news highlight

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  BTS Live: Proud to be an ARMY SEOUL, March 21 (AJP) - March 21, the day of the BTS comeback performance. Gwanghwamun Square was already filled with people. While several hours remained until the start of the performance, fans turned the wait into a festival. They took photos in front of the stage under construction and posed before the phrase "BTS IS BACK" engraved on the steps of the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts. Some took photos of the members appearing on electronic billboards. Even among March 21, 2026
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  From ashes to rebirth: Yoon Kyeong-sik wins World Architecture Awards SEOUL, March 18 (AJP) - In March 2026, the announcement came from the United Kingdom: the World Architecture Community Awards, 53rd cycle. It was not simply a prize. It was recognition that something quiet, something deeply human, had spoken across borders. Among works from 53 countries and judged by 243 jurors, the Inwolsa Dharma Center was chosen — not for spectacle, but for the depth of its question. This was not architecture of reconstruction. It was architectu March 18, 2026
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  PHOTOS: Living heritage and neon dreams - The parallel shopping worlds of Astana ASTANA, March 15 (AJP) -A thirty-minute taxi ride from the hotel leads to the Artyom Market in the older district of Astana. It is a personal routine to visit the traditional markets of any new city to see how people actually live without the filter of tourist attractions. The ground floor of this multi-story building is a dense world of its own, smelling of fresh dough, raw honey, and cold-stored meat. It feels like a space that has aged alongside the city, retaining March 16, 2026
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  BTS Comeback D-8: Gwanghwamun's oldest residents - a Joseon king and admiral SEOUL, March 12 (AJP) - At the heart of Seoul stands Gwanghwamun Square, often called the symbolic center of South Korea. The broad boulevard stretching from the ancient gates of Gyeongbokgung Palace has witnessed centuries of history — from the royal administration of the Joseon Dynasty to modern civic gatherings. Next Saturday, the historic square will host another moment in that long timeline: a comeback performance by global K-pop group BTS. March 13, 2026
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  Shopping arcade in Seoul finds new life as elderly hangout SEOUL, March 12 (AJP) - A shopping arcade in central Seoul has found an unlikely second life as a favorite hangout for elderly people with little money. On the first floor of Nakwon Arcade in Jongno, a boisterous crowd of seniors fills the tables daily, some seated, others standing nearby, their laughter and chatter echoing all the way to the entrance. This is where the neighborhood’s best janggi (or Korean chess) players gather to compete. With recreational activities bann March 12, 2026
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  A film, a fallen monarch, and a nation looking back SEOUL, March 10 (AJP) -Thirty-one days after its release, The King’s Warden crossed the ten-million admissions mark, becoming the 34th South Korean film to reach that milestone — and still counting as the crowds kept on growing. The numbers came quickly. One million in five days. Two million by day twelve. Three million on Lunar New Year. Four million the next day. By March 10, cumulative admissions reached approximately 11.7 million. But March 10, 2026
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  War in Middle East echoes through Seoul SEOUL, March 05 (AJP) - The war unfolding across the Middle East may be thousands of miles away from Seoul, but its shockwaves are being felt sharply in the capital of South Korea. Rockets are flying across borders in the region with no sign of the conflict abating. On the far eastern edge of the globe, the repercussions are unfolding in diplomatic halls, financial markets and even gas stations across the South Korean capital. A Tale of Two Embassies At 1 March 5, 2026
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  The first full moon of the year is red GYEONGGI, March 03 (AJP)-On the fifteenth night of the first lunar month, Korea steps outside. The holiday is Jeongwol Daeboreum, the first full moon of the year — a night when neighborhoods, not just families, gather under the open sky. If Lunar New Year belongs to the dining table, Jeongwol Daeboreum belongs to the fields, the hills, the riverbanks. People tilt their heads upward and wait for the moon to rise, round and bright in the brittle winter air. The full moon h March 4, 2026
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  BTS Comeback D-22: The story behind Gwanghwamun SEOUL, February 27 (AJP) - Today’s Gyeongbokgung is often the first breath Seoul offers to the world. Tourists in flowing hanbok pass beneath Gwanghwamun, their silk sleeves catching early-spring light. Cameras rise in unison at the changing of the royal guards. On the stone terrace of Geunjeongjeon, the old wooden eaves frame a startling horizon — beyond them, the clean axis of modern Seoul. For many visitors who first encountered Korea through K-dra February 27, 2026