[K-Culture] S. Korean Tony-winning musical 'Maybe Happy Ending' to hit theaters next month

SEOUL, September 4 (AJP) - South Korean musical "Maybe Happy Ending," which swept six awards at this year's Tony Awards in the U.S., is set to be released as a film in theaters next month, its distributor said Wednesday. Kino Films, the film's distributor, said the it will premiere exclusively at the multi-screen chain Megabox nationwide from October 2. Written by South Korean lyricist Hue Park and composed by American composer Will Aronson, the musical debute

September 4, 2025

Kim, Putin vow to boost ties in Beijing summit

SEOUL, September 04 (AJP) - North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks in Beijing on Wednesday, pledging to strengthen their partnership and voicing support for each other's strategic priorities, Pyongyang's state media reported Thursday. According to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Kim and Putin discussed "long-term plans for cooperation" in detail and "reaffirmed their steadfast will to continue to lead the bilat

September 4, 2025

US patent firm alleges LCD patent infringement by LG Electronics

SEOUL, September 04 (AJP) - A U.S. intellectual property management company has filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission, accusing LG Electronics and several other television manufacturers of infringing patents covering liquid crystal display (LCD) technology. BH Innovations LLC named South Korea’s LG, China’s Hisense and TCL, and U.S.-based Vizio as respondents in the case, according to data released Thursday by the patent information platform RP

September 4, 2025

Nongshim taps Netflix hit 'KPop Demon Hunters' to rival Samyang

SEOUL, September 4 (AJP) - Nongshim, South Korea’s largest instant noodle maker, has teamed up with the hit Netflix animation "KPop Demon Hunters" in a bid to challenge Samyang Foods, whose fiery Buldak noodles have become a global social media sensation. The collaboration places characters from the series on packaging for Nongshim’s flagship Shin Ramyun and Shrimp Crackers. The show, which has been streamed more than 260 million times worldwide, prominently

September 4, 2025

From Beijing startup to global powerhouse: China's ByteDance rewrites rules of social media

Editor's Note: This article is the 34th installment in our series on Asia's top 100 companies, exploring the strategies, challenges, and innovations driving the region's most influential corporations. SEOUL, September 04 (AJP) - When Zhang Yiming founded ByteDance in a modest Beijing apartment in 2012, his goal was deceptively simple: build software that could serve people the information they didn’t know they wanted. A decade later, his company has become th

September 4, 2025

PHOTOS: Severe drought in Gangneung

SEOUL, September 04 (AJP) - Amid a severe drought, the city of Gangneung and its surrounding region in Gangwon Province have been forced to implement drastic water conservation measures. According to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, the Obong Reservoir, the primary water source for the area, has seen its water levels drop to critical lows. In response, the city has closed 47 public restrooms and suspended operations at three swimming pools. To combat the crisis, the gov

September 4, 2025

Kim Jong-un's appearance at Beijing parade with Xi and Putin draws US criticism

SEOUL, September 03 (AJP) - North Korean leader Kim Jong-un stood alongside Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin at Beijing's "Victory Day" parade on Wednesday, a rare display that United States lawmaker Rep. Young Kim (R-Calif.) called "provocative," while drawing close attention in Seoul. The parade, held at Beijing's Tiananmen Square to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, showcased China's military p

September 3, 2025

[K-Pop] K-pop dominates Netflix and Billboard with 'Demon Hunters'

SEOUL, September 3 (AJP) - Netflix's animated film "KPop Demon Hunters" has become the global streaming giant's most-watched both film and show, while its main soundtrack topped Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart for a third consecutive week. According to Netflix's ranking website Tudum on Wednesday, the film logged 266 million cumulative views as of this week, overtaking the first season of "Squid Game" (265.2 million) and "Wednesday"

September 3, 2025

Marriages with foreigners rise in South Korea, even as overall unions decline

SEOUL, September 03 (AJP) - South Korea is seeing a growing share of marriages involving foreign nationals, even as overall marriage rates have nearly halved over the past three decades, according to new government data released Wednesday. Statistics Korea said that marriages with foreign spouses rose 54 percent from 13,500 in 1995 to 20,800 in 2024. Such unions accounted for 9.3 percent of all marriages last year, up from 3.4 percent three decades earlier. Both Korean men marr

September 3, 2025

Samsung's processor shows big leap, closing in on Qualcomm

SEOUL, September 03 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics’ next-generation Exynos processor has posted benchmark scores close to those of Qualcomm’s top chip, raising expectations that the company’s in-house silicon could return to its flagship smartphones next year. According to results released Wednesday by Geekbench and industry reports, the Exynos 2600 recorded a single-core score of 3,309 and a multi-core score of 11,256. Qualcomm’s upcoming Snapdragon 8 Elite sec

September 3, 2025