SEOUL, March 11 (Yonhap) – South Korean TV dramas are captivating viewers in Argentina, another sign that the popularity of “hallyu” is rising in Latin America. “Stairway to Heaven” starring Kwon Sang-woo and Choi Ji-woo has recently been hovering around fifth in the local viewership ranking, according to the Korean Cultural Center in the South American country, [...]
SEOUL, March 10 (Korea Bizwire) – The government will consider introducing a system for mandating movie theaters to fill part of their screening time with domestic arthouse films, a government film agency said Thursday. The Korean Film Council (KOFIC) unveiled the idea as part of its three-year plan starting this year to promote local films. The [...]
SEOUL, Mar. 2 (Korea Bizwire) — Hotel Shilla Co., an affiliate of South Korea’s top conglomerate Samsung Group, said Tuesday it plans to open a duty-free shop in downtown Bangkok, speeding up efforts to expand its overseas presence. The company said the duty-free shop, which will open within this year, comes after Hotel Shilla first established [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 26 (Korea Bizwire) – More Chinese companies are becoming major stakeholders of South Korean entertainment agencies, a trend that could be positive for the expansion of “hallyu,” or the worldwide popularity of Korean culture, but worrisome for its long-term future. Chinese investors have injected 3 trillion won (US$2.5 billion) over the past five [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 19 (Korea Bizwire) – The South Korean pop culture industry expects to spread the Korean culture wave of “hallyu” in the Middle East with the recent lifting of sanctions on Iran, industry sources said Tuesday. The U.N. nuclear agency on Saturday certified that Iran has met all of its commitments under last summer’s [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 13 (Korea Bizwire) – A mobile game with South Korean actor Kim Soo-hyun as its main character will be released on the market soon in China, his agency said Wednesday. Keyeast Entertainment said the social networking game called “Kim Soo-hyun Star Academy” will be on the market on Thursday in which the TV [...]
SEOUL, Jan.11 (Korea Bizwire) – ‘Pre-Produced Dramas’ are the new trend in the Korean drama industry. The reason for the change is the Chinese market, which requires content that is entirely pre-produced. As a result, most of the pre-produced dramas are starring Hallyu stars who are popular in the Chinese market. Song Joong-gi (31) and [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 13 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s exports of TV programs spiked over the past two years, helped by the growing popularity of Korean culture, government data showed Sunday. According to the data by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning and the Korea Communications Commission, South Korea’s exports of TV programs came to US$256.28 million last year. This is up 7 percent from a year earlier and [...]
SEOUL, Nov.27 (Korea Bizwire) – A mobile phone manufacturer is preparing to launch a Kim Soo-hyun smartphone in the Chinese market. According to industry watchers, ZUK mobile, an affiliate of Lenovo, will manufacture smartphones loaded with content related to the Korean Hallyu star Kim Soo-hyun, and sell them across the nation. The ‘ZUK Kim Soo-hyun [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 19 (Korea Bizwire) – A channel devoted to Korean culture will be launched as part of an Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) service in China in December, run by the country’s state-run broadcaster, its operator said Monday. The Heilongjiang Newspaper, which is in charge of operating the Korean broadcast at China’s CCTV.COM, said it [...]