NKoreans risking lives for SKorean soap operas

[crisketch.livejournal.com]

SEOUL, South Korea — Teams of North Korean agents known as "109 squads" are sweeping through border towns at night, arresting smugglers and confiscating banned South Korean videos and music amid concerns about the popularity of soap operas from Seoul, a think tank said Thursday.

Those convicted of sneaking contraband movies into the communist country face harsh penalties — including public execution in some cases, researchers at the state-run Korea Institute for National Unification said.

North Korea is one of the world's most isolated and repressive nations, with average citizens banned from watching or listening to anything but state TV and radio and prohibited from owning PCs. Listening to banned broadcasts can draw years of hard labor, and spreading illicit information can mean death, the institute said in a report released Thursday.

 

( Read more... )

source: 1

sorry but waddahale, public execution?! srsly...

MBC Music Core Performances - July 25/09

[downpour.livejournal.com]

omg the shinee/snsd collab was intense idek. //FANGIRLS. but the 'juliette' remix was... weird. idk i didn't like it that much. and don't forget, 4minute did their VERY SHORT ~mj tribute~

SHINee - Juliette (Remix)

( FT Island, SNSD, 4minute, MC Mong, Lee Jung Hyun, IU, Jessica & Myung Soo )

source: prot0980 & code monmon.

BIGBANG Gara Gara Go! at Music Fighter

[radiospy.livejournal.com]

Source

Yunho Volunteering at an Orphanage

[iheartdarkblue.livejournal.com]

A celebrity came to our house!

You guys know TVXQ's U-Know Yunho, right? ^^

A celebrity visited our house!!

Even has a famous name "U-Know Yunho"

Right now he's going through the house, and here is the sandtray therapy room.

Everyone showed much interest!!
( Prepare for your ovaries to combust )

credit:shinaewon + dnbn.org
translation:translation by squeaky@soompi
source:asianfanatics

Ku Hye Sun’s Interview (Elle Girl)

[-ochre.livejournal.com]

Actress-author-artist-composer-director Ku Hye Sun sat down for an interview with Elle Girl. Translated excerpts are beyond the jump.

( Interview here )

Source: Elle Girl
Via: kpculture

Beijing Hyundai Motor i30 AD & Hyori and Wilber Pan in China

[scentofyours.livejournal.com]

 


( Nation's Fairy is doing good in China. )

Source

Star King Episode 125 SHINee & 2PM Cut

[changhomin.livejournal.com]

source

Epik High - iTunes Chart update! 8D

[freepureangel.livejournal.com]

Hey omonas~

Some good Epik High news for you all!

In the words of Tablo "iTunes update! broke top 10 on US and Canada charts, top 20 on Japan charts, top 100 in Europe... our next album's gonna be even betta!"


( Some good news under the cut! )

Source: Apple.com & my Canadian iTunes

First post here! ><
P.S, the commentary is my own, except for the Tablo bit.

(First?) Ninja Assassin Review

[ashiva.livejournal.com]

Review based on "super secret" screening of Ninja Assassin in Comic-Con:


 
Bloodiest movie of the year?

There will be blood. Lots and lots of blood. Total Film almost had to wipe the stuff from our eyes as it geysered everything throughout the Comic Con sneak screening of Ninja Assassin last night. 

Severed heads, arms, legs, faces... Everything gets the chop in director James McTeigue's mega-violent follow-up to V For Vendetta, which stars Asian heartthrob and Speed Racer actor Rain as a vengeful black-clad killer.

Sadly, the story and the acting are way less sharp than the swords and shuriken stars being lashed around. But for sheer B-movie gore-gushing, Ninja Assassin simply doesn't hold back.

Ninjas hit by cars. Victims gutted. Walls painted with claret. It's stylised, for sure - lots of swerving camerawork, thanks to producers The Wachowski Brothers - but brutal stuff.

By the end of the film, Rain looks like he's dropped been through a giant paper-shredder.

Source

090719 FT Island Inkigayo Backstage

[wishdreamx3.livejournal.com]

( More )

Source: soompi

Can I ask why there are two separate tags for FT Island out of curiosity's sake? Nothing more than that, jw. All cleared up.

South Korea wants to gag the noisy internet rabble

[anti-tortoise.livejournal.com]

While governments around the world try to make sense of the internet and wonder how to curb some of its darker incarnations, all eyes should now be on South Korea, which is one of the first democracies planning to use the law to hold the internet to account.

Many believe that the government's attempt to impose rules on internet users will fail. What it is seeking to do is bring websites in line with traditional media: to make them accountable, subject to laws of libel and so forth.

( Read more... )

Source

SNSD's ice princess sings with a schoolboy on Star King!

[crisketch.livejournal.com]

That boy's voice is amazing wow.

source: prot0908

JYP ditches his gurls for 2PM

[loverboy.livejournal.com]

source

2PM's new album.

E Live with 2NE1 (mostly with Dara)

[ashiva.livejournal.com]

Source

Jo Kwon and Woo Young Speaking English (Mnet Superstar K)

[siouxsies.livejournal.com]

Watch on YouTube

LMFAO
"Britney Spears... Christina Aguilera..."

Source

say hi to Nippon Vogue!

[shiawaseni.livejournal.com]

Patti wilson and francois nars are amazing! ( one moar )

source

larger pix @source.
sorry about the stupid cut! :x

Wonder Girls Fan meeting in NY

[shiawaseni.livejournal.com]

source

I COULD HAVE BEEN THERE >:| /bitter
also lol @the dancing.

Rain to Get Exclusive IPTV Channel

[ashiva.livejournal.com]

Singer and actor Tain now has his own Internet protocol television (IPTV) channel where ans can catch glimpses of the star through SK Broad & TV next month.

Singer and actor Rain now has his own Internet protocol television (IPTV) channel where fans can catch glimpses of the star from morning to night, starting next month.

The singer's agency, J. Tune Entertainment, announced Friday that SK Broad & TV has decided to open an exclusive channel for him. This is the first time for a local celebrity to have his or her own channel on IPTV. The channel name has yet to be made.

( Read more... )

Source

2NE1 Dump Sex Appeal for Bad-Girl Image

[ashiva.livejournal.com]

Girl band 2NE1 distinguish themselves from other manufactured combos like Girls' Generation and the Wonder Girls with a concept that abandons sex appeal for baggy hip hop pants and studded bracelet instead of miniskirts. It is girls, not boys, who go mad for the "bad girls."

The band consists of four girls -- 25-year-olds Sandara Park and Park Bom, 18-year-old Chae Lee, and 15-year-old Kong Min-ji.

( Read more... )

Source

Heading to the Ground Cast Update

[xshinebrighterx.livejournal.com]

Jung Yun Ho, more commonly known as U-know Yunho of TVXQ, has signed on to his first lead drama role. He is to be joined by Go Ara, Lee Yoon Ji, and Lee Sang Yun in the soccer-themed drama, Heading on Bare Ground (맨땅에 헤딩).

( rest of the article )

source

Rival rock festivals begin today

[anti-tortoise.livejournal.com]

Music fans face a dilemma this weekend as they choose between two rock festivals. Incheon Pentaport Rock Festival returns for a fourth straight year, albeit with a credit crunch line-up heavily reliant on Korean bands. Newcomer Jisan Valley Rock Festival has big names, but almost twice the admission price.

What many of the bands this year have in common is that they are old hands - very few of this year's imports broke through in the last five years, and many have been established for more than a decade.

( Read more... )

Source