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

i-dle to return with new EP 'We made' SEOUL, July 02 (AJP) - K-pop girl group i-dle will release its ninth EP, "We made," on July 6, led by the summer single "Gimme Dat Love," the group's agency Cube Entertainment said Thursday. The five-track EP will arrive on major streaming platforms at 6 p.m. Monday. It includes the title track, pre-release single "Crow," "Mono" featuring British artist skaiwater, "Morning" and "Love Is Pain." "Gimme Dat Love" is a pop track built around a whistle melody and tropical beat. The song deals with instinctive attraction and the rush of falling for someone, according to the agency. The track was produced with contributions from Daramola and Samantha Cámara, producers active in the global Latin music scene. Cube released the second music video teaser for "Gimme Dat Love" on Thursday through i-dle's official social media channels. The teaser follows an earlier video that offered the first look at the song's choreography. The agency also released a second set of concept photos Wednesday, showing the five members in a gold-toned sunset setting as part of the album's summer theme. The first teaser for "Gimme Dat Love" ranked fifth on QQ Music's Korean music video chart and 18th on its overall music video chart after its release, according to Cube. "We made" continues i-dle's new album series following the group's rebranding last year. Cube said the EP will show a more pop-oriented side of the group. i-dle recently held two concerts at Kai Tak Stadium in Hong Kong on June 27 and 28 as part of its 2026 world tour, "Syncopation," exceeding 80,000 people over two days. The group also announced an additional concert in Macao for Aug. 29. 2026-07-02 16:40:53
TWICE-themed pop-up store opens ahead of world tour finale concerts in Seoul SEOUL, July 2 (AJP) - A pop-up store featuring merchandise related to K-pop girl group TWICE opened in Seoul on Thursday. According to their agency, JYP Entertainment, the store will remain open until July 12 at Plat1399 Studio in Gangdong, eastern Seoul, coinciding with the finale of their world tour scheduled for next weekend. The nine-member girl group will wrap up their "This Is For" world tour with sold-out encore concerts in Seoul from July 10 to 12 at KSPO Dome in Songpa, southeastern Seoul. Decorated with characters dubbed "TWICE LOVELYS," the pop-up store offers various merchandise with summer-themed designs on the first floor, while fans can browse concert-related promotional materials and other exhibits on the second floor. They are also invited to take part in various activities including quiz sessions on TWICE's songs to win postcards as well as other raffles. Among other activities, fans are encouraged to decorate characters and complete stamp missions to receive scratch tickets for prizes, while all visitors will receive at least a portable fan featuring TWICE characters. TWICE began their sixth world tour with a concert in Incheon in July last year before touring more than 40 cities around the world with over 80 shows, marking the largest world tour of their career. 2026-07-02 16:35:03
aespa to release first Japanese EP 'KISS N TELL' in July SEOUL, July 02 (AJP) - K-pop girl group aespa will return to the Japanese music scene after about two years with its debut Japanese EP, "KISS N TELL," set for release on July 24, the group's agency SM Entertainment said Thursday. The group — Karina, Giselle, Winter and Ningning — will offer six new original Japanese tracks on the EP, led by the title song of the same name. It follows aespa's Japanese debut single "Hot Mess." SM also released teaser images for "KISS N TELL" through aespa's official social media channels. The images show the members in retro-futuristic styling built around pink tones, matching the mysterious mood of the title track. Ahead of the EP's release, aespa will hold a three-day fan meeting, titled "MY-J presents aespa JAPAN FANMEETING 2026 MY CLASSMaeTE," from July 18 to 20 at Keio Arena Tokyo. The Japanese EP follows aespa's second Korean full-length album, "LEMONADE," released in May. 2026-07-02 15:41:22
KOSDAQ celebrates 30 with little fanfare and KOSPI lower SEOUL, July 01 (AJP) - South Korean stocks closed the first trading day of the second half in sharply divided fashion Wednesday, with heavyweight chipmakers pulling the KOSPI lower while power-equipment, cable and policy-linked growth stocks rallied on expectations for the Lee Jae Myung administration's mega investment agenda. The session also marked the 30th anniversary of the KOSDAQ market. Financial Services Commission Chairman Lee Eok-won said at a KOSDAQ anniversary event that authorities would push reforms to help the junior market become a stronger destination for growth-stock investment. The benchmark KOSPI fell 2.0 percent to close at 8,303.40, after moving between an intraday high of 8,620.15 and a low of 8,143.33. Retail investors bought 1.74 trillion won ($1.12 billion) worth of KOSPI shares, while foreign investors sold 1.70 trillion won and institutions offloaded 70.2 billion won. Samsung Electronics dropped 5.8 percent to close at 314,500 won, while SK hynix lost 3.4 percent to close at 2,560,000 won. The declines came as investors took profits from recent gains in chip shares following weakness in U.S. technology stocks. Other large-cap KOSPI names also retreated, with LG Innotek falling 7.5 percent to 907,000 won and Samsung C&T losing 7.4 percent to 434,000 won. The pressure on semiconductors contrasted with a powerful rally in electric-equipment and cable shares, a KOSPI sector that jumped 9.1 percent. Daewon Cable hit the daily upper limit with a 30 percent gain to close at 13,400 won, while LS ELECTRIC rose 10.7 percent to 263,500 won and Gaon Cable surged 28.7 percent to 300,500 won. Investors continued to bet that the government's planned push into semiconductors, artificial intelligence data centers and physical AI will drive demand for power grids, transformers and transmission equipment. Samsung Group has pledged 2,655 trillion won for chip clusters in Pyeongtaek and Yongin and other regions, while SK Group has unveiled a 2,100 trillion won investment plan for AI data centers and expanded chip capacity. Kumho Construction also hit the daily limit, rising 30 percent to close at 14,540 won, as investors bet on infrastructure spending tied to the government's investment push. The tech-heavy KOSDAQ gained 1.4 percent to close at 929.40, after touching as high as 955.45 and as low as 905.87. Foreign investors were heavy buyers of 247.0 billion won on the KOSDAQ, while retail investors sold 108.8 billion won and institutions sold 125.0 billion won. On the KOSDAQ, Jusung Engineering jumped 20.4 percent to close at 242,000 won, while Ecopro dropped 12.8 percent to close at 93,000 won. An internet and catalog retail sector on the KOSDAQ rose 7.4 percent, led by Silicon2, which climbed 12.3 percent after NH Investment & Securities forecast record second-quarter earnings on strong demand in Europe and North America, even as the brokerage trimmed its price target on margin concerns tied to the company's expanding roster of overseas retail partners. Gradient rose 2.8 percent after announcing a special dividend and a share buyback-and-cancellation plan funded by proceeds from its sale of a stake in Nol Universe. Wemade, Minatek and Eugene Corp. each rose by the daily limit of 30 percent on the KOSDAQ, closing at 25,100 won, 107,700 won and 4,275 won, respectively. Defense and aerospace shares advanced across both markets, with the sector up 8.2 percent. Sphere, listed on the KOSDAQ, rose 20.1 percent, while KOSPI-listed MNC Solution gained 14.6 percent. A cable theme spanning both markets jumped 17.5 percent, with Daewon Cable up 30 percent and KOSDAQ-listed KBI Metal rising 29.9 percent. Small-cap builders also rallied, with the construction theme up 13.1 percent as KOSDAQ-listed Namhwa Construction and Dongshin Construction both hit their daily upper limits. Meanwhile, the National Pension Service resumed rebalancing to trim its domestic equity holdings, though the move fell short of the heavy institutional selling some investors had feared. Pension fund Chairman Kim Sung-joo said on social media that a rebalancing-driven "sell bomb" was not a realistic risk. The won weakened, with the dollar trading at 1,556.60 won, up 0.6 percent from the previous session and marking a third straight day of gains. Bond yields rose in tandem, with the 10-year Treasury yield climbing to 4.205 percent and the 30-year yield rising to 4.437 percent, as traders said the currency and rates markets could see further volatility heading into the third quarter ahead of this week's U.S. jobs report and signals on Federal Reserve policy. Across Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.6 percent to close at 70,475, even as Kawasaki Heavy Industries fell more than 7 percent on a Reuters report that the company was finalizing a roughly 200 billion yen ($1.23 billion) fundraising plan combining new shares and convertible bonds. China's Shanghai Composite added 0.4 percent to 4,112.50. Hong Kong markets were closed for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Establishment Day holiday. Oil prices were little changed, with Brent crude holding above $73 a barrel following its steepest quarterly decline since 2020. Traders were awaiting updates from U.S.-Iran talks in Doha aimed at easing tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, as tanker traffic continued to recover and concerns grew over a potential supply glut amid rebounding Iranian and Russian exports. West Texas Intermediate traded at $69.50 a barrel. The CBOE Volatility Index fell 6.8 percent to 16.5. 2026-07-01 17:10:22
'Teach You a Lesson' Holds No. 1 on Netflix's Non-English Chart for 4th week SEOUL, July 01 (AJP) - "Teach You a Lesson" remained the No. 1 non-English TV show on Netflix's global charts this week, marking its fourth consecutive week atop the ranking as Korean titles continued to dominate the platform's non-English lists. The series, which follows a fictional agency that intervenes in schools to protect teachers' rights and restore order, made the Top 10 in 75 countries, including markets in Asia and Europe. Several other Korean titles also gained ground on Netflix this week. Suspense drama series "Notes from the Last Row" entered the non-English TV chart at No. 8 just three days after its release. The series stars Choi Min-sik and Choi Hyun-wook and centers on a failed writer and Korean literature professor who becomes obsessed with the writing talent of a student sitting in the back row of his classroom. Action comedy "Husbands" rose to No. 1 on Netflix's non-English film chart in its second week. The film follows a woman's ex-husband and current husband as they reluctantly team up to rescue her after she is kidnapped by a criminal organization. Two Korean dramas that also stream on Netflix ranked in the non-English TV Top 10. "Agent Kim Reactivated" debuted at No. 3. The revenge action drama follows an ordinary father who becomes a dangerous man as he fights to get his only daughter back. "My Royal Nemesis," a romantic comedy starring Lim Ji-yeon and Heo Nam-jun, ranked No. 7 after ending its run. 2026-07-01 15:16:39
NiziU releases first Japanese greatest hits album 'Portfolio' SEOUL, July 01 (AJP) - NiziU released its first Japanese greatest hits album, "Portfolio," at midnight Wednesday, the group's agency JYP Entertainment said Wednesday. The release came with a 2026 version of the music video for "Make You Happy," the group's pre-debut single. NiziU is a nine-member Japanese girl group formed through a joint project between JYP Entertainment and Sony Music. The 29-track compilation traces the group's activities since its pre-debut in July 2020. It includes the official debut single "Step and a Step," "Take a Picture," "CLAP CLAP," "Sweet Nonfiction," the Japanese version of Korean single "Love Line" and "Too Bad," the title track from NiziU's second Japanese EP. The new "Make You Happy" video shows the nine members performing the song again in 2026, reprising its signature jump-rope choreography. NiziU recently wrapped a sold-out solo arena tour, "NiziU Live with U 2026: NEW EvoNUtion," comprising 12 shows across five Japanese cities, according to JYP. The group also held its second dome tour, "NiziU Live with U 2026: NiziU THE CINEMA," at Kyocera Dome Osaka and Tokyo Dome in June. 2026-07-01 14:55:35
Netflix viewers are becoming Korea's newest tourists, data shows SEOUL, June 30 (AJP) - South Korea's tourism boom in 2026 is increasingly being linked to something outside the traditional travel industry, what foreign viewers are watching at home. Foreign visitor arrivals surpassed 10 million by the third week of June, about a month earlier than 2025, according to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Arrivals from January through May totaled 8.72 million, up 21 percent from the same period in 2025. May alone brought 1.95 million visitors, up 19.4 percent year-on-year; China and Japan led the rankings that month, with 560,000 and 360,000 visitors respectively, followed by the Americas, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Foreign tourists' card spending in May, including online purchases, reached an estimated 2.1 trillion won ($1.6 billion), the first time monthly spending has topped 2 trillion won since record-keeping began in 2018. Arrivals through regional airports outside Incheon also climbed, reaching 360,000 in May, up 32 percent from a year earlier. A survey of 105 foreign visitors conducted by Han Jeong-hoon, head of K-Entertech Hub, suggests streaming content, particularly Netflix, has become one of the main ways younger travelers first encounter Korea. Ninety-eight percent of respondents said Netflix was their first exposure to Korean culture, and 85 percent said content was what first put the country on their radar. Around three-quarters of respondents were between 25 and 34, and 93 percent had been in Korea less than six months, suggesting the pattern is concentrated among younger, short-stay travelers rather than the broader tourist population. "Watching is just the start of the tour," Han said, presenting the findings Monday during a panel on "OTT tourism" at Yonsei University. The viewing habits behind those numbers are intense: 70 percent of respondents said they watched more than five hours of Korean content a week, and recent Netflix-distributed titles including "Culinary Class Wars" and "KPop Demon Hunters" came up repeatedly as gateways. About eight in 10 respondents said content influenced their decision to visit, and seven in 10 said they posted photos from their trip on Instagram, a loop Han described as self-reinforcing, with each wave of visitors generating content that pulls in the next. "K-content drives people not just to watch, but to come, eat, spend and tell others," Han said. The itineraries visitors described tracked closely with what they watched. Locations that appear repeatedly in Korean dramas and variety shows, including Myeongdong, Namsan Seoul Tower, Gyeongbokgung Palace, Nami Island, Gwangjang Market, Suwon, Siheung and parts of Busan, were named most often, alongside experiences like hanbok rentals, night markets and Han River outings that frequently appear on screen. Food interest followed the same pattern: dishes such as gimbap, bingsu and makgeolli saw spikes in interest tied to specific shows, with visitors from the Philippines showing especially high conversion from watching to visiting restaurants and filming locations. Where the pattern breaks down, Han said, is between interest and action. Plenty of viewers research a destination after watching a show, but stall before booking anything. Closing that gap, he argued, depends less on convincing people to want to visit Korea and more on making it easy to act on that interest, bundling content and travel together, building K-food-focused itineraries, mapping filming locations with transportation guidance and designing campaigns around the user-generated content fans already produce. He pointed to Britain's VisitBritain campaign around Harry Potter filming sites and the tourism bump Switzerland saw from "Crash Landing on You" as examples of governments getting ahead of content-driven demand rather than reacting after it goes viral. That kind of advance planning is already standard practice inside Netflix, even if the company frames it as marketing rather than tourism strategy. Kim Mi-hoo, director of marketing at Netflix Korea, told the same audience that campaigns for Korean titles are built with global audiences in mind from the earliest planning stages, not localized after a title takes off domestically, but designed from the start to travel. "Our goal is to create conversation," Kim said, describing campaigns that often begin before a show premieres, with release-date announcements, teasers, press events and fan-participation campaigns. For last year's "When Life Gives You Tangerines," that included online and offline fan contests tied to the show's themes, designed less to advertise the series than to give fans material and momentum to build a fandom around it themselves. "Word of mouth is more powerful than any advertisement," Kim said. "When a friend or family member tells you to watch something, that has a stronger impact." Netflix's Korean content also rides on a social media network Kim said reaches about 1.4 billion followers and generates roughly 224 billion organic views a year, scale that allows Korean titles to become global conversation points as fan-made clips, memes and reaction videos spread across platforms. "Stories that started in Korea are reaching the entire world," Kim said, "in ways we could not have imagined before." Taken together, the data suggests Korea's latest tourism wave is being shaped not only by concerts or government campaigns, but by shows foreign audiences are already watching before they ever start planning a trip. 2026-06-30 17:01:52
Seoul to roll out Korea's first Level 4 robotaxi service this fall SEOUL, June 30 (AJP) - Seoul metropolitan government announced Tuesday that it will become the first city in South Korea to put a Level 4 autonomous taxi on the road, with the self-driving service set to launch in November in the Sangam neighborhood of Mapo District. The plan is part of a list of policy changes and public services the city has scheduled for the second half of 2026. The robotaxi will be available through a regular taxi-hailing app, allowing passengers to call the vehicle the same way they book any other taxi. Unlike earlier autonomous taxis tested in Seoul, which required a driver ready to take over at any moment, the new vehicles are designed to make driving decisions on their own under specific conditions, without direct human control. Level 3 systems, by comparison, still require a driver to remain ready to intervene at all times; Level 4 represents the step beyond that. The service will not start as a fully unmanned operation, however. A safety attendant will sit in the front passenger seat during the initial stage while the city monitors how the system performs on public roads. Once running, it will be the first Level 4 robotaxi service in the country, the city said. Sangam has served as Seoul's main proving ground for autonomous driving since 2019, when the city built a 5G-connected test bed along its roads. It has hosted paid autonomous taxi and shuttle services since 2021. The November launch marks the next step for a district the city has used for years to test self-driving technology before wider rollout. The robotaxi launch comes alongside several other transport and road safety changes planned across the city in the second half. By November, Seoul plans to complete road work in central Seoul, including narrower car lanes and wider sidewalks around Sogong-ro and Sejong-daero. The city also plans to remove a traffic island near Exit 8 of City Hall Station. Seoul is also rolling out new flood-safety tools this year. A navigation alert service warning drivers of flooded underpasses began in June, and AI-powered cameras designed to detect people entering streams closed off during heavy rain are scheduled to start operating in July. 2026-06-30 16:29:23
Korea Tourism Organization taps influencers to promote regional food tourism SEOUL, June 30 (AJP) - The Korea Tourism Organization has launched a regional food tourism campaign with 33 overseas influencers as South Korea seeks to turn growing interest in Korean food into travel beyond Seoul. The state tourism agency, led by President Park Sung-hyuk, held a launch event for "K-Local Food Hunters 33" at Samcheonggak in Seoul on Monday. Through Thursday, the program will send participants to different regions to taste, film and share local dishes with audiences back home. Food and travel influencers from China, Japan, Southeast Asia, Europe and the Americas are taking part, with their combined following reaching about 21.3 million, according to the agency. The campaign is aimed at promoting regional Korean food and ingredients, with food remaining one of the biggest draws for foreign visitors to South Korea. On Monday in Seoul, the group took a Korean cooking class to recreate dishes seen in Korean dramas, visited a traditional tea house in Bukchon and tried Korean fried chicken at a branded chicken restaurant. The influencers then split into three groups for tours of Gangwon, Jeolla and Gyeongsang provinces. The Gangwon route centers on dishes shaped by mountains and coastline, such as chodang soft tofu, cold raw fish soup and spicy stir-fried chicken. In Jeolla, the focus shifts to tradition and fermentation, with stops for Jeonju bibimbap, fermented skate with pork and kimchi, Sunchang red pepper paste, Damyang grilled short rib patties and Gwangju-style pan-fried beef. The Gyeongsang leg covers regional staples including Andong braised chicken, Andong soju, Daegu-style raw beef and Busan pork soup. Each route also takes in nearby sights, from Jeonju Hanok Village to Andong Hahoe Village and Haeundae Blue Line Park in Busan. Participants are expected to post content from the tour on their own channels in real time, then continue introducing Korean regional food to their followers after they return home. "To turn interest in K-food into actual visits to Korea, we need specific content that helps travelers plan their routes," said Min Byung-sun, head of the tourism industry division at the Korea Tourism Organization. "We will promote attractive food tourism content by connecting regional Korean dishes with travel." The tour draws on the agency's "33 K-Local Gourmet Trips," a list curated in 2024 with input from experts including cartoonist Huh Young-man. The agency said it is using the list to push the image of Korean food beyond familiar staples like kimchi and bulgogi, spotlighting regional specialties instead. 2026-06-30 11:19:30
Korea unveils five-year plan to promote crafts as K-culture industry SEOUL, June 30 (AJP) - South Korea will seek to make traditional crafts a larger part of its cultural exports and tourism industry under a new five-year government plan announced Tuesday. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism released its second basic plan for promoting the craft culture industry, covering 2026 to 2030. The plan is built around four areas: production, distribution, public access and policy infrastructure, with the government aiming to raise the industry's annual revenue to 9 trillion won and exports to $4 billion by 2030. The ministry said the craft industry's revenue and exports grew significantly under the first five-year plan, but interest in Korean crafts is rising further as K-culture expands globally and more visitors seek hands-on cultural experiences in South Korea. At the same time, many craft makers still face limits in branding, sales channels and market data, making it difficult to turn creative work into stable business growth. On the production side, the government will support craft makers through training programs, residency projects using vacant local properties and business education tailored to different career stages. It will also train specialists such as exhibition guides and product planners to help connect craft artists with the market. The ministry also plans to create retail spaces in areas popular with foreign tourists, combining craft exhibitions, sales and hands-on programs. It will work with museums, department stores and online platforms to hold regular craft product promotions. The government will also expand the use of craft items as gifts from public institutions and as return gifts under the hometown donation program, a system that gives local products to citizens who donate to regional governments. The Craft Trend Fair, the country's largest craft market event, will be developed into a stronger business platform by connecting more makers with overseas buyers and corporate partners. Overseas promotion will be expanded through major international fairs, a permanent exhibition space in Dubai and Korean cultural centers abroad. The ministry also plans to link crafts with hotels and resorts as part of broader K-culture marketing efforts. To widen public access, Craft Week will be reorganized into a more focused cultural event in major cities, while traveling exhibitions will be held outside the Seoul metropolitan area. The ministry will also develop education programs under the idea of "one craft for every person," covering different age groups from children to older adults, along with healing and self-reliance programs for out-of-school youth and socially withdrawn young people. Over the longer term, the government plans to build a national craft center and regional craft clusters tailored to local characteristics. The plan also includes legal and tax measures. The ministry will pursue tax law revisions that would allow practical craft products to receive benefits similar to those given to fine art. It will also review exceptions to gift-value limits under the country's anti-graft law, and will seek to classify the craft industry as a separate category under the Korean Standard Industrial Classification while shortening its industry survey cycle from three years to two. To carry out the plan, the ministry will also restructure the Korea Craft and Design Foundation into a policy-driving organization and build a cross-ministry cooperation system with agencies including the Ministry of SMEs and Startups. Culture Minister Choi Hwi-young said global interest in K-culture is creating an opportunity for Korean crafts, which reflect the country's traditional sense of beauty. "We will carry out this second basic plan systematically so that crafts can become part of people's daily lives and grow into a high-value industry in the global market," Choi said. 2026-06-30 11:19:13