North Korea has turned its back on K-pop, seeing it as a threat to socialism, despite welcoming a performance by popular South Korean girl group Red Velvet in Pyongyang just three years ago. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un held a ruling Workers' Party Tuesday that stressed a campaign against “anti-socialist and non-socialist practices,” reported state-run media Wednesday.  

While the government pushes to speed up Covid-19 vaccinations, some people have seen their first AstraZeneca appointments abruptly canceled after vaccine supplies fell short across the country. Mr. Choi, 62, who booked his first appointment for his first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine, received an unexpected text from the hospital on Tuesday — his reservation for Friday has been postponed due to overbooking. 

The People Power Party (PPP), considered not long ago as a cemetery for political dinosaurs, is being inundated with membership applications after it elected 36-year-old Lee Jun-seok as its new chairman. Many of the new members are in their 20s and 30s. “Because there are so many applicants, the online server crashed twice,” a PPP worker told JTBC.  

A delivery strike is coming to an end after workers and logistics companies struck an agreement Wednesday. Under the terms of the deal, deliverymen will not work more than 60 hours a week or deliver parcels after 9 p.m., though they will not receive the same level of compensation as before when working longer hours.  

A consortium led by Emart has been named the preferred bidder for eBay Korea, according to local media reports on Wednesday. If the acquisition is successful, Emart will likely become the No. 2 e-commerce player, with a market share roughly the same as Coupang’s. If the acquisition was with Naver, a market-dominating e-commerce powerhouse would be created.  

 Krafton, the developer of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, has filed for a massive IPO that would make it the most valuable Korean game company and the 12th largest listed company in the country. In a filing Wednesday, Krafton registered to offer 10,060,230 shares at between 458,000 won and 557,000 won each. If the upper end of the range is hit, 5.6 trillion won ($5 billion) of stock will be sold. That would be a record.

Summer is coming and so is the rainy season. Some people might get a bit down in the wet weather, but boy band Onewe has something for them. The five-member rock band will release “Planet Nine: Alter Ego,” its first EP, on Wednesday evening. It’s the first new music from Onewe in six months. “Memory: Illusion,” a single, came out in December. The band described the album as more “experimental” than ever, still powerful but this time bolder with “Rain To BE,” the lead track. The band went for a rougher and tougher performance, but added a more delicate touch to their music. 

A film about girl group Blackpink will hit theaters worldwide this summer, according to YG Entertainment on Wednesday. “Blackpink the Movie” is being made to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the group’s debut, which is on Aug. 8. It will be premiering sometime in August at CGV in Korea and in about 100 other countries. The exact date of the opening in each country will be disclosed later.  

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