Journalist
Joonha Yoo유준하
joonhayoo94@ajupress.com
ReporterCOEX Sejong Center for the Performing Arts & Music, Culture, Entertainment, Automotive
Joonha Yoo is a bilingual journalist at AJU Press (AJP), covering music, culture, entertainment and Korea’s automotive industry.
Raised in Fort Collins, Colorado, he often writes from the scene, bringing firsthand detail to stories ranging
from BTS comeback concerts to unique cultural events that catch the world's eye. "I write from the scene, not from the sidelines."
Raised in Fort Collins, Colorado, he often writes from the scene, bringing firsthand detail to stories ranging
from BTS comeback concerts to unique cultural events that catch the world's eye. "I write from the scene, not from the sidelines."
Latest by Joonha Yoo
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World Cup 26: More than a sporting event when identities are at stake SEOUL, June 24 (AJP) - From Norway's Viking Row to South Korea's AI anthem, the 2026 World Cup shows how nations perform identity — and how those performances now travel far beyond the stadium. Seconds after Norway secured a 3-2 win over Senegal at MetLife Stadium, Erling Haaland walked toward the stands. As Martin Ødegaard pounded a drum, the striker began pulling both arms back in unison — rowing, in the style of a Viking longship. The crowd followed until the entire section erupted. Half a world away, a YouTube channel called "Soccer Will Be the Music" had already uploaded an AI-generated anthem for South Korea — a track built on the melodic DNA of a Portuguese football song, reworked into a driving Korean chant. Within two months, it had drawn 1.6 million views. On Instagram, the audio had been used in more than 1,700 Reels, with individual clips reaching 7.1 million views. A video by a women's professional dance team alone recorded 9 million views, 636,000 likes and 95,000 shares. In Dallas, after England beat Croatia 4-2 in their Group L opener, some 20,000 supporters stayed behind to belt out Oasis' "Wonderwall" — a 1995 Britpop anthem that, within days, pushed UK Spotify streams up 50 percent, with the remastered version drawing 1.71 million daily plays. At the 2026 World Cup, fan culture has become a content category of its own. Norway's Viking Row is physical and communal. It requires no song, no lyrics and no prior knowledge — only a body and a willingness to move in sync. Fans sit in a longboat formation, build a rowing rhythm to a drumbeat, chant "ro" — the Norwegian word for "row" — and rise in a collective roar at the climax. Inspired by Iceland's "Viking Clap" at Euro 2016, the ritual quickly migrated from stadiums to escalators, subway cars, Times Square and eventually the Norwegian parliament, all without a single word needing translation. The numbers illustrate how far the ritual traveled before the tournament was even underway. A YouTube clip of Norwegian parliamentarians performing the Row drew 140,000 views. A Shorts video of Haaland leading the celebration after the Senegal win pulled 210,000. AP footage of fans in Times Square reached 170,000. None of these was the main event. They were satellite content — the type of material that thrives on TikTok and Instagram Reels, accumulating around the 90 minutes before and after kickoff. The team itself helped build the mythology. Norway's squad — appearing at its first World Cup since 1998, with Haaland having scored 16 goals in eight European qualifiers — posed for a pre-tournament shoot in helmets, shields and armor commissioned by the Norwegian Football Federation. Football platform 433 posted the image on X with the caption, "Norway's World Cup team photo goes hard." Haaland added his own Viking-themed image with the caption, "Viking blood." The visual identity had been established weeks before kickoff, though not without criticism. Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten reported complaints that the warrior aesthetic was overly masculine and exclusionary. The federation said the concept was intended to emphasize community, courage and solidarity. England's "Wonderwall" moment worked differently: cultural, generational and not entirely spontaneous. Every team at the 2026 World Cup submitted a match-day playlist in consultation with fan groups. England's selection included "Wonderwall" alongside The Beatles' "Hey Jude" and Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline." The song was already in the building before the final whistle. What nobody anticipated was the scale of what followed. Oasis, formed in Manchester in 1991, became the defining band of the Britpop era — the soundtrack of a generation that grew up believing British music could conquer the world. "Wonderwall" alone has surpassed 1.7 billion Spotify streams. When 20,000 England fans sang it in Dallas, they were tapping into a shared cultural memory. Several players, including Jude Bellingham, were visibly mouthing the words. Captain Harry Kane later called it "one of my favourite ever moments in an England shirt." The timing also mattered. Oasis had completed a reunion tour in 2025, their first in more than a decade, and both Gallagher brothers publicly embraced the Dallas clip. Noel told The Sun that "Wonderwall belongs to the people." Liam, after Spotify confirmed the 50 percent streaming spike, wrote on X that it was "a classic" and that he sounded "BIBLICAL on it." South Korea's approach is different again — and perhaps offers the clearest sign of where fan culture is heading. While Norway and England's moments were born in stadiums and migrated online, Korea's AI anthem was born online and moved toward the stadium. The "Dae-Han-Min-Guk" chant and the mass street-cheering culture led by the Red Devils have anchored Korean football identity since 2002. But this tournament has added a new layer. At Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul, real-time city data showed between 12,000 and 14,000 people in the broader plaza area during the match with Czechia. For the Mexico match, city officials estimated at least 18,000 people, forcing organizers to expand the viewing area. Into this existing culture, the AI-generated track has seeded a cross-border content ecosystem. Creators with no connection to Korea's campaign have begun using the sound to make their own videos. The song has become less an anthem than a platform. Lee Sung-ho, a 35-year-old restaurant owner from Gangnam, had been watching the shift happen on his phone for weeks before attending the Mexico match at Gwanghwamun. "What I remember from before was the 'Dae-Han-Min-Guk' chant with the big drum, or everyone singing 'Oh Pilseung Korea,'" he said. "But now social media has such a big presence. You see videos of foreigners doing Korean cheers, foreigners supporting the Korean team. That's new." He had encountered the AI anthem by accident. "The first video I saw was a Latin woman applying Korean-style face paint, with each layer syncing to a beat switch in the song," he said. "It was the first time I'd heard it, but it stuck with me. I went and looked it up afterward. Someone put real thought into making it." Strip away the cultural specifics and a common structure emerges. Each of these moments is short, visceral, collective and repeatable — perfectly suited to the grammar of TikTok, Reels and Shorts. They clip cleanly. They land in seconds. The question is no longer how loudly supporters cheer, but how well those moments travel once they leave the stadium. The Viking Row requires almost nothing from its audience: pure movement that is instantly legible. "Wonderwall" requires context — Oasis, Britpop, Manchester and the emotional charge of a song many England fans already carry with them. South Korea's AI anthem operates differently. It invites participation from people who may know little about Korean football because the sound itself is designed for reuse. Fan performance used to be aimed inward: at the players, the stadium and the occasion. It is now also aimed at a phone screen held by someone who was not there — and may not even follow football. 2026-06-24 18:03:31 -
Months-long beauty festival kicks off in Seoul in bid to attract foreign tourists SEOUL, June 24 (AJP) - Seeking to turn growing global interest in South Korean beauty products into tourism, the country's annual beauty festival kicked off its months-long run on Wednesday, offering foreign visitors hands-on experiences ranging from skincare consultations to K-pop-inspired makeup sessions. Organized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in collaboration with the Korea Tourism Organization, the festival will run through Sept. 30, with major pop-up events taking place at HiKR Ground in central Seoul through July 19. Programs include skin and scalp assessments, hairstyling, eyebrow consultations, personal color analysis and K-pop-inspired makeup sessions. Medical, fitness and fashion-related consultations will also be offered. The government is also making more than 800 beauty-related packages available for booking through nine online travel platforms including Klook, Trip.com, Traveloka and KKday. The online promotion runs through Sept. 30 and is aimed at attracting first-time visitors and encouraging repeat travel to South Korea. A business meeting will also be held on Thursday, bringing together 40 overseas travel companies from 19 countries and 42 Korean companies in the beauty and medical sectors. The ministry expects the initiative to generate about 100 new tourism packages and attract around 2,000 foreign visitors. Travel industry representatives and influencers are also touring beauty-related businesses and attractions in Seoul, Gyeonggi Province, Incheon, Busan, Jeju and Gangwon Province for about a week until June 29. The festival comes as South Korea seeks to convert rising visitor numbers into broader tourism. Foreign arrivals passed 10 million in mid-June, while monthly card spending by overseas visitors exceeded 2 trillion won for the first time in May, according to data from the ministry and the Korea Tourism Organization. 2026-06-24 18:01:21 -
Korea readies customs support for Hyundai's Saemangeum AI robot hub SEOUL, June 24 (AJP) - South Korea is moving to strengthen customs support for Saemangeum as Hyundai Motor Group's planned 9 trillion won ($6.5 billion) investment in artificial intelligence, robotics and clean energy begins to take shape in the reclaimed industrial zone on the country's west coast. Korea Customs Service Commissioner Lee Jong-wook visited the Saemangeum Development Agency in Gunsan on Wednesday and met agency chief Moon Seong-yo to discuss customs measures for companies moving into the area. The two agencies discussed early designation of additional sections of the Saemangeum industrial complex as a comprehensive bonded zone. The status allows companies to import, store, process and export foreign goods while customs duties and other taxes are suspended. The system is intended to reduce costs for export-oriented manufacturers. Companies operating inside the zone can receive duty exemptions when exporting goods. For products sold in the domestic market, firms may choose whether duties are applied to imported raw materials or finished products. Sections 1, 2, 5 and 6 of the Saemangeum National Industrial Complex, covering 8.1 square kilometers, were designated as a comprehensive bonded zone in February 2025. The agencies are reviewing whether to expand the designation to other areas where companies can move in. The customs agency also said it has established a dedicated support team for advanced strategic industries in Saemangeum, ahead of an expected increase in administrative demand from new corporate investment and the planned opening of Saemangeum New Port in early 2027. Officials also discussed relocating Gunsan Customs to Saemangeum to improve access for companies operating in the industrial complex and nearby free trade zone. Gunsan Customs is currently more than 20 kilometers from the Saemangeum site and operates from an aging building completed in 1993. Lee also inspected the planned site of Hyundai Motor Group's robot manufacturing cluster. The group announced in February that it would invest 9 trillion won from 2026 across a 1.12 million-square-meter site in Saemangeum, covering robotics, AI, hydrogen energy, solar power and an AI hydrogen city. The customs agency said recent regulatory changes would allow research institutes to be designated as bonded factories, enabling companies to import research materials with simplified clearance procedures and deferred customs duties. The measure is expected to support research and development if AI and robotics laboratories are built inside Hyundai's Saemangeum cluster. Lee said the agency would move quickly to designate Saemangeum as a comprehensive bonded zone and ease customs regulations so companies can conduct production, research and export activities with fewer administrative burdens. 2026-06-24 17:54:02 -
Foreign visitors' card spending in Korea tops $1.4 billion SEOUL, June 24 (AJP) - Foreign visitors spent a record 2.12 trillion won ($1.4 billion) on credit cards in South Korea in May as cumulative arrivals surpassed 10 million nearly a month earlier than last year, government data showed Wednesday. The May figure, which includes online purchases, marked the first time monthly card spending by foreign visitors exceeded 2 trillion won since data collection began in 2018. Card spending from January through May reached 7.98 trillion won, up 47.3 percent from the same period last year. Visitor arrivals rose 21 percent over the same period to 8.72 million. Preliminary figures showed that cumulative arrivals passed 10 million on June 20. South Korea reached the same milestone in mid-July last year. China and Japan remained the two largest source markets in May, with 563,600 and 357,530 visitors, respectively. Arrivals from Taiwan increased 27.6 percent from a year earlier, Hong Kong 16.6 percent, the Americas 16.5 percent and Europe 24.1 percent. More foreign visitors are also entering South Korea through regional airports. Such airports handled 361,473 arrivals in May, up 32 percent from a year earlier, compared with a 15.7 percent increase at airports serving the Seoul metropolitan area. 2026-06-24 15:11:33 -
AI K-pop group SweeTeez to releases new single 'Line & View' SEOUL, June 24 (AJP) - AI-generated K-pop girl group SweeTeez will roll out its new single "Line & View" on major streaming platforms Wednesday at noon. The single contains two tracks: the title track "Line & View" and "Where You Went, Cloud." Built around synth-pop and future bass, the title track explores repeated encounters and separations between people kept apart by distance and time. The second song deals with remembrance and the cycle of life. A music video released June 17 shows the group's five virtual members performing choreography, with AI used to render their facial expressions, lip movements and dance sequences. SweeTeez is presented as a five-member multinational group formed through "PRODUCE9," an AI audition project involving 99 virtual trainees. Its members are Yena from South Korea, Chinese American member Sophie, Aileen from Malaysia and Japanese members Riri and Yuzuki. The group recently appeared in the SBS documentary special "Life of AI," which examined how virtual idols are created and how AI could shape the future of South Korea's music industry. 2026-06-24 11:24:18 -
South Korea moves to make culture a larger part of foreign aid SEOUL, June 24 (AJP) - South Korea plans to make culture a larger part of its foreign aid policy, using its experience in the arts and creative industries to support developing countries, the foreign and culture ministries said Tuesday. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism signed an agreement at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul to jointly develop official development assistance projects focused on culture. Under the agreement, the ministries will identify and design new cultural aid projects, share information and coordinate programs involving development cooperation, public diplomacy and international cultural exchange, including the establishment and operation of Korean cultural centers overseas. The agreement forms part of the government's broader "K-Initiative," a policy framework that seeks to apply South Korea's experience in culture, industry, technology and democracy to international challenges while advancing its national interests. The plan comes as the government seeks to broaden an aid portfolio traditionally centered on infrastructure, health, education and public administration. Culture and artificial intelligence were identified as new areas of focus in South Korea's latest five-year development cooperation strategy. Culture Minister Choi Hwi-young said South Korea needed to expand its international role through cultural aid, noting that his ministry's ODA budget accounts for only 0.18 percent of total government aid spending. Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said cultural aid should help developing countries improve access to arts and culture and build their own creative industries. He added that deeper cultural exchange could also strengthen South Korea's international standing. The ministries did not announce specific partner countries, projects or additional funding under the agreement. 2026-06-24 10:56:09 -
i-dle teams with Latin pop producers for new EP 'We Made' SEOUL, June 24 (AJP) - K-pop girl group i-dle will release its ninth EP, "We Made," on July 6, Cube Entertainment said Wednesday. The group unveiled the six-track album's full track list through its official social media accounts. "Gimme Dat Love," the lead single, is a Latin pop-inspired track produced by Daramola and Samantha Cámara. Daramola has previously worked with Anitta, Becky G and Jason Derulo. Members Yuqi and Soyeon also took part in the album's production. Yuqi wrote "Love Is Pain," while Soyeon contributed lyrics to "Gimme Dat Love" and "Morning" under her producer alias, icebluerabbit. The EP will also include "Mono," featuring British artist skaiwater, which was released in January, and the pre-release single "Crow," unveiled June 15. A separate version of "Mono" will be available exclusively on the physical CD. The album's concept materials, released earlier, featured thermal imaging and X-ray visuals centered on love, instinct and physical sensation. "We Made" will be available on streaming platforms at 6 p.m. (0900 GMT) on July 6. 2026-06-24 10:51:15 -
K-pop boy band Stray Kids to release 'RUN IT' ahead of world tour SEOUL, June 24 (AJP) -Eight-member K-pop boy group Stray Kids will release a new digital single, "RUN IT," JYP Entertainment said Wednesday. The song was written and produced by 3RACHA, the group's in-house production unit comprising Bang Chan, Changbin and Han. Built around brass, marching drums and world-beat rhythms, the track captures the group's drive and confidence as they head into a new tour cycle. Stray Kids earned their eighth No. 1 on the Billboard 200, the weekly U.S. album chart, with "DO IT" in late 2025, the most by any K-pop act. The single shares its name with the group's upcoming world tour, which opens with five concerts at KSPO Dome in Seoul on July 25, 26 and 29 and Aug. 1 and 2. The tour will continue at the National Stadium in Tokyo, followed by stops in Nagoya, Osaka, Fukuoka, Hong Kong, Taipei, Bangkok and Singapore. It follows the group's "dominATE" tour, which concluded on October of 2025 after 56 performances across 35 locations. "RUN IT" will also appear on Stray Kids' upcoming EP, "THIS & THAT," due Aug. 7. The release will be the group's first album of 2026 and its first in about nine months since "DO IT." Further details, including the track list, will be announced later. 2026-06-24 10:27:16 -
'Teach You a Lesson' tops Netflix for 3rd week; 'Husbands in Action' No. 2 SEOUL, June 24 (AJP) - Korean drama series "Teach You a Lesson" remained No. 1 on Netflix's non-English TV chart for a third consecutive week, while action comedy "Husbands in Action" debuted at No. 2 among non-English films, according to data released by Netflix on Wednesday. Teach You a Lesson drew 11.8 million views and 126.2 million viewing hours during the latest tracking period. Netflix calculates views by dividing total viewing hours by a title's running time. The series ranked No. 1 in 19 countries, including South Korea, Vietnam, Taiwan, Singapore, the Philippines and Malaysia, and made the Top 10 in 85 countries. Released June 5, the series went straight to No. 1 in its first week and has held the position since. Starring Kim Moo-yul, Lee Sung-min, Jin Ki-joo and Pyo Ji-hoon, Teach You a Lesson centers on a fictional government agency created to intervene in schools facing violence against teachers and disruptions to students' right to learn. The adaptation faced scrutiny before its release because the webtoon on which it is based had previously drawn criticism over its depictions of gender and race. The series' popularity has also revived interest in "Juvenile Justice," a 2022 Netflix drama directed by Hong Jong-chan and starring Kim. The earlier series returned to the non-English TV chart at No. 10, four years after its release. Meanwhile, "Husbands in Action," starring Jin Sun-kyu and Gong Myung, entered the non-English film chart at No. 2 in its first week. The action comedy follows a man and his wife's ex-husband as they reluctantly join forces to rescue her after she is kidnapped by a criminal organization. 2026-06-24 10:26:38 -
Netflix to stream entire Korea's Mise-en-scène festival films SEOUL, June 24 (AJP) - Netflix will stream all 44 competition films from the 22nd Mise-en-scène Short Film Festival in South Korea for two weeks beginning Wednesday. The films will be available through July 7, following the festival's six-day theatrical run at CGV Yongsan I'Park Mall in Seoul, which ended Tuesday. Selected award winners will remain on the platform longer, with availability varying by title. The festival received 1,667 submissions this year before selecting 44 films across five genre-based sections covering social drama, romance and melodrama, comedy, horror and fantasy, and action and thriller. Every screening sold out after ticket sales opened, according to organizers. The streaming deal marks an expansion of Netflix's involvement with the festival. In 2025, the company offered 13 shorts comprising award-winning titles and films by members of the festival's executive committee. This year, Netflix served as a main sponsor and extended streaming to the full competition lineup. Launched in 2002, the Mise-en-scène Short Film Festival organizes its competition by genre and has served as an early platform for emerging South Korean directors. Festival co-directors Yoon Ga-eun and Lee Sang-geun said the Netflix release would allow this year's films to reach audiences long after the festival's theatrical run had ended. 2026-06-24 08:48:58