Journalist

Yoon Ju-hye
  • Seoul Theater Company’s ‘Big Mother’ Puts Algorithm-Driven Transparency on Stage
    Seoul Theater Company’s ‘Big Mother’ Puts Algorithm-Driven Transparency on Stage "In a society where everything is transparently exposed, you gain things, but don’t you also lose things?" The Seoul Theater Company’s production “Big Mother” is staged with screens and transparent glass. The audience can see not only the actors’ gestures and voices, but also real-time projections of political developments. With nothing hidden, the play pushes viewers to consider what “transparency” means, from private backstories to power brokers who dream of creating a “Big Mother.” Director Lee Jun-woo said after a press call on the 30th that he wanted audiences “to sense and experience the media environment around us and the algorithms of the data age.” “Big Mother,” a widely discussed work by French playwright Melodie Mourey, presents a thriller about a modern society where politics, media and big data are intertwined. Through journalists fighting to expose a powerful conspiracy, it tracks how truth functions in a world where control disguised as transparency, data surveillance and manipulation of public opinion have become routine. Lee said he reduced the original’s French-style humor and sharpened its focus on algorithms. “What we search for and buy gets recommended back to us, and I felt like even our desires could be pulled along,” he said. He added that what people see, think and dream “may not be what we truly want, but what an algorithm has led us to,” and warned that algorithm-driven media can leave people believing only what they want and make it harder to encounter those with different views. The play includes scenes that evoke U.S. President Donald Trump, Elon Musk and Jeffrey Epstein. Lee said he did not set out to deliberately unpack politics, but pointed to characters absorbed in dramas with plots stranger than political news and others who appeal to tears over reason. He said he hopes audiences examine why emotion-driven media can feel more persuasive than truth. As the story progresses, the focus shifts from algorithms to journalism. Lee said that was unavoidable. He described four reporters: Owen, a pragmatic editor-in-chief; Cook, who writes to win his father’s approval; Julia, who works like a machine after losing her boyfriend; and Kate, who is more focused on the climate crisis than politics. “They flounder in their family ties and personal stories,” he said, adding that only after the midpoint do they confront the case and begin their work. “I thought it had to end as a story about journalism.” The production runs March 30 to April 25 at Sejong Center’s M Theater. * This article has been translated by AI. 2026-03-30 17:33:16
  • Hanwha Pompidou Center to Open in Seoul in June With Cubism Exhibition
    Hanwha Pompidou Center to Open in Seoul in June With Cubism Exhibition Hanwha Culture Foundation and France’s Pompidou Center will open Pompidou Center Hanwha in June at the 63 Building in Seoul’s Yeouido district. The foundation said Monday that the museum, completed in late February, is finishing interior work and opening preparations and plans to welcome visitors starting June 4. Over the next four years, Pompidou Center Hanwha will stage two exhibitions a year based on the Pompidou’s internationally known collection. It also plans to present two to three in-house exhibitions focusing on Korean and global contemporary art, aiming to connect major currents in international art history and today’s debates with Korea’s cultural context. The opening exhibition, “The Cubists: Innovators of Vision,” begins June 4 and focuses on Cubism, the movement that marked a turning point in 20th-century art. The museum said the show is meant to signal a “new beginning” through Cubism, which opened new ways of seeing in modern art. It was organized through joint Korean-French curatorship rather than as a simple touring display of Pompidou holdings, and will fill two combined galleries totaling 1,000 pyeong. The exhibition features leading Cubist artists including Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Fernand Leger, Juan Gris, and Sonia and Robert Delaunay. It also introduces artists less commonly seen in Korea, including Albert Gleizes, Amedee Ozenfant and Natalia Goncharova. A special section titled “KOREA FOCUS” revisits the symbolic and cultural meaning Paris held during the formation of modern Korean art in the first half of the 20th century. The museum said its four-year program will trace major developments in 20th-century modern art through Pompidou collection-based exhibitions while highlighting avant-garde innovation and a range of media and genres. Starting with Cubism, exhibitions through 2027 will include shows on Marc Chagall, Wassily Kandinsky, Henri Matisse and Fauvism, it said. After that, it plans to spotlight Surrealism and abstract art and to bring women artists who remained on the margins of art history to the forefront. The museum is also planning what it described as Korea’s first large-scale exhibition of Constantin Brancusi, a pioneer of abstract sculpture. Other plans include early digital art that looks back at the origins of the 21st century’s digital and AI revolution, combining key works from the Pompidou collection with in-depth interpretation.* This article has been translated by AI. 2026-03-30 10:39:17
  • Korea Showcases Dramas and Webtoons at Series Mania 2026 in France
    Korea Showcases Dramas and Webtoons at Series Mania 2026 in France The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Creative Content Agency said Monday they ran a guest-of-honor program at the Series Mania Forum, an industry event held alongside Series Mania 2026 in Lille, France.   The forum, held March 24-26, brought together global players in the television and video content industry. Marking the 140th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Korea and France, Korea was selected as the event’s first guest of honor. During the event, KOCCA Acting President Yu Hyeon-seok met with Gaetan Bruel, president of France’s National Center of Cinema and the Moving Image (CNC), along with Jeremy Kessler, director of European and international affairs, and Amelie Reinhardt, director of audiovisual content, to discuss ways to expand cooperation.  KOCCA operated a Korea pavilion during the forum to support overseas business for Korean broadcast and video companies. The pavilion hosted business meetings with local buyers including major broadcasters, production companies and platforms. Participating companies logged about 130 consultations, discussing potential co-productions and content distribution partnerships. KOCCA also held a showcase, “COMING NEXT FROM KOREA,” featuring series from Korean producers including “Dear X” and “Judge Lee Han-young.” A special session, “Webtoon Adaptations: Integrating and Expanding IP,” shared drama production cases based on webtoon intellectual property and strategies for global expansion. Panelists included Lee Dong-geon, creator of the webtoon “Yumi’s Cells,” Lee Hye-young, a Studio Dragon CP who worked on the drama “Becoming a Legend in the Military Cook,” and Kwon Mi-gyeong, CEO of Studio N, which produced “Severe Trauma Center” and other titles.  Yu said KOCCA will continue supporting Korean broadcast and video companies as they expand overseas to help spread K-content globally.* This article has been translated by AI. 2026-03-30 09:21:05
  • Survey: Nearly 70% of foreigners view Korean content favorably, with gains in U.S. and Europe
    Survey: Nearly 70% of foreigners view Korean content favorably, with gains in U.S. and Europe Foreigners’ favorability toward K-content is nearing 70%, a survey found, underscoring the growing reach of K-culture, including its positive influence on purchases of Korean products and services.  According to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange, 69.7% of respondents said they had a favorable view of K-content in the “2026 Overseas Hallyu Survey (based on 2025),” released Monday.  The survey targeted people in 30 overseas markets who had experienced Korean cultural content. Compared with the previous year, it added countries including Singapore, Chile and Poland and expanded the sample to 27,400.  By country, favorability was highest in Southeast Asia, including the Philippines (87.0%), India (83.8%), Indonesia (82.7%) and Thailand (79.4%). Favorability also rose from a year earlier in the Americas and Europe, where it had been relatively lower. The biggest increases were in the United Kingdom (up 8 percentage points), Japan (up 6.4), Spain (up 6.2), the United States (up 6.1) and Australia (up 6.0).  As the Korean Wave has spread, negative perceptions have also grown. The share agreeing with negative views of Hallyu was unchanged from last year at 37.5%, but that was up 6.8 percentage points from five years earlier, in 2021.  By content category, popularity was led by food (55.1%), music (54.0%), beauty (52.6%), dramas (51.3%) and films (48.9%). Experience rates were highest for food (78.0%), films (77.9%), dramas (72.9%), music (71.9%) and beauty (61.8%). The results, as in the previous year, suggest that food and beauty have become core areas of Korean culture alongside traditional industries such as music, dramas and films.  For characters, domestic popularity in respondents’ countries was 38.9% and the experience rate was 52.6%, similar to other categories. For live performances excluding K-pop, popularity was 34.4% and the experience rate was 35.1%, indicating an early stage of diffusion.  For the ninth straight year, K-pop ranked first as the image most associated with South Korea at 17.5%, followed by food (12.1%), dramas (9.5%), beauty (6.2%) and films (5.9%). By contrast, “the Korean War” and “North Korea’s nuclear threat/war risk,” which previously ranked high, fell out of the top 10.  Asked what matters most in recognizing content as Korean cultural content, respondents most often chose “content reflecting Korean cultural elements” (23.3%), followed by “many Korean people appear” (21.8%) and “Korea is the setting” (19.1%). “Content produced by Korean directors and production companies” ranked fourth at 18.0%, suggesting respondents place more weight on identity in the content than on whether it was made in Korea.  Preferences for specific dramas and films largely held steady. Netflix’s “Squid Game” (12.4%), which ended with Season 3, ranked No. 1 among dramas for the fifth consecutive year. “Parasite” (8.4%) was selected as the most popular film for the sixth straight year.  In a newly added question on the “most influential Hallyu star,” BTS ranked first at 6.9%. E-sports player Faker entered the rankings at 1.9%, pointing to the Korean Wave’s diversification into gaming.  Average monthly time spent consuming Korean cultural content was 14.7 hours, and average spending per category was $16.6, up 0.7 hours and $1.2 from a year earlier. The most cited reason for buying Korean products and services was “quality” (61.8%), followed by “price” (43.0%) and “ease of use” (33.4%), largely unchanged from last year.  As for how people access Korean cultural content, dramas, films, animation and music were most often consumed through “OTT and video platforms,” while variety shows were most often accessed through social media and short-form video platforms.  * This article has been translated by AI. 2026-03-30 09:06:22
  • Fire Near Gyeongbokgung’s Sambimun Gate Put Out in 15 Minutes; Minor Damage Reported
    Fire Near Gyeongbokgung’s Sambimun Gate Put Out in 15 Minutes; Minor Damage Reported A small fire near Jaseondang Hall at Gyeongbokgung Palace damaged parts of a nearby doorway, including a pillar and door, but did not spread further. The Korea Heritage Service said the fire started around 5:35 a.m. March 28 at a side door near Sambimun Gate in front of Jaseondang Hall. A safety officer on patrol spotted smoke and used a fire extinguisher and a hydrant to put out the flames in about 15 minutes. No injuries were reported. Officials said the fire was contained before it could spread, but one auxiliary pillar of the side door and part of a crossbeam were burned or scorched. In a text alert, the agency said a joint review with the fire department and other authorities indicated the blaze was believed to have started spontaneously. It said no suspicious activity was detected nearby, and no cigarette butts or flammable materials were found. The exact ignition point and how the fire began have not been confirmed. 2026-03-28 19:33:13
  • KBO League Opens 2026 Season With Sellouts at All Five Ballparks
    KBO League Opens 2026 Season With Sellouts at All Five Ballparks Marking its 45th anniversary, South Korean professional baseball opened the 2026 season with strong turnout from the first day. The KBO League said 105,878 fans attended the season openers held March 28 at five ballparks nationwide. It was the third-largest opening-day total on record, behind 2019 (114,021) and 2025 (109,950). All five stadiums sold out. The first sellout came at Incheon SSG Landers Field for the KIA Tigers-SSG Landers game, where all 23,000 seats were gone by 10 a.m. The Daejeon game between the Kiwoom Heroes and Hanwha Eagles also sold out about two hours before first pitch. Sellouts followed at Jamsil for kt wiz-LG Twins, in Daegu for the Lotte Giants-Samsung Lions game, and in Changwon for Doosan Bears-NC Dinos. The league has now recorded sellouts at all opening-day venues for four straight years. After topping 10 million in total attendance in back-to-back seasons — about 10.88 million in 2024 and about 12.31 million in 2025 — the KBO is on track to reach the mark for a third consecutive year. Before the season began, exhibition games drew more than 440,000 fans, setting a record and adding to expectations for strong interest this year.* This article has been translated by AI. 2026-03-28 15:42:00
  • BTS to Tour South America in October With 11 Shows in Five Cities
    BTS to Tour South America in October With 11 Shows in Five Cities BTS will launch a South American leg of its world tour in October, with 11 concerts across five cities, its agency said. According to the detailed schedule released on the 28th for the “World Tour ‘ARIRANG’ in Latin America,” the group will open in Bogota, Colombia, on Oct. 2-3, then play Lima, Peru, on Oct. 9-10; Santiago, Chile, on Oct. 16-17; Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Oct. 23-24; and Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Oct. 28 and Oct. 30-31. The agency said it will be the first time BTS visits Colombia, Peru and Argentina as a full group. The agency also said all 46 dates on BTS’ world tour — starting with an April 9 show at the main stadium of Goyang Sports Complex in Gyeonggi Province and continuing through Japan, North America and Europe — have sold out. * This article has been translated by AI. 2026-03-28 15:18:15
  • Lee Yeongdo’s ‘The Bird That Drinks Tears’ Makes French Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire Longlist
    Lee Yeongdo’s ‘The Bird That Drinks Tears’ Makes French Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire Longlist Lee Yeongdo’s fantasy novel “The Bird That Drinks Tears” has been named a preliminary nominee in the foreign novel category of France’s Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire, publisher Golden Bough said on March 27. The Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire is regarded as France’s top science fiction and fantasy literary prize, selected by a jury of experts including journalists, writers and critics. A total of 13 works made the first-round list. “The Bird That Drinks Tears” will compete for a spot among the finalists alongside new titles by authors including Man Booker Prize nominee Ned Beauman, Philip K. Dick Award winner Bethany Jacobs and World Fantasy Award winner Nnedi Okorafor. Finalists are to be announced March 30. The first volume of the French edition has sold more than 20,000 copies in four months, the publisher said. The series has also been released in major European markets including Germany, Italy, Spain, the Czech Republic and Ukraine. In Germany, it sold 50,000 copies in the first year after all four volumes were published. The novel has also drawn renewed attention in South Korea. During the Lunar New Year holiday, it ranked No. 1 overall on the e-book platform Ridibooks, while the print boxed set sold more than 2,000 sets and moved into the upper tier of fantasy and genre rankings at major bookstores. The publisher said interest was also boosted by Krafton’s open-world action role-playing game “Project Windless,” based on the novel. The game was unveiled at PlayStation’s “State of Play” showcase and drew attention from users worldwide. “The Bird That Drinks Tears” is being translated into 17 languages for publication in more than 30 countries. In June, the first volume is scheduled for release in the United States and Britain with major promotions, translated by Anton Hur, known for translating “Cursed Bunny.” * This article has been translated by AI. 2026-03-27 15:54:07
  • Han Kang’s ‘We Do Not Part’ sales surge after NBCC award
    Han Kang’s ‘We Do Not Part’ sales surge after NBCC award Han Kang’s novel We Do Not Part won the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) award on March 27, fueling renewed interest in the author and a sharp jump in sales. Online bookseller Yes24 said sales of the title rose 407% from 9 a.m. to noon after the award news broke, compared with the previous day’s total. Kyobo Book Centre reported sales were up 4.4 times as of 2 p.m., compared with the day before. The surge also reshaped bestseller lists. On Yes24, the book climbed to No. 5 on the real-time “Korean books” chart and No. 2 in the “novels, poetry and plays” category. After the NBCC selected the English edition translated by Lee Yewon and Paige Morris, the U.S. edition also rose to No. 6 on Yes24’s real-time “foreign books” list. On Kyobo’s real-time bestseller list, the title ranked No. 4. A Yes24 official said, “Following the Nobel Prize in Literature, another global award has kept readers’ interest going,” adding that demand is also rising among readers who want to read the work in English. The official added that it was “the first win for a Korean-language original novel,” and the second such achievement for a Korean author since poet Kim Hye-soon won in the poetry category in 2024 for Wing Phantom Pain. Publishers said Han’s latest award could keep interest in literature elevated for some time, with expectations that momentum will lift the broader fiction market. Kyobo said Han’s novel Human Acts was the overall bestseller No. 1 for two straight years in 2024 and 2025. Major bookstores rolled out promotions. Kyobo is running an event that will select 100 members who leave congratulatory messages and give each a 1,000-won Kyobo e-gift certificate. Yes24 said it will offer gifts, including a hardcover notebook made with the award-winning book’s cover illustration, to customers who buy Han’s works during a congratulatory comment event, and will also select 300 members who leave comments to receive YES points. Readers posted reactions such as, “Thank you to Han Kang for bringing good news in an anxious time marked by war,” and “Good writing is recognized by everyone.” 2026-03-27 15:45:18
  • Han Kang’s ‘We Do Not Part’ wins National Book Critics Circle Award
    Han Kang’s ‘We Do Not Part’ wins National Book Critics Circle Award Han Kang, who won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature, has received the National Book Critics Circle Award for her novel We Do Not Part, the English-language edition of her Korean novel Jakbyeolhaji Anneunda. It is the first Korean-language novel to win an NBCC award. The National Book Critics Circle said it selected We Do Not Part, translated by E. Yaewon and Paige Morris, as the winner in the fiction category at its awards ceremony for books published in 2025, held March 26 local time in New York. It is the second time a work by a South Korean author has won an NBCC award, following poet Kim Hyesoon’s 2024 win for her collection Phantom Pain Wing. The NBCC award is considered one of the leading U.S. literary prizes, along with the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. Critics working in U.S. media and publishing select the best books published in English each year across six categories: fiction, nonfiction, biography, autobiography, poetry and criticism. Announcing Han’s win, the NBCC cited the novel’s delicate portrayal of trauma left by the Jeju April 3 incident and called it “a meditation on creation and truth amid loss.” It added, “This artistic novel conjures a strange atmosphere and leaves an overwhelming, dreamlike afterimage.” Han did not attend the ceremony. In remarks read by her publisher’s editor, she thanked the translators “for creating an astonishing connection from my mother tongue, Korean, into English.” She added, “I still want to believe there is a flickering light within us,” and said she hopes people “hold fast to that light and move forward.” Heather Scott Partington, chair of this year’s fiction judging panel, told The New York Times the novel stands out for its “dazzling melancholy, desolate weather and whisper-like prose,” adding that it “lingers for a long time like an intense dream.” Major U.S. outlets also highlighted the win and described the Jeju April 3 incident as a democratization movement on Jeju Island, south of the Korean Peninsula, in which thousands were killed, while noting the historical context behind the novel. Jakbyeolhaji Anneunda is Han’s first novel in five years since she won the International Booker Prize in 2016 for The Vegetarian. Along with The Vegetarian and Human Acts, it is considered one of her signature works. The novel depicts the tragedy of the Jeju April 3 incident through the perspectives of three women, following the protagonist, Gyeongha, as she visits a friend, Inseon, at her home on Jeju after Inseon suffers an accident in which a finger is severed, and traces the painful past of Inseon’s mother, Jeongsim. The novel won the Medicis Prize for foreign literature in November 2023, the first time a Korean work received the award, and also received the Emil Guimet Prize for Asian Literature. The Japanese edition’s translator and poet, Mariko Saito, won the Yomiuri Prize in the research and translation category. Publishers said Han’s latest award could help sustain a surge of interest in literature following her Nobel win, with expectations that fiction will continue to gain ground. Kyobo Book Centre said Han’s novel Human Acts ranked No. 1 overall on its bestseller list for two consecutive years, 2024 and 2025, as sales of fiction rose sharply. Han is also set to take part in the Korean Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in May. Invited as a fellow, she will present a sculpture. Artist Noh Hyeri, one of the participating artists, said Han created a sculpture titled “Funeral” that is scheduled to be shown with her work, adding, “A community not only saved people, it also killed many people. We will talk about that.” Noh said “Funeral” is a sculptural realization of a dream scene that became a motif for We Do Not Part. Two anthologies to be published in place of a catalog will include Han’s writing, including pages 1 and 2 of We Do Not Part. Han is not expected to attend the exhibition opening, the report said. 2026-03-27 10:34:17