Aju Press - Asia News Hub

Journalist

Joonha Yoo유준하

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."

Latest by Joonha Yoo

At Kiaf and Frieze, Seoul's art crowds come before the buyers SEOUL, September 03 (AJP) - Kiaf Seoul, Korea's flagship art fair, has plenty to celebrate in its 25th edition. On Thursday morning, its audience looked ready for the occasion. Minutes before the 11 a.m. opening, VIP guests were already gathered inside COEX. The dress was polished rather than extravagant: neat jackets, muted colors, the practiced restraint of an art-fair crowd. Then the doors opened and the phones came out. Visitors paused before paintings, stepped back for photographs and handed phones to companions for another shot. Couples drifted between booths. Foreign groups followed guided tours. Empty aisles disappeared quickly under the traffic. Children were scarce. Spectators were not. Buyers were harder to spot. "People come to see the works, but it doesn't really lead to purchases," said a representative of one Kiaf gallery who asked not to be identified. That gap between attention and transaction hangs over Seoul Art Week this year. Kiaf is marking its 25th edition with 175 galleries from 18 countries and territories. Frieze Seoul, held upstairs in the same COEX complex, is in its fifth edition with 133 galleries from 30 countries and regions. Together they have made early September one of the busiest dates on Seoul's cultural calendar. They have also brought the international art trade — and its prices — visibly into the city. There was serious money changing hands at Frieze. On Wednesday's opening day, Thaddaeus Ropac sold Adrian Ghenie's Figure with Funerary Stele for 1.1 million euros ($1.28 million). Antony Gormley's HOLD sold for 750,000 pounds, while White Cube reported selling Gerhard Richter's Fuji for 625,000 euros. Such deals, however, sit at the top end of a market that has yet to regain the momentum of the pandemic-era art boom. South Korea recorded 638.2 billion won ($448 million) in art transactions in 2025, up 3.8 percent from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Arts Management Service. That was still 20.9 percent below the market's 2022 peak, while the number of works traded declined 3.1 percent. Downstairs at Kiaf, few visitors appeared preoccupied with those figures. Conor Pace, a 42-year-old Australian living in Japan, came with his wife during a monthlong stay in Seoul. His wife had studied art, and what struck him was the sheer range available under one roof. He enjoyed watching her move through the fair and seeing works of markedly different styles placed within a few steps of one another. Upstairs at Frieze, the presence of blue-chip names created a different sort of traffic. Owen Lui, a 35-year-old Chinese American from Chicago, was traveling through Asia when he realized Frieze Seoul coincided with his stay in Korea. Already impressed by Seoul's exhibition scene, he came to see what might catch his eye. A traditional Korean vase did. "I find them very beautiful," Lui said. "I think the Korean vase represents the heritage and elegance of one's culture." He also encountered familiar names including Pablo Picasso, Keith Haring and Chinese contemporary artist Yue Minjun. Around the most recognizable works, phones again became part of the viewing experience. "I have actually seen a lot of people taking selfies and photos with their friends in front of the Picasso painting," Lui said. "But I don't judge them. It's hard to get to see something this famous this close." For Lee Yu-jin and Lee Seong-a, two office workers in their mid-20s from Gyeonggi Province, buying was never the objective. They had received invitations and came because Kiaf and Frieze were famous enough that they wanted to see the fairs for themselves. What surprised them was first the size of the crowd and then the informality inside. Visitors sat on bleacher-style seating between booths, talking and resting before disappearing back into the aisles. The prices were less inviting. Some works looked expensive enough that the two said they would not even dare ask the price. During their visit, neither recalled seeing anyone buy a work or negotiate with a dealer. They nevertheless wanted to return. The attraction was discovery: artists they did not know, styles they had not encountered and the sense that the fairs offered more than could comfortably be absorbed in a single visit. That audience matters increasingly to Korea's art market. A recent study of 408 people who had bought art within the previous five years found that 31.3 percent were in their 20s and 30s. Nearly 62 percent had been collecting for less than five years. It points to one of the more important shifts taking place around Seoul's fairs. The city has become adept at drawing people into the orbit of contemporary art, even when attendance does not immediately become acquisition. By late Thursday morning, camera shutters were still clicking across COEX. Elsewhere in the building, works priced in the hundreds of thousands — and occasionally above $1 million — were finding buyers. But in most aisles, the transaction was more modest: a few minutes before a work, a photograph, perhaps a conversation, and then on to the next booth. 2026-09-03 18:02:39
Jinwoo wins reelection as head of Korea's largest Buddhist order SEOUL, September 03 (AJP) - Ven. Jinwoo won reelection Thursday as head of the Jogye Order, South Korea's largest Buddhist sect, becoming its first chief executive in 13 years to secure a second term. Jinwoo, the incumbent 37th president of the Jogye Order's General Affairs Office, was elected the order's 38th president with 183 votes, or 57 percent, in an indirect election held at the Korean Buddhist History and Culture Memorial Hall in central Seoul. All 321 members of the electoral college took part in the vote. His rival, Ven. Gyeongwoo, a former head monk of Seonunsa Temple, received 138 votes, or 43 percent. Jinwoo received his certificate of election shortly after the vote. He is expected to begin his second four-year term on Sept. 28 after approval from the order's council of elders on Friday. The result makes Jinwoo the first Jogye Order chief to win reelection since Ven. Jaseung, who secured a second term in 2013. It is also only the second successful reelection bid for the post since the order's internal reform in 1994. The president of the General Affairs Office is the most powerful administrative position in the Jogye Order, which oversees about 3,500 temples and 12,000 monks nationwide. The office controls the order's general administration, external affairs, temple appointments, property supervision and a budget worth more than 100 billion won. The post is also seen as representing Korean Buddhism more broadly, as the officeholder leads several affiliated Buddhist organizations. Jinwoo was born in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, and entered monastic life under Ven. Baegun. He received his novice precepts in 1978 and full precepts in 1998. He later served as head monk of Yongheungsa Temple in Damyang and, from 2012 to 2014, Baekyangsa Temple in Jangseong, where he was credited with stabilizing the temple after a gambling scandal and allegations of financial misconduct among its monks. Jinwoo went on to hold senior posts in the order, including planning director and general affairs director. As general affairs director, he served as acting head of the order in 2018 after then-President Seoljeong was removed from office. He later served as head of the order's education office from 2019 to 2022, before being endorsed by major factions in the order's Central Council and elected the 37th president in 2022 as the sole candidate, without a vote. Unlike in 2022, this year's election was contested. Jinwoo campaigned on stability during his first term and pledged to move Korean Buddhism into a new phase of growth. Questions were raised during the campaign over the timing of his full precepts and his monastic registration, but the order's election committee cleared him to run. AJP Takeaways · Ven. Jinwoo won reelection as head of the Jogye Order with 183 of 321 votes. · He becomes the order's first reelected chief in 13 years. · His second four-year term is set to begin Sept. 28 after elders' council approval. 2026-09-03 17:31:34
Korea to open culture data for AI SEOUL, September 03 (AJP) - South Korea will open five sets of culture-sector public data in AI-ready formats, covering traditional music, tourism, policy information and cultural assets, the culture ministry said Thursday. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said the data will come from four public institutions: the National Gugak Center, the National Library of Korea, the Korea Tourism Organization and the Korea Culture Information Service Agency. Project is part of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety's "AI and High-Value Public Data Top 100" initiative, launched in 2025. Under the project, the culture ministry will reprocess data from the culture, arts, sports and tourism sectors into AI-friendly formats and release them in December through the public data portal, data.go.kr, as nationally designated core data. Five data sets will include digital sound and image data related to gugak, or traditional Korean music, with added information on genres, instruments, rhythms, performance techniques and cultural context. Policy information collected by the National Library of Korea will also be converted into data that can be used for AI training, including question-and-answer data sets and information organized by major policy, social and economic issues. Tourism data will include updated Korean and multilingual travel information, along with expanded access to regional and themed tourism video content. Agency will prepare data on 3D cultural assets, Korean clothing and traditional patterns in formats suitable for AI learning and use, with expert review applied to strengthen the cultural and historical reliability of the data. The agency will also build ontology-based information on the relationships among cultural assets to help AI systems better understand Korean cultural context. Ministry will introduce a Model Context Protocol-based linkage system for the first time, using MCP, a common communication standard that allows AI models to connect with external data and tools. The ministry said the system is intended to shift public cultural data from resources that people search and download to resources that AI services and agents can connect to and use directly. Moreover, the ministry plans to open a total of 12 AI-ready and high-value data sets by 2027, including five this year and seven next year. A ministry official said opening high-value cultural data for AI use is a key part of Korea's content industry strategy, and that the ministry will continue releasing more high-value cultural data, including library catalog information, museum artifact records and film data. 2026-09-03 13:29:05
Naver Cloud wins cybersecurity AI model project SEOUL, September 03 (AJP) - South Korea has selected a consortium led by Naver Cloud to develop an AI foundation model specialized for cybersecurity, the science ministry said Thursday. The Ministry of Science and ICT said the consortium was chosen following a presentation-based review of two bidders for the project. External experts in artificial intelligence and cybersecurity evaluated each consortium's business plan and presentation, covering technical capability, development experience, project strategy, feasibility, market potential and expected impact. The Naver Cloud-led consortium received strong marks for assembling a large industry-academia-research group with technical capability and development experience. The ministry also cited the consortium's development strategy, including its use of multiple agents and a harness-based structure. The ministry will provide the consortium with 256 Nvidia B200 GPUs for up to 10 months starting in September, subject to an interim review after the first five months. It plans to sign an agreement with the consortium this month and set up a working-level group to help speed up the project. AJP Takeaways · Naver Cloud’s consortium was selected for a government cyber-security AI foundation model project. · The project was chosen after a review of two bidding consortia. · The government will support the project with 256 Nvidia B200 GPUs for up to 10 months. · The support will be reviewed after five months. 2026-09-03 13:22:30
Tesla takes 1 in 3 Korea import-car sales in August SEOUL, September 03 (AJP) - Tesla, this year's standout performer among imported car brands in South Korea, widened its lead in August by selling more vehicles than BMW and Mercedes-Benz combined. Tesla registered 10,400 vehicles in August, exceeding the combined 10,217 units sold by second-ranked BMW and third-ranked Mercedes-Benz, according to the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA). BMW registered 6,180 vehicles and Mercedes-Benz 4,037. Tesla's sales rose 1.6 percent from July and 30.4 percent from a year earlier. Itsshare of Korea's imported passenger vehicle market reached 34.88 percent, up from 33.05 percent in July, meaning more than one in three imported cars registered in Korea last month was a Tesla. Tesla ranked third in January with 1,966 vehicles before moving into first place in February with 7,868 units. It has remained the top-selling imported brand every month since and has surpassed 10,000 monthly registrations for six consecutive months. The Model Y accounted for most of the volume, with 9,638 units registered in August, representing 32.3 percent of all imported passenger vehicle registrations on its own. BMW's August sales fell 5.4 percent from July and 4.3 percent from a year earlier. Mercedes-Benz sales rose 2.0 percent from July but declined 6.8 percent year on year. Tesla registered 76,776 vehicles in Korea from January through August, up 122.3 percent from 34,543 during the same period last year. BMW's cumulative sales edged up 1.2 percent to 51,863 units, while Mercedes-Benz registrations fell 8.7 percent to 37,772. Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD ranked fourth in August with 3,002 vehicles, up 5.5 percent from July. The Dolphin led BYD's lineup, followed by the Sealion 7 and the plug-in hybrid Sealion 6 DM-i. Overall imported passenger vehicle registrations totaled 29,817 units in August, up 9.2 percent from a year earlier but down 3.7 percent from July. AJP Takeaways · Tesla sold 10,400 vehicles in Korea in August, more than BMW and Mercedes-Benz combined. · The Model Y alone accounted for 9,638 registrations, or 32.3 percent of the import market. · Tesla's January-August sales jumped 122.3 percent from a year earlier. 2026-09-03 10:52:57
Korea's squishy toy craze puts 14+ labels under scrutiny SEOUL, September 02 (AJP) -South Korea's squishy-toy craze is getting a sober safety check. In Seoul's Dongdaemun toy district, the old staples of childhood are still everywhere. Children weave between shops packed floor to ceiling with transforming robots, Lego sets, dolls and BB guns. Wedged among them is a newer kind of toy, designed less to build or shoot than to squeeze, stretch and crack. There are croissant-shaped squishies, tubs of brightly colored slime, stretchy "slang-i" toys and wax-covered balls that split under pressure to reveal soft clay inside. AJP arrived in the district around 9 a.m. Wednesday and bought several tactile toys. Some cost as little as 1,500 won ($1). Most squishies were priced between 3,000 and 4,000 won, while large tubs of slime reached 12,000 won. The differences became obvious once the packages were opened. A croissant-shaped squishy released a surprisingly convincing smell of melted butter when squeezed. A dumpling-shaped toy concealed different colors inside, turning each pull into a small guessing game. Others were less inviting. Several gave off strong, unpleasant odors. One wax ball cracked under the fingers to expose a soft filling, but both its smell and texture were harsher than those of the sweeter-scented toys. The experience was tactile, not scientific. Smell, softness or stickiness alone cannot determine whether a toy is safe. What stood out before the packages were even opened was something else. The tactile products AJP examined were marked for ages 14 and older. AJP did not find KC safety marks on the packages it examined. That distinction matters because products marketed for ages 14 and older can fall outside mandatory children's-product KC safety requirements even when similar toys are widely used by much younger children. On Monday, the Seoul Metropolitan Government released safety tests of 20 products labeled for ages 14 and older but considered likely to be used by children. Seven raised chemical or physical safety concerns when measured against standards applied to children's products. Five were tactile products including squishies, slime and wax balls. A "slang-i" bought from a domestic stationery store contained phthalate plasticizers in some soft plastic parts at up to 1.8 times the children's benchmark. Its plastic zipper bag contained phthalates at 142.7 times the benchmark and cadmium at 1.5 times the level. A slime product contained formaldehyde at 2.3 times the children's benchmark and methanol at 1.3 times. One wax ball had phthalates in a plastic decoration at 51.8 times the benchmark, while boron in its clay-like filling reached up to 1.2 times the reference level. Another wax ball bought through AliExpress contained the preservatives CMIT and MIT, substances Seoul said can irritate skin or trigger allergic reactions. A separate squishy had phthalates on its surface at 164.2 times the children's benchmark. The findings did not amount to a legal determination that the products were unsafe. Seoul did not classify them as children's products or find them in violation of the Children's Products Safety Special Act. Instead, the city applied children's safety standards for comparison because younger consumers were considered likely to use the products despite their 14+ labels. It asked overseas platforms to halt sales of tested products that exceeded the comparison standards and distributed safety information to elementary schools and major toy-shopping areas. The issue therefore goes beyond what is printed on the package. Government guidelines say a product's function, intended age, packaging, advertising, consumer perception and place of sale can all be considered when determining whether it should be treated as a children's product. Products that could be mistaken for children's goods but are intended for older users should be clearly labeled and distributed separately from places that mainly sell children's products. In Dongdaemun, that line is harder to see. The 14+ tactile products examined by AJP were sold among robots, dolls and other toys that have drawn families to the district for decades. For Jannise Borger, a 42-year-old Australian visiting Korea with her children, the toy district was one of the family's first stops after arriving in the country. "They've been looking forward to it so much," Borger said. She said squishy toys are particularly popular among children ages 7 to 10 in Australia and estimated that some products cost roughly twice as much there. She was also struck by the district itself. In Australia, Borger said, families are more accustomed to buying toys from large retailers than walking through an entire neighborhood of small toy stores. Children are not the only customers. Ariel Kim, a woman in her 20s living in Seoul's Gangnam district, regularly buys slime, slang-i toys and wax balls. She recalled a previous visit to Dongdaemun as "chaos," with crowds making it difficult even to reach some stores. These days, she mostly orders the toys online. "They don't cost that much, so I don't think I really pay attention to whether something is an original product or not," Kim said. She said she often replaces slime and similar toys after one or two weeks. "I really like that chewy, stretchy feeling," she said. "When I'm playing with it, time goes faster than I expect." YouTube ASMR videos also lead her to try new products. Wax balls have less staying power. "The first time I tried one, it was really fascinating," Kim said. "But once you crack it, that's basically it." Reports about potentially harmful substances have not stopped her from buying tactile toys. "I'm also not at an age where I'm going to eat a wax ball," she said. "I try to be careful, but I don't worry about it that much." For younger children, exposure can be different. A 2022 study of 127 slime products sold in Seoul and four other Asian cities found that 70.1 percent exceeded the European Union boron migration limit used in the study. Researchers also detected CMIT and MIT in substantial shares of the samples and identified hand-to-mouth behavior as an important exposure route for younger children. Safety concerns around squishy toys are not new in Korea. The Korea Consumer Agency tested 12 squishy products in 2018 and found that all released dimethylformamide, or DMF. Six were assessed as posing a potential concern for children aged 3 or younger under the agency's exposure scenario. All 12 carried KC marks at the time, although most had shortcomings in other required labeling. The latest Seoul tests raise a different question. They focused on products marked 14+, placing them outside automatic KC requirements for children's goods even as children remain drawn to the same bright colors, playful shapes and tactile textures. That does not prove manufacturers are using age labels to evade safety rules. It does show how blurry the line can become when the age printed on a package does not neatly match the market around it. Back in Dongdaemun, the 14+ symbol occupies only a small corner of the brightly colored packaging. The label says 14 and older. The shelves tell a more complicated story. AJP Takeaways · Seoul's latest safety tests found concerns in 7 of 20 products labeled for ages 14 and older, including five tactile toys such as squishies, slime and wax balls. · Some tested products contained phthalates, formaldehyde, methanol, boron, CMIT or MIT above children's-product comparison benchmarks. · The products were not legally classified as unsafe children's goods, but their 14+ labels can place them outside mandatory children's-product KC requirements. · AJP found 14+ tactile toys being sold among children's toys in Dongdaemun, highlighting a gap between age labeling and real-world use. 2026-09-02 18:07:38
Italy at Frieze spotlights Korean-Italian art ties SEOUL, September 01 (AJP) - The Italian Embassy in Seoul opened a joint exhibition of Korean and Italian art Tuesday as part of its Frieze week program, highlighting growing cultural ties between the two countries. "Italy at Frieze: The Golden Trace" pairs Korean artist Yeesookyung with Italian artist Andrea Francolino at the Italian ambassador's residence in Hannam-dong, central Seoul. Now in its third Seoul edition, the show runs alongside the fifth Frieze Seoul through Saturday, with Bulgari as the main sponsor. For the opening, rooms inside the ambassador's residence were turned into exhibition spaces, with guests moving between Yeesookyung's ceramic sculptures joined with gold and Francolino's works tracing cracks across concrete and other surfaces. The reception brought together artists, curators, diplomats and guests for a viewing of the works, opening remarks and a presentation of the exhibition, followed by a decoration ceremony for the head of Bulgari Korea. Italian Ambassador to South Korea Emilia Gatto said cultural cooperation has long been an important part of relations between Seoul and Rome. "Korea and Italy have excellent relations, and we have continued to cooperate closely in the cultural field," Gatto said. She pointed to the 140th anniversary of diplomatic relations in 2024 and the year of mutual cultural exchange in 2025, as well as high-level visits between the two countries this year. Gatto said the exchanges had helped bring the two sides even closer. The ambassador also described her residence as "not my home" but "a space where Italy and Korea meet," reflecting its role as a venue for cultural exchange. The two countries elevated their relationship to a special strategic partnership in June. Chung Hyang-mi, head of the Culture and Arts Policy Office at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said the Korean government would work to widen exchanges "across all areas of culture and the arts." Chung said the exhibition showed "the special power of cultural exchange" by bringing together artists from different cultural backgrounds around the shared themes of cracks and fragments. She also pointed to the Korea Art Festival running throughout September, bringing together museums, art fairs and exhibitions across the country. Curated by Valentina Buzzi, "The Golden Trace" looks at cracks and fragments and the new forms that can emerge from them. Francolino works with fractures in concrete and plaster, using materials including earth, lapis lazuli and 24-karat gold leaf to trace broken surfaces. Yeesookyung's "Translated Vase" series reassembles ceramic fragments discarded by traditional potters and joins them with gilded seams, leaving the breaks visible rather than trying to conceal them. Buzzi noted that the Korean word "geum" can refer to gold while also evoking a crack. "The golden line does not hide the fracture. It makes it visible," she said. Davide Scalmani, director of the Italian Cultural Institute in Seoul, said art could help create connections beyond national borders. "Art is not a luxury. It is a necessity of being human beyond national borders," Scalmani said. The reception also included a ceremony honoring Shawn Junghak Lee, CEO of Bulgari Korea, with the Order of the Star of Italy, an honor conferred by the Italian president. Gatto described Lee as a strong supporter of Italy and its cultural activities in Korea. Lee noted that Bulgari was founded in Rome in 1884, the same year Korea and Italy established diplomatic relations. He said he would take the honor "as a kind of message to myself to continue this commitment and our partnership in the long term." "The Golden Trace," organized by the Italian Embassy and the Italian Cultural Institute in Seoul in cooperation with Mazzoleni and MASSIMODECARLO galleries, is open by appointment through Sept. 5. AJP Takeaways · Italy opened the third Seoul edition of “Italy at Frieze” on Sept. 1, pairing Korean artist Yeesookyung and Italian artist Andrea Francolino at the Italian ambassador’s residence through Sept. 5, with Bulgari as main sponsor. · The event doubled as a cultural diplomacy platform, with Ambassador Emilia Gatto stressing sustained cultural cooperation and Culture Ministry official Chung Hyang-mi saying Seoul would expand arts and cultural exchanges following the countries’ upgrade to a special strategic partnership in June. · “The Golden Trace” links the two artists through the idea of fracture and regeneration. Francolino works with cracks in concrete and plaster, while Yeesookyung reassembles discarded ceramic fragments with gold-lined seams. 2026-09-01 22:17:24
Korea opens monthlong nationwide art festival SEOUL, September 01 (AJP) - South Korea opened a monthlong art festival Tuesday, linking major biennales and airport exhibitions in a nationwide push to promote Korean art at home and abroad. The 2026 Korea Art Festival will run through Sept. 30 across the country, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said. This year's program brings together four biennales: the Gwangju Biennale, Gyeonggi Ceramics Biennale, Busan Biennale and Jeju Biennale. Two major art fairs, Kiaf Seoul and Frieze Seoul, are also part of the festival, along with 96 museums across the country. The ministry said the festival is designed to give the public easier access to art while connecting exhibitions with regional travel and international promotion. The participating museums include 35 public and 61 private institutions, with exhibitions ranging from retrospectives to shows by emerging artists and regional art programs. All exhibitions at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art's Seoul, Gwacheon, Deoksugung and Cheongju branches will be free through Sunday. The festival also includes regional art travel programs that take visitors to museums, biennales and artists' studios with curators and guides. The programs will be held in five regions, Gyeonggi, Chungcheong, Jeolla, Gyeongsang and Jeju, though reservations have already closed. Airports will also be used as exhibition spaces. From July to November, Incheon, Gimpo and Gimhae international airports are showing 29 media and installation works by 16 emerging and mid-career Korean artists. The ministry is also running "Dive into Korean Art," a program bringing 15 overseas curators, editors and other art professionals to Korea from Aug. 30 to Sept. 6. Participants will visit studios of nine emerging Korean artists, major art institutions and the Gwangju and Busan biennales. Discounted tickets for major events were offered ahead of the festival, with more than 13,000 people receiving benefits as of Aug. 26. Discount tickets for Kiaf Seoul, Frieze Seoul, Gwangju Biennale, Busan Biennale and Gyeonggi Ceramics Biennale have sold out. Jeju Biennale tickets remain available through Naver at a 50 percent discount, priced at 4,000 won. Korail is also offering a Busan-linked travel package combining a 50 percent discount on Seoul-to-Busan train tickets, a 30 percent discount on Busan Biennale admission and a 20,000 won voucher for stores at Busan Station. Culture Minister Choi Hwi-young said the festival is intended to make Korean art more accessible to the public and introduce it to overseas audiences. AJP Takeaways The 2026 Korea Art Festival runs nationwide from Sept. 1 to 30. The festival links four biennales, Kiaf Seoul, Frieze Seoul and 96 museums. Incheon, Gimpo and Gimhae airports are hosting special exhibitions. 2026-09-01 14:33:51
Culture ministry to host youth culture week SEOUL, September 01 (AJP) - South Korea's culture ministry will hold a two-day youth culture event in Seoul's Hongdae area, bringing together talks, performances, workshops and community booths. The 2026 Youth Culture Week, titled "Today's Youth, Today's Culture," will run Friday and Saturday at a venue on Eoulmadang-ro in Mapo District, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said Tuesday. The event will be held under the theme "Deepening thought and sharing tastes." The ministry said the program is designed to explore youth life and culture through humanities, personal taste and creative communities. The venue will be divided into four areas: a basement stage for talks and performances, a first-floor space for taste-related activities, a second-floor lounge for community booths and a fifth-floor workshop space. On Friday, Kim A-young, a director at publishing house MUZE, will speak on how personal taste can become work and culture. Content creator Hans will give a talk on how running became content, followed by a performance by modern rock band Dear Cloud. Saturday's program includes a lecture by Yoon Tae-yong, who runs the sketch comedy channel Ddip, on how empathy begins with experience. Writer and content creator Cho Seung-youn will lead a humanities forum on setting personal standards in the age of artificial intelligence. Singer-songwriter Kim Pureum and singer-songwriter Oh Ji-eun will also perform Saturday. Oh will also give a talk on how to keep doing what one loves over the long term. Activity booths will include a "culture recipe" program for visitors to explore their cultural tastes and a "culture prescription center" offering suggestions based on participants' interests. Community booths on the second floor will cover culture, sports, music, mental wellness and humanities topics. The ministry will also operate booths introducing youth policy programs and collecting young people's opinions on cultural experiences for possible policy proposals. Jung Hyang-mi, director general of the ministry's Culture and Arts Policy Bureau, said the ministry hopes the event will help young people discover their own thoughts and tastes through culture. The event is free, with advance registration available through Naver Booking until Thursday. AJP Takeaways Korea will hold the 2026 Youth Culture Week in Seoul's Hongdae district on Sept. 4 and 5. The event includes talks, performances, workshops and youth community booths. Speakers and performers include Kim A-young, Hans, Dear Cloud, Yoon Tae-yong, Cho Seung-youn, Kim Pureum and Oh Ji-eun. 2026-09-01 13:40:41
Stray Kids' Felix to roll out solo track SEOUL, September 01 (AJP) - Felix of Stray Kids will release a solo digital single, "Slow It Down" on Tuesday as the second installment of the group's self-produced project SKZ-PLAYER, JYP Entertainment said. SKZ-PLAYER is a Stray Kids project in which the group's eight members release music and visual content they helped create, with a focus on their work as musicians and artists. Member Han opened the project in June with "back to life," making Felix the second member to take part. "Slow It Down" is an acoustic hip-hop track built around a guitar loop and hip-hop beat. JYP said the song is about pausing in a fast-moving world and looking back on time spent with loved ones and on one's dreams. Felix took part in writing and composing the song. The music video features actor Roh Yoon-seo, known for the drama series "Our Blues" and "Crash Course in Romance." Roh plays Yunseo, a young woman trying to pursue her dream while navigating daily life. Felix appears in the video as a figure who encourages her as she moves between reality and aspiration, according to JYP. Stray Kids' mini album "THIS & THAT," released Aug. 7, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart dated Aug. 22. JYP said it was the group's ninth consecutive album to enter the chart at No. 1, the first such streak in Billboard 200 history. The agency said the record also makes Stray Kids the group with the most Billboard 200 No. 1 albums in the 21st century. The title track, "This & That," also entered the Hot 100 at No. 38, the group's highest ranking on the chart. Stray Kids performed at Tokyo National Stadium on Aug. 29 and 30 as part of its world tour "RUN IT." JYP said the group became the first foreign male artist to hold a solo concert at the venue. The group is also set to headline Rock in Rio in Brazil and STRAYCITY, a new Stray Kids-led festival series across three locations in Latin America. AJP Takeaways Felix of Stray Kids will release "Slow It Down" at 6 p.m. Monday. The single is part of SKZ-PLAYER, Stray Kids' self-produced project. Felix is the second member to release music through the project after Han. 2026-09-01 13:40:12