have been, especially in an era when the genre was not well understood in Korea. So, as the Seoul Metropolitan Musical Theatre reimagines the troupe's story, they've chosen to explore the pioneering but chaotic spirit of early Korean musical theater through comedy. The story was also fictionalized to avoid being boxed in by facts and to better connect with audiences. 'Dealing with stories from the past, political or historical realities in Korea is a bit sensitive. So the challenge was to present this material in a way that could make audiences laugh without feeling burdened or uncomfortable,' Kim Dong-yeon, a seasoned stage director, said during an interview on Thursday. Still, the work is more than just a comedy. It's both a tribute to Korea's early musical theater pioneers and a self-aware reflection on the genre itself. 'The work honors those whose failures and efforts laid the foundation for what is now a 460 billion won ($330.5 million) musical industry — the largest share of Korea's performing arts sector,' Kim Deok-hee, artistic director of the musical theater, said. Describing it as a 'musical about musicals,' Kim said the show playfully poses meta-questions such as: 'Why do characters suddenly sing?' and 'Does it always have to end in a happy ending?' He added that the work also aims to embody the identity of the Seoul Metropolitan Musical Theatre, which traces its roots to the historic Yegreen Troupe that remains relatively unknown despite a history spanning more than 60 years. Composer Choi Jong-yoon said that he drew from a wide range of musical theater traditions — over 100 iconic numbers from Korean and Western musicals. Rather than imitation, these were intended as respectful tributes to predecessors. The score spans genres like country, soul, folk, disco and even trot, evoking the textures of the era, Choi said. Writer Park Hae-rim said the musical began with the question: 'What if you were tasked with making the first-ever musical in a time when no one knew what a musical was?' Although fictional, many scenes in the show are inspired by actual anecdotes from the early 1960s — like performing without microphones or casting non-musical actors. The cast includes veteran actors and ensemble members of the Seoul Metropolitan Musical Theatre, joined by guest performers such as Lee Chang-yong and Cho Hyung-kyun. 'The First Great Show' runs May 29 to June 15 at the M Theater of the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts.
Gulf Today
27-04-2025
- Politics
- Gulf Today
Lee scores big win in another primary
Former Democratic Party (DP) leader Lee Jae-myung scored another sweeping victory on Saturday in his race for the candidacy in the upcoming June 3 Presidential election, winning the primary in the country's southwestern region. Lee won 88.69 per cent of the votes in the DP's primary in the city of Gwangju, and the North and South Jeolla provinces, according to party officials. Lee is considered a strong presidential contender for the liberal party. He has been taking the lead in recent opinion polls, Yonhap news agency reported. 'I believe the people of Honam have entrusted me with even greater expectations and responsibility,' Lee said after the results were announced. The Jeolla regions, also known as the Honam regions, are considered a DP stronghold. Lee stressed that the Honam regions deserve more investment, blaming the conservative government, whose traditional stronghold is the southeast, for its 'flawed' approach to the balanced development across the country. 'We need to invest much more in the area. Balanced development isn't just about supporting local regions, but it's an essential choice for our country's growth and prosperity,' he said. His latest win follows his overwhelming victories in the central Chungcheong and southeastern Gyeongsang primaries. Far behind Lee was Gyeonggi Governor Kim Dong-yeon, who gained 7.41 per cent, followed by former South Gyeongsang Governor Kim Kyung-soo with 3.90 per cent. Earlier on April 19, Lee won an overwhelming victory in a primary in the central Chungcheong region. He won 88.15 per cent of the total vote in a presidential primary in South and North Chungcheong provinces, and Daejeon and Sejong cities, according to party officials. Lee defeated the DP's two other contenders by a large margin -- Gyeonggi Province Gov. Kim Dong-yeon with 7.54 per cent and Kim Kyung-soo, a former South Gyeongsang Province governor, with 4.31 per cent. Meanwhile, South Korean acting President Han Duck-soo called for efforts to achieve a 'more mature democracy' in South Korea on Saturday amid growing speculation he may announce a bid to run in the upcoming presidential election. Indo-Asian News Service
Straits Times
24-04-2025
- Business
- Straits Times
Go big or go home: South Korean presidential hopefuls pledge mega AI investments
South Korean candidates from the rival main political parties on both sides of the aisle are rolling out various AI policies on the campaign trail. PHOTO: REUTERS Go big or go home: South Korean presidential hopefuls pledge mega AI investments SEOUL - In South Korea's heated race for the early presidential election on June 3, artificial intelligence has become the latest buzzword. Candidates are vying to outbid one another with eye-popping investments and grand promises, each casting themselves as the ideal leader for the new era. From a 'Korean-style ChatGPT' to mandatory military service exemptions for tech talent to ambitious plans to nurture the next Nvidia or Palantir, candidates from the rival main parties on both sides of the aisle are rolling out various policies on the campaign trail. However, observers warn that many of the plans lack concrete road maps or practical details. Numbers game Overall front-runner Representative Lee Jae-myung, former chair of the liberal Democratic Party of Korea kicked off the AI race by pledging a 100 trillion won (S$91.9 billion) investment in AI over five years to strengthen Korea's global competitiveness in AI. With this massive budget, he vowed to build national AI data clusters, secure more than 50,000 cutting-edge graphic processing units and support the development of AI-critical neural processing units. He also floated the idea of developing a 'Korean-style ChatGPT', providing it free to the public. Other plans incudes creating schools specialised in AI at national universities and expanding the range of mandatory military service exemptions for science and tech talent. Fellow Democratic Party candidates Gyeonggi Governor Kim Dong-yeon and former South Gyeongsang Governor Kim Kyoung-soo also joined the investment spree, each pledging the same 100 trillion won. Mr Kim Dong-yeon, with a focus on building large-scale infrastructure and ecosystem, pledged to secure 1 million GPUs and nurture 100 top-tier AI professionals. Mr Kim Kyoung-soo's plan focuses on public-private partnerships to develop a Korean AI foundation model in a bid to secure 'AI sovereignty'. Attempting to outmatch the liberal bloc, conservative presidential hopeful Han Dong-hoon, former justice minister and leader of People Power Party, raised the stakes to 200 trillion won in what is the largest promise by a contender yet. Of that, 150 trillion won is earmarked for infrastructure, with the remainder allocated to AI-related fields such as in defense, health care and robotics. He also proposed to create a new government agency, tentatively named the Ministry of Future and Strategy, and pledged to nurture 10,000 AI experts. Another People Power Party hopeful, Mr Hong Joon-pyo, the recently resigned mayor of Daegu, pitched a relatively modest 50 trillion won. His policies include expanding research and development in cutting-edge industries including, AI, quantum computing and superconductors, along with pushing for a 'gate-free' innovation model of reducing barriers and regulatory hurdles for new technologies and businesses. Mr Kim Moon-soo, former labour minister, promised 100 trillion won to foster 200,000 talented AI professionals and develop an AI-based education system. Meanwhile, Representative Ahn Cheol-soo of People Power Party, who was once an anti-virus software entrepreneur and medical doctor, touted himself as the most qualified candidate to lead the AI industry. Mr Ahn laid out broader science and tech agenda, pledging to train 1 million science and tech experts, boosting R&D spending to 5 per cent of GDP and establishing a 20 trillion won start-up fund. Money will not build AI nation Despite the parade of lofty promises, observers are raising concerns that many of the proposals lack practical details. Even more tech-savvy presidential contenders have attacked one another for being out of touch. Mr Lee Jun-seok, candidate for the minor conservative Reform Party, who studied computer engineering and economics at Harvard University, blasted candidates' policies as 'scam-level', that lacks understanding of the industry. 'The fundamentals of the AI industry come from stimulating private investments,' Mr Lee told reporters on April 16. 'What's important is talking about deregulation, but discussing superficial things like 100 or 200 trillion won only shows a lack of understanding of this industry,' according to him. Mr Lee Jun-seok further condemned Mr Lee Jae-myung's policy of providing free AI services to the Korean public, as a 'foolish attempt linked to his 'freebie' policy series'. He also took a swing at Mr Han for simply doubling Mr Lee Jae-myung's proposed investment amount to 200 trillion won. Mr Ahn echoed a similar view, saying: 'Without a mid- to long-term blueprint for national science and technology development, shouting 100 trillion won without any consideration won't develop AI technology.' While experts and industry officials welcomed the surge in focus and investment in AI at the national level, two of them voiced concern over the lack of detailed vision and actionable plans. 'The greater the national investment, the better,' said Dr Choi Byung-ho, a professor at Korea University's Human-inspired AI Research Lab. 'But the focus should be on what the budget supports and the overall direction.' Prof Choi identified three priorities that the policies need to address if South Korea is serious about raising its AI competitiveness - talent, GPUs and data - the trio that are interdependent. 'At a time when the technology is accelerating, we need to invest more on people. Simply creating new AI departments won't solve the problem; that's been done before. But they need to make sure existing ones get the resources, research funding and benefits like military exemptions to retain talent,' said Prof Choi. The professor stressed that securing GPUs are critical to running data centres and developing South Korea's own foundation model, which also require large amount of data. 'Obtaining data costs lots of money. Public data is still remains largely inaccessible, and so are legal documents and medical data. The question is whether the government will make these data accessible for AI, and if so, how and to what extent.' Mr Kim Sung-hoon, CEO of Korean AI startup Upstage, also stressed these three pillars. 'I am very happy that all the presidential candidates have placed AI-related agendas at the top of their priorities,' Mr Kim said at a press event last week. 'But what's essential for AI development is support for training data, GPUs and the recruitment of top talent.' THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Korea Herald
23-04-2025
- Business
- Korea Herald
Go big or go home: Presidential hopefuls pledge mega AI investments
From W50tr to W200tr, candidates vow aggressive AI investments, but some experts question feasibility, direction In South Korea's heated race for the early presidential election June 3, artificial intelligence has become the latest buzzword. Candidates are vying to outbid one another with eye-popping investments and grand promises, each casting themselves as the ideal leader for the new era. From a 'Korean-style ChatGPT' to mandatory military service exemptions for tech talent to ambitious plans to nurture the next Nvidia or Palantir, candidates from the rival main parties on both sides of the aisle are rolling out various policies on the campaign trail. However, observers warn that many of the plans lack concrete road maps or practical details. Overall front-runner Rep. Lee Jae-myung, former chair of the liberal Democratic Party of Korea kicked off the AI race by pledging a 100 trillion won ($70.19 billion) investment in AI over five years to strengthen Korea's global competitiveness in AI. With this massive budget, he vowed to build national AI data clusters, secure more than 50,000 cutting-edge graphic processing units and support the development of AI-critical neural processing units. He also floated the idea of developing a 'Korean-style ChatGPT,' providing it free to the public. Other plans incudes creating schools specialized in AI at national universities and expanding the range of mandatory military service exemptions for science and tech talent. Fellow Democratic Party candidates Gyeonggi Governor Kim Dong-yeon and former South Gyeongsang Governor Kim Kyoung-soo also joined the investment spree, each pledging the same 100 trillion won. Kim Dong-yeon, with a focus on building large-scale infrastructure and ecosystem, pledged to secure 1 million GPUs and nurture 100 top-tier AI professionals. Kim Kyoung-soo's plan focuses on public-private partnerships to develop a Korean AI foundation model in a bid to secure 'AI sovereignty.' Attempting to outmatch the liberal bloc, conservative presidential hopeful Han Dong-hoon, former justice minister and leader of People Power Party, raised the stakes to 200 trillion won in what is the largest promise by a contender yet. Of that, 150 trillion won is earmarked for infrastructure, with the remainder allocated to AI-related fields such as in defense, health care and robotics. He also proposed to create a new government agency, tentatively named the Ministry of Future and Strategy, and pledged to nurture 10,000 AI experts. Another People Power Party hopeful, Hong Joon-pyo, the recently resigned mayor of Daegu, pitched a relatively modest 50 trillion won. His policies include expanding research and development in cutting-edge industries including, AI, quantum computing and superconductors, along with pushing for a 'gate-free' innovation model of reducing barriers and regulatory hurdles for new technologies and businesses. Kim Moon-soo, former labor minister, promised 100 trillion won to foster 200,000 talented AI professionals and develop an AI-based education system. Meanwhile, Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo of People Power Party, who was once an antivirus software entrepreneur and medical doctor, touted himself as the most qualified candidate to lead the AI industry. Ahn laid out broader science and tech agenda, pledging to train 1 million science and tech experts, boosting R&D spending to 5 percent of GDP and establishing a 20 trillion won startup fund. Money won't build AI nation Despite the parade of lofty promises, observers are raising concerns that many of the proposals lack practical details. Even more tech-savvy presidential contenders have attacked one another for being out of touch. Lee Jun-seok, candidate for the minor conservative Reform Party, who studied computer engineering and economics at Harvard University, blasted candidates' policies as 'scam-level,' that lacks understanding of the industry. 'The fundamentals of the AI industry come from stimulating private investments,' Lee told reporters on April 16. 'What's important is talking about deregulation, but discussing superficial things like 100 or 200 trillion won only shows a lack of understanding of this industry," according to him. Lee further condemned Jae-myung's policy of providing free AI services to the Korean public, as a 'foolish attempt linked to his 'freebie' policy series." He also took a swing at Han for simply doubling Lee's proposed investment amount to 200 trillion won. Ahn echoed a similar view, saying, 'Without a mid- to long-term blueprint for national science and technology development, shouting 100 trillion won without any consideration won't develop AI technology." While experts and industry officials welcomed the surge in focus and investment in AI at the national level, two of them voiced concern over the lack of detailed vision and actionable plans. 'The greater the national investment, the better,' said Choi Byung-ho, a professor at Korea University's Human-inspired AI Research Lab. 'But the focus should be on what the budget supports and the overall direction." Choi identified three priorities that the policies need to address if Korea is serious about raising its AI competitiveness: talent, GPUs and data -- the trio that are interdependent. 'At a time when the technology is accelerating, we need to invest more on people. Simply creating new AI departments won't solve the problem; that's been done before. But they need to make sure existing ones get the resources, research funding and benefits like military exemptions to retain talent,' said Choi. The professor stressed that securing GPUs are critical to running data centers and developing Korea's own foundation model, which also require large amount of data. 'Obtaining data costs lots of money. Public data is still remains largely inaccessible, and so are legal documents and medical data. The question is whether the government will make these data accessible for AI, and if so, how and to what extent." Kim Sung-hoon, CEO of Korean AI startup Upstage, also stressed these three pillars. 'I am very happy that all the presidential candidates have placed AI-related agendas at the top of their priorities,' Kim said at a press event last week. 'But what's essential for AI development is support for training data, GPUs and the recruitment of top talent.'
