Tag: South Korea

  • If you love ‘Destined With You’, here are other dramas by Rowoon to make you swoon

    If you love ‘Destined With You’, here are other dramas by Rowoon to make you swoon

    Korean drama ‘Destined With You’ is currently among the top rated shows on Netflix, and continues to develop a strong base as fans praise performances by the lead actors Rowoon (aka Kim Seok-Woo) and Jo Bo-Ah as the prosecutor and City Hall worker who become entangled after a spell mishap.

    10 episodes in, audiences are praising Rowoon’s magnetic performance as the cynical, yet kind hearted lawyer and many new fans are not ready for the romcom to end. If you’re new to the genre and already want more of Rowoon, we have a list of excellent dramas ranging from thrillers to historical dramas to a wholesome romcom starring the heart throb. Check out our list to keep your weekend busy.

    For romcom lovers, watch ‘Extraordinary You’

    If you’re a fan of romantic comedies with a mix of past lovers, along with a spicy dash of a love triangle, this is the drama you should definitely watch. The show revolves around Dan-Oh (played by Kim Hye-yoon), a high schooler who discovers she is a minor character in a fantasy web comic, where the writer has decided her ending is going to be getting back together with her toxic boyfriend and later die from cancer. After falling in love with a new character Number 13 (played by Rowoon) she decides to challenge fate and try all that she can to end up with the destiny of her choice.

    Prefer thrillers? Then watch ‘Tomorrow’

    If you like dramas with a lot of tension and adventure, along with a sensitive issue tackled in a brilliant manner, then check out this show. Rowoon stars as Choi Jun-Woong, the naive and soft-hearted elder son whose search for a job ends with tragedy while trying to stop a homeless man from committing suicide. He is critically injured and goes into a comma. Jun-Woong wakes up to find out that he has become a member of a group of grim reapers, whose task is to rescue those on the verge of committing suicide and counsel them back to recovery. We do advise audiences to watch with caution as the show explores the issue of suicide, as well as sensitive topics like school bullying, sexual harassment and rape.

    For historical drama lovers, watch ‘The King’s Affection’

    Set during the Joseon dynasty when the birth of twins was considered to be a sign of doom, Dam-Yi, is forced to take on the role of her brother after he is killed, and grows up to become the fearless Crown Prince. When she comes across her first love Jung Ji-Woon (played by Rowoon) who is assigned as her Royal Tutor, the two begin developing feelings for each other as Dam-Yi struggles to keep her past self hidden from her first love.

  • BTS singer Suga begins military service in South Korea

    BTS singer Suga begins military service in South Korea

    Singer and performer Suga from the popular South Korean band BTS has officially begun mandatory military service from September 22.

    The singer will not be actually serving in the military, but is working as a social service agent.

    The social service branch provides an alternative offer for people who cannot complete military duty because of physical or mental health issues, and revolves around working in welfare centers, community service or post office but it is still a requirement to complete three weeks of basic military service.

    Suga gave an update to fans on Weverse, writing: “I’ll faithfully serve and come back … Please stay healthy and let’s meet all again in 2025.”

    Suga is the third member of the band to begin mandatory military duty, with Jin and J-Hope already performing active service on army bases.

    BTS announced a hiatus in 2022 in a pre-taped special with all seven members of the band, Jin, Jimin, RM, J-Hope, Suga, V, and Jungkook.

    Jimin spoke about the group’s “rough patch” as they try to “find our identity, and that’s an exhausting and long process.”
    Suga said “The hardest thing is writing lyrics… I have to talk about something that I really feel, but right now, I’m just squeezing it out because we have to satisfy people’s wants and the listeners. It’s so painful, but that’s just how this job goes.”

    Jungkook said the group was taking some time apart in order to focus on individual music: “We’re each going to take some time to have fun and experience lots of things. We promise we will return someday even more mature than we are now.”

    Since then, the group members have released individual music, with Jungkook releasing his new single ‘3D’ which featured Jack Harlow, and ‘Seven’ in 2023 which featured Latto, and went to debut at number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2020, Suga had released his mixtape D-2 which peaked at number 11 on the Billboard 200.

  • Tekken 7 Pro Arslan Ash who put Pakistan on the eSports map wishes he had a different passport

    Tekken 7 Pro Arslan Ash who put Pakistan on the eSports map wishes he had a different passport

    Arslan Siddique, widely recognised as Arslan Ash, has emerged as an iconic figure within the Tekken 7 community, serving as an invaluable source of motivation for Pakistan’s gaming enthusiasts.

    With an astounding record of four Evo championship victories, Ash has indelibly etched his name into the annals of gaming history, thrusting Pakistan into the global eSports spotlight.

    Nevertheless, recent events have seen Ash express his frustration regarding the limitations of his Pakistani passport, which currently ranks a modest 100th in the Passport Rankings, lagging even behind countries such as Yemen and Somalia, positioned at 99th.

    Taking to the social platform X, formerly known as Twitter, Ash, who notably secured a remarkable $500,000 prize at the Nations Cup in South Korea in July, candidly stated, “Sometimes, I really wish I didn’t have a Pakistani passport.”

    His remarks stem from reported hardships, encompassing visa denials and travel complications encountered while representing Pakistan in international gaming competitions.

    Ash’s statements elicited a diverse spectrum of reactions across social media channels. Some empathised with the obstacles he faces and shared their own feelings of frustration, while others pointed out his triumphant journeys to nations like Japan and South Korea, where, with a Pakistani passport, he clinched multiple prestigious titles.

    Here’s how Ash clarified the ‘context’ of his earlier post:

  • This BTS member and his dad silently donated to poor families across South Korea

    This BTS member and his dad silently donated to poor families across South Korea

    Not just a hero on the stage but a hero behind the scenes as well

    BTS’s band member Jimin and his father Park Hyun-soo have been playing an important role in providing groceries for low-income families across South Korea. Since September 2020, Hyun-soo has been using the name ‘Ramyeon Fairy’ to deliver donations in Busan, where he provided at least 100 tuna gift sets and 5,250 boxes of ramyeon to struggling families. He has made a total of eight contributions to households across Nam-gu, which can be valued up to 75.95 million Korean won.

    On August 5, Hyun-Soo visited the Nam-gu district office to donate five million Korean won under his son Jimin’s name and also personally delivered boxes of ramen to the office. An official source shared with the Korean media organisation SBS:

    “[Jimin’s father] asked us to use the items to ensure that no one in need goes hungry. He personally loaded the boxes of instant noodles onto the truck and left them at the district office.”⁠

    Jimin himself is also a charitable icon. In 2021, he donated a 100 million won to polio patients, and then another 100 million won to UNICEF Korea to aid children and families struggling from the earthquakes of Syria and Turkey. Among other donations, the ‘Like Crazy’ star pledged 1200 new desks and chairs to the Busan High School of Arts and then gave away 100 million won to the Busan Metropolitan City Office of Education.

    Kindness must be a common quality among the Korean pop band because it’s not just Jimin, but also other members like Namjoon, who aren’t afraid to give back to the community with what they earned. In 2019, on September 12, when the icon turned 25 years old, he donated 100 million Korean won to The Seoul Samsung School, a specialised institute for deaf children, for music education. In June 2020, the group won praise when they donated $1 million to the human rights organisation ‘Black Lives Matter’.

  • Here are three reasons why K-drama ‘King The Land’ should be on your watchlist

    Here are three reasons why K-drama ‘King The Land’ should be on your watchlist

    After the release of ‘Crash Course in Romance’, there has been a slump in engrossing Korean dramas, especially rom coms that could keep you captivated from beginning to end. More thrillers and action pack series have been announced including ‘Bloodhounds’, ‘Squid Games Season 2’ and even ‘Alice in Borderland’ but the magic of Korean rom-coms is unlike any other. The way women are the ones leading the narrative, bringing forward complexities they face, and men do not belittle women, but empower and respect them.

    With the arrival of Netflix’s ‘King The Land’, it seems like the K-romance is back. Set in the backdrop of an elite hotel, the story revolves around a hard working concierge who clashes with the grumpy chaebol whose family runs the hotel. It seems like this is the perfect serial every K-drama lover should watch.

    1. Grumpy x sunshine trope

    If fans were missing the magic of dramas like ‘A Business Proposal’ and ‘Crash Course In Romance’ which featured the much beloved grumpy x sunshine trope, where one half of the couple was a grouch, while the other one was the complete opposite by being the cheerful one, then they should certainly keep a lookout for this drama. Gu Won is the son from a chaebol family who is known to be a strict, business-only man. On his arrival back to Korea, he gets involved with his sister in a conflict over who should have control of the hotel, and has to encounter the memories of his mother. When he meets the cheerful and hard working Cheon Sa-Rang, who begins working as a lobby maid for the hotel, the two originally clash because Gu Won loathes fake smiles, and while Sa-Rang is critical of his lackluster attitude towards his family business, over time he begins falling for her even more.

    1. Office romances FTW

    What’s the secret to making a standout K-drama that will decades later be remembered as an iconic pop-culture moment? By making it into an office romance. Looking back at some of the best K-dramas like ‘What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim?’, ‘Her Private Life’ and even the critically acclaimed ‘Extraordinary Attorney Woo’, Korean creators know that the perfect formula that will keep creators hooked is setting up a workplace romance, and adding a mixture of enemies to lovers, it is chef’s kiss.

    1. The female gaze is here to stay

    Korean rom-coms have surged in popularity with their detailed attention the female gaze plays. Along side Sa-Rang’s experience of navigating life as a lowly hotel maid, are the experiences of her friends who work as shop manager and an air hostess, and how they tackle discrimination, discriminating bosses and long hours, but most importantly, how they stick with each other through thick and thin.

  • Vampires, office romance: K-dramas we’re looking forward to watch

    Vampires, office romance: K-dramas we’re looking forward to watch

    Was it a charming male lead Choi Chi Yeol (played by Jung Kyung-ho) who falls for a single mom, that drove people to watch ‘Crash Course in Romance’? Or the fact that a show went into minute details about the pressures of high school, the cut-throat competition surrounding college applications and how it damages the mental health of students? Whatever it was, the Korean rom-com ‘Crash Course In Romance’ had aired only two episodes when it lead the polls in the list of dramas that are generating the most buzz.

    Aside from this show, and the critically acclaimed thriller ‘The Glory’ that was among the top ten most watched dramas around the world, this is the perfect time to get into Korean dramas, especially if you’re from Pakistan and dying to watch something other than a toxic romance going round and round like a jalebi. From the list of K-dramas set to arrive on Netflix, the shows range from a wholesome office romances to an unlikely encounter between a vampire and a human and a bored housewife taking charge of her fate and deciding to become a doctor.

    2023 has only reached its middle and this lineup of dramas has us excited. Check out some amazing options.

    1 See you in my 19th life

    Time travelling lovers who recognise each other in their next lives? Sign us up immediately. Ban Ji Eum has an extraordinary trait: she can remember everything from her 18 past lives. But when her life is cut short tragically and Ji Eum is reborn in her 19th life, she is determined to reconnect with all the people she lost, and in the process she comes across Mono Seo Ha, a man whom she met in her previous life.

    2 My Heart Is Beating

    Missing your Vampire Diaries, Twilight era? K-dramas have got you covered. Remember the heartthrob villain Jang Jun-Woo from Vincenzo? The actor who played him, Ok Taec-Yeon, is now the lead in this drama, as a vampire who desperately wants to become a human being, but he misses his chance because of one day out of a 100 years. He starts living in a guest house run by Joo In-Hae (Won Ji-An), a cold-hearted nurse who does several jobs. As the two get closer, both start getting feelings for each other.

    3 King The Land

    If you missed witty office romances like Ankahi, or quite recently ‘Fairytale’ and need something to fill the hole in your heart left by Farjaad as you wait for Season 2, check out this one. Gu Won is the son of a chaebol family, who is caught in an inheritance war with the rest of his siblings over the control of his company. Although he is successful in his business, his work-a-holic attitude makes him bad at dating, until he meets Cheong Sa-Ra, an employee at his hotel, and immediately falls for her.

    4 Doctor Cha

    Cha Jeung-Suk graduated medical school with aspirations to become a doctor, but resigns to becoming a housewife to the Chief Surgeon at a university hospital. Twenty years later, Jeong-Suk decides to start her medical career despite resistance from her husband.

  • Woman murders tutor, after crime shows spike her ‘curiosity’

    Jung Yoo-Jung of South Korea posed as a student to murder her tutor with whom she had scheduled an online consultation.

    Yoo-Jung signed up on an online app by posing as the concerned mother of a daughter who was looking for a suitable English tutor. After connecting with another woman who was in her 20s, both agreed to meet at the victim’s home for a session.

    On May 26, Yooo-Jung showed up at the deceased’s house wearing a school uniform, pretending to be a student. Once she was let inside, she murdered the tutor, stabbing her multiple times and then dismembered her body.

    Afterwards, Jung placed the victim’s body parts in a suitcase, hiding her mobile phone, ID card and wallet to make it seem like the victim was travelling. She tried to dispose of the body by travelling to Nakdong River in a taxi. The cabbie made a call to the police to report Yoo-Jung’s suspicious behavior. Police discovered the suitcase along the riverside and arrested Jung from her home.

    According to the police, Jung confessed to the crime. She said that watching crime shows and reading about illegal activities spiked her curiosity and led to the murder:

    “Jung was found to have premeditated the crime driven by a desire to kill someone after she became obsessed with murder from TV programs and books,” a police spokesperson from Busan said. “Jung also said she feels sorry for what she did. We are conducting tests to see if she is a psychopath.”

    On Friday, Jung was indicted for murder.

  • Beat the blues with these six bingeable dramas

    Beat the blues with these six bingeable dramas

    Are you worn out and tired by constantly hustling under capitalism? Adulting can be incredibly hard, especially when you’re working from 9 to 5 on a regular basis, its hard to find a good show to bring some peace of mind.

    With the constant flow of sexist and repetitive plot lines and utlra-cringey jokes that Pakistani dramas can’t seem to put a cap on, we can understand the frustration our audiences could be going through to find something they can binge watch.

    Especially now that one has to fast, you might be looking for a good show to help pass the time.

    So ranging from some iconic Pakistani dramas to a spooky murder mystery and even some captivating Korean dramas, we have carefully crafted a list of shows we know our followers will drain in a day!

    1 Dolly Ki Ayegi Baraat

    How can we forget the iconic Saima Chaudhry, the fashion designer from Faisalabad? The hilarious comedy drama may have aired in 2010, but years later fans still binge watch the iconic drama and its sequels every Ramzan. The series starts with Dolly’s wedding preparations and the cultural clashes between two families as relationships form, misunderstanding emerge and discrimination based on class are pointed out.

    2 Akbari Asghari

    This one is for the ‘Dastaan’ fans, if you couldn’t get enough of Sanam Baloch and Fawad Khan’s jorri in a tragedy, then get prepared to wheeze in this hilarious family drama. A modern adaptation of the popular Urdu novel ‘Meerat-ul-Aroos’, the story follows two sisters, Akbari and Asghari living in the US, and their parent’s plan to get them married to their cousins living in Pakistan. While Akbari is a wild child who is unafraid to be bold in front of her parents, Asghari tries to be a dutiful daughter but resents the idea of marrying her cousin, when she actually wants to marry Roger.

    3 The Haunting of Hill House

    Not a fan of light-hearted comedy? Do you need something dark and spooky to beat the work fatigue? Then this is the perfect series that blends in the works of popular Gothic writers like Shirley Jackson, Edgar Allan Poe and explores themes like trauma, mental health and love. The series drifts between the present and the past, following the lives of five siblings and the aftermath of a tragedy they suffered in a house they moved into for the summer of 92. Slowly, strange events begin occurring, leading to each family member begins doubting each other.

    4 Abbott Elementary

    Have memorized ‘The Office’ and ‘Friends’ and now need another feel-good comedy series that makes you giddy in the same way? This comedy drama has received rave reviews from audiences for its stellar writing and especially performances from the likes of Quinta Brunson. Set at a Philadelphia public school, it follows five teachers who are passionate about their job, despite the limited funding they receive from the district to provide supplies to their children.

    5 Mr Queen

    We obviously cannot form a list of good television shows without including Korean dramas, because literally every one has a comfort K-drama on their list. And this is the one we want our audience to look up, for a feel-good time travel rom-com involving gender bending and romance. When modern chef Na In-Woo accidentally falls from a building while trying to escape cops, he wakes up to realize he’s in the body of a woman, who is set to become the queen in the Joseon era.

    6 Tomorrow

    Need something dark and broody to really draw you in? Fans of heartthrobs Rowoon and Lee Soo-Hyuk would definitely want to include this show in their watch list. When an accident causes Choi Joon-Woong to go into a coma and turn into a half-spirit, he is enlisted in a team of Grim Reapers whose job is to counsel people struggling with suicidal thoughts. Brilliantly performed with a gripping script that engages with a dark topic with humour and gentleness, this is definitely a drama you should look up.

  • ‘Crash Course in Romance’ should be on your watch list and here’s why!

    ‘Crash Course in Romance’ should be on your watch list and here’s why!

    At a time when both Bollywood and Lollywood seem to be contesting to out cringe the other by producing the most awkward movies anyone has ever seen, we’re here to provide you a K-drama recommendation that is currently among the top ten most popular shows on Netflix. Take a step back from the saas-bahu kay jhagray, the satti savitri verses the slutty savitri trope and take a deep dive with us in to this enemies to lovers K-drama that revolves around a blossoming relationship between a celebrity math teacher and a single mother.

    1 Food as a love language

    If you’re a food lover, and want to escape from reality to take a deep dive in to a different culture worlds, then this is the perfect show. The central bond that keeps the main characters together is their love for food. This is what has helped K-dramas establish their own space, an emphasis on how love can be found in the most simple things, like making food for someone. We have two broken characters who have suffered hardships because of finances, poor mental health and poverty, learn to come close to one another because of their shared love for a particular dish.

    2 The greenest of green flag enemies to lovers story out there.

    Unlike Pakistani dramas where apparently enemies to lovers means adding aik kilo badtameezi and do chamach thappar to make the most recoiling drama ever, K-dramas have been lauded for championing unproblematic, wholesome male leads who respect and empower the women around them. Choi Chi-Yeol is a celebrity math professor whose in popular demand among students all across Korea to ace math in high school, however his crippling anxiety and depression is giving him insomnia and an eating disorder. However, when he crosses paths with Haeng-Seon, a hard working single mother who runs a cafe to support her daughter’s education, they both help each other overcome their trauma and soon start falling for each other.

    3 Explores the cut-throat competition within private schools and mental health struggles of students

    Aside from the comedy and the light-hearted banter between the main leads, the show is not afraid to address the practice of private schooling, and how the mental health of students is impacted as they compete for the best grades and colleges. The drama is set in the backdrop of the upcoming CSATs in Korea, and how students are pressurized by their parents and teachers to work hard everyday to get the best results. Mostly, the show also reflects how the privilege’s of good education comes at a high cost, with the struggles of Nam Haeyi, who comes from a working class background, and struggles to get good grades like the rest of her peers because she is unable to afford expensive private tuitions offered by academies after school.

    4 Wholesome supporting characters

    One of the most endearing tropes that have kept setting k-dramas apart from any other form of entertainment is the emphasis over found families, that as we grow old we can pick and choose our own family members, rather than the ones we are linked to by blood. In this show, aside from the male leads, side characters like Haeng-Seon’s autistic brother Jae-Woo, are fleshed out to provide more depth to the story, and especially with the way he forms a bond with loner characters like Chi-Yeol, to help him learn about the bond of family for the first time.

    Crash Course in Romance plays every Saturday and Sunday on 8 pm on Netflix.

  • Hyundai’s electric vehicle wins ‘World Car of the Year’ award

    Hyundai’s electric vehicle wins ‘World Car of the Year’ award

    The winners of the World Car Awards for 2022 were recently announced at an event held during this year’s auto show.

    Pure-electric vehicles won the majority of the coveted prizes, indicating how the world’s automotive marketplace is changing from combustion to electrification and demonstrating how emission-free autos are equal to or better than their gasoline or diesel equivalents.

    The Hyundai Ioniq 5, an all-electric SUV from the Korean automaker, won the top accolade, ‘World Car of the Year’. The futuristic Ioniq 5 received two more honours, including World Electric Vehicle of the Year and World Car Design of the Year.

    Launched in 2004, the annual ‘World Car Awards’, is now in its 18th year. As per Cision Insights’ 2021, it is the world’s number one award event in terms of media reach and analysis of twenty-five main worldwide markets for the ninth year in a row.

    The jury for this year’s awards comprises 103 expert automotive journalists from across the world who are tasked with evaluating, comparing, and selecting the finest car in each class.

    iF Design Award 2022

    Hyundai’s designs also won nine awards at the prestigious International Forum (iF) Design Award 2022.

    Since 1954, the iF Design Award has recognised outstanding designs of the year. Along with the ‘Red Dot Award’ from Germany and the Worldwide Design Excellence Award (IDEA) from the United States, it is one of three international design honours.

    Hyundai Motor has won the iF Design Award for the eighth year in a row, honouring the automaker in a variety of categories, including Product, Professional Concept, Interior Architecture, and Communication.

    Read more: Honda to discontinue Insight next year, confirms production of Civic and CR-V hybrid

    The multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) from Hyundai Motor, STORIA, which was recently launched in Pakistan, underlines Hyundai’s global product design prowess. It has the outside of a futuristic spacecraft and the cabin of a roomy and pleasant vehicle for the driver and occupants. Lesser beltlines and panoramic side windows are influenced by traditional Korean ‘Hanok’ architecture.