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Rich enough to ‘flex’ but not enough to pay taxes, apparently

THURSDAY, JANUARY 05, 2023

The South Korean national health insurance operator’s list of heavy defaulters – those whose overdue premiums payments exceed 10 million won ($7,833) – includes self-styled “rich” rapper Dok2. He has failed to pay 16.6 million won from 2018 to 2019, it showed.

The revelation came just a month after the National Tax Service made public the same rapper’s overdue balance of 320 million won in taxes. When this was disclosed, Dok2 posted promotional images of his upcoming album on Instagram, with no mention of his tax arrears.

The National Health Insurance Service did not reveal how the amount of Dok2’s unpaid premiums changed after 2019. But since it removes the names of those whose overdue payments fall below 10 million won, Dok2’s name on the list means he still owes at least 10 million won to the NHIS as of 2023.

While the musician himself has remained silent on the situation, the public has been vocal about the apparent irony of a man who famously bragged about his wealth in his songs and public appearances.

The case of Dok2 adds to a string of controversies surrounding celebrities and social media influencers who earned fame by showing off their riches in what is called the “flex culture.”

‘Flex’ and hip-hop

In his song “1LLIN,” Dok2 raps: “Get money, get dough/Get paper, let’s get more.”

The irony of the current situation is that Dok2 has been the poster child of a lavish spending culture among younger Koreans. In the past, he revealed on TV that he has stacks of 50,000 won bills at his home and held a performance in which he scattered 10,000 won bills to his fans during his 2019 concert.

Among Koreans, boasting one’s wealth through lavish conspicuous consumption is widely called “flexing,” a narrow application of the original US slang term that means showing off one’s physique, belongings, or anything considered valuable. Flexing is often seen as an attempt to signal that one is superior to others through such traits or belongings.

Its popularity grew in the country with frequent uses from local rappers including Giriboy and Yumdda, the former of whom released a song named “flex” in 2018.

Korean rappers have not been shy about demonstrating their spending habits. Dok2 has said on TV that he bought a Bentley and a Ferrari for his birthday, while another rapper called Yumdda posted a YouTube video of himself spending 40 million won in a single day.

Less glamorous side of flexing

The flex culture has taken off as a sociocultural phenomenon, not just here, but abroad.

Celebrities, influencers and even ordinary people gain large followings on social media by showing off designer clothes, expensive homes and luxurious overseas vacations.

But this has not been without some adverse effects.

Appearing on TV, Korean rapper Sleepy shared how he felt pressured to flex, despite his financial limitations.

A 2018 episode of the KBS show “Kim Saeng-min’s Receipt” showed unpaid bills piled up at the rapper’s rented home, whose luxury car was given by a friend and his expensive watch had stopped working. The musician revealed that he had only 70,000 won left in his bank account.

“That was when rappers had to flex. I felt pressure to post (photos of) brand new (luxury) items on social media,” he said, adding that he had changed his ways since then. He stopped buying brand-name products and worked part-time jobs to save up.

Last year, a YouTuber named Song Ji-ah with over 2 million subscribers was embroiled in a controversy after it was revealed that many of the designer-label clothes and accessories that she wore in her videos which she claimed to be authentic turned out to be fake.

Lim Myung-ho, professor of psychology and psychotherapy at Dankook University, said watching someone flex allows viewers a vicarious experience. “Many people have the desire to be rich, and (watching these videos) is a way of circumventing such desires,” he said.

A survey last year by local school uniform brand Smart of 783 middle and high school students found that nearly half — 46 % — of them have bought brand-name products, with the leading causes being that they “saw celebrities use it” and “didn’t want to be left out among friends.”

On Dok2’s tax and health insurance arrears, internet users left some scathing remarks.

“I thought this was a man who boasted about his cars and money on TV,” wrote one commenter on a news article about Dok2 being accused by the NTS of not paying taxes.

“Celebrities who don’t pay taxes (…) It’s our (the public’s) money that makes them rich. Paying taxes is the least they can do to give back to society,” wrote another.

The Korea Herald

Asia News Network

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Hit Chinese shows gain popularity in overseas markets

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 04, 2023

Due to the rising popularity of Chinese content in recent years, TrueID – a Thai online video platform – set up a dedicated Chinese television section.

Komin Aoudomphan went to great lengths to discover the reason for a bomb explosion on a bus in the Chinese suspense series Reset.

He spent a day and a night going without sleep to view the 15-episode drama in Bangkok earlier this year when it became a hit in Thailand.

“All my friends talked about the plots. The lead actor and actress in the series are charming and attractive,” said Aoudomphan, who works at TrueID, a popular online video platform in Thailand.

TrueID introduced Reset to Thailand from China at the start of this year.

The series depicts the journey of a college student and a game designer who are stuck in a “time loop” as they determine the truth behind the bomb explosion on the bus, which kills all passengers aboard. The series has garnered more than 2 billion views in China and is also hugely successful in Thailand.

Due to the rising popularity of Chinese content in recent years, TrueID set up a dedicated Chinese television section last month featuring dozens of popular series.

Wang Shuang, who is in charge of the overseas market at WeTV, an international version of the leading Chinese streaming platform Tencent Video, said, “Chinese content is gaining popularity not only in Thailand but throughout Southeast Asia.”

According to Wang, demand for Chinese dramas has soared in Southeast Asia in recent years, especially in Thailand, where Chinese series have edged out those from South Korea, followed by series from Japan, the United States and European countries.

WeTV has been downloaded about 150 million times globally. About 30 million downloads are from Thailand, a country with a population of less than 70 million.

Lu Di, a professor at Peking University’s School of Journalism and Communication, said: “Thailand is a very mature market for Chinese dramas. The country is close to China geographically and people from the two nations share many similarities in daily life and culture. Communication and exchanges between China and Thailand have been taking place since the Han Dynasty (202 BC-AD 220).”

The rising popularity of Chinese series elsewhere in Asia is largely due to streaming platforms attracting young people, who form the majority audience for these dramas overseas, Lu added.

Exports boom

Exports of Chinese TV series have returned to pre-pandemic levels, according to a report on the international distribution of such dramas issued by the National Radio and Television Administration in November.

Last year, the export value of television series was $56.83 million and China exported 714 TV dramas during this time. Southeast Asia is the core market for these dramas, accounting for one-third of the series that are exported.

The report also said that female audiences from Asia, especially those born after the 1990s and 2000s, comprise the majority of people who enjoy watching Chinese series.

Wang, from WeTV, said its subscribers are mostly women younger than 30. Many of them are attracted by Chinese costume romances, a popular genre in the nation’s showbiz industry.

The Chinese costume drama Who Rules the World, starring Yang Yang and Zhao Lusi, became a sensation in Thailand after airing on WeTV in May. It tells of the love story between a young woman and a man competing with each other in martial arts who finally fight against the world together. The romantic drama received hundreds of millions of views.

The most popular Chinese stars in Thailand, including Yang Yang, Xiao Zhan, Yang Mi and Dilraba Dilmurat, also often play the leading roles in popular costume romances.

Wang said, “We really hope to bring these stars to Thailand for their adoring fans to meet them,” adding that previously, pandemic policies made it impossible for Thai fans to meet their favoured stars.

In 2019, when WeTV held an offline event at a shopping centre in Bangkok that featured two leading actors from a Chinese romance series, fans packed the centre, Wang said.

“There were so many people. It was very impressive. The two Chinese stars were not that popular at home, but because they played protagonists in the romance series, the Thai people loved it so much,” Wang added.

This series, Put Your Head on My Shoulder, is a small production that relates the love story between a young man and a woman who have just graduated from college. It was the first Chinese drama introduced to Thailand by WeTV.

Many popular Chinese dramas have since been introduced by the streaming platform, which in 2019 formed a team of about 30 people in Bangkok.

“Although we couldn’t organize offline promotional activities after 2020 due to the pandemic, our subscriber numbers have grown steadily each year,” Wang said.

Other leading Chinese online video platforms such as iQiyi, Youku and Mango TV have also launched overseas services and have chosen Thailand as a key location to run their businesses.

In June 2019, iQiyi launched its international version and focused on introducing the love series to the Southeast Asian market. Mango TV said it was setting up a Southeast Asian communications centre to support its overseas market after cooperating with the national TV broadcaster in Laos.

According to a report issued by Media Partners Asia, WeTV accounts for 22 % of the streaming market in Thailand, while Netflix comprises 24 %. However, Wang said they still need to cooperate with their Chinese counterparts to improve the popularity of Chinese series.

“I think we (Chinese streaming platforms) should cooperate in actively promoting Chinese dramas, in order for them to reach a wider audience overseas. We are still on the road to cooperating, rather than competing with each other,” Wang said.

Joint efforts

In addition to introducing domestic series to overseas markets, more Chinese platforms and companies are producing local content by working with teams in Southeast Asia.

For example, WeTV has produced the Thai campus romance Love Mechanics, the melodrama The Wife, as well as the second season of the Indonesian hit My Lecture, My Husband. The Layangan Putus series in Indonesia, which tells the story of a couple enjoying a harmonious and loving relationship, has garnered hundreds of millions of views.

Explaining the idea to make original content starring local celebrities and cast members, Wang said: “We try to resonate with local communities. When people use our app to access original local material, they can also choose Chinese content that we provide.”

For Century UU, a distributor and producer based in Tianjin, producing dramas with a Thai team to target audiences in China and Thailand is a good opportunity to meet future demand.

Century UU bought the copyrights for three popular South Korean series and produced them in Thailand with local teams. The series, which has aired in China and Thailand in the past two years, has received good reviews.

Li Fude, the founder of Century UU, said, “It’s very convenient and easy to integrate all the resources we need to produce such originals, and it’s not as expensive as shooting them in China.”

When the company was established in 2012, it mainly introduced Thai TV dramas to China and distributed other Chinese series overseas. After years of working with its partners in Thailand, it has found new opportunities to cooperate with partners overseas in jointly producing original material.

Li said, “We make tailored content that takes into account the tastes of audiences from different nations.”

For instance, his team added many elements related to Thai food to a romance series.

To improve its original productions, the company set up a shooting area equipped with high technology.

Century UU changed its distribution strategy this year. It dropped the practice of distributing one series through a single partner. Instead, it now provides a package of series.

For example, the dedicated Chinese TV section at TrueID is cooperating with Li’s company. The section includes different types of Chinese dramas, such as costume series and modern productions, to showcase just how vivid Chinese culture is.

“This is a good way of offering more choices to audiences overseas,” Li said.

His company is also one of the leading Chinese content providers on YouTube. It has more than 27 million subscribers and covers 13 languages. The number of subscribers from Russia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Arab countries has surpassed 1 million in each location.

Li said that in recent years, apart from the core market in Southeast Asia, the number of subscribers in Arab nations has risen quickly, and their favourites are modern series that tell romantic stories about young Chinese.

According to the report published by the National Radio and Television Administration in November, Arab nations are becoming an extremely important market for Chinese dramas. Historical series and modern dramas are favoured by these audiences.

This month, the Arabic version of the popular Chinese series Minning Town, which tells the story of poverty being eliminated in a rural village, aired in many Arab countries.

Ma Ning, the founder of Wisdom House International Culture Communication Group, which dubbed Minning Town in Arabic, said, “This year marks the rise of Chinese dramas in the Arab world, especially after the release of Minning Town.

“People in Arab nations want to know the secret of China’s success through its dramas.”

China Daily

Asia News Network

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‘Avatar 2’ becomes fastest 2022 release to reach $1 billion global box office sales

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2022

James Cameron’s long-awaited “Avatar” sequel has become the fastest 2022 film to smash $1 billion in global sales at the box office in just 14 days since its release in mid-December, according to the entertainment industry website Variety.com.

“Avatar: The Way of Water” has beaten both “Top Gun: Maverick” which took 31 days in May to clear the box office milestone, and “Jurassic World Dominion” released in June which took over four months, according to Variety.

In 2021, “Spider-Man: No Way Home” took just 12 days. Only six movies in history have cleared $1  billion mark in their first two weeks of release.

Studios split ticket sales with theatres, and Cameron has said “The Way of Water” will need to make $2 billion just to break even. Disney has not disclosed the budget and marketing costs.

“The Way of Water” fell short of ticket sales forecasts as it first swept into theatres over the weekend of December 16, racking up roughly $435 million around the globe, distributor Walt Disney Co. said, including $134 million in the United States and Canada.

Pre-weekend predictions called for at least a $140 million domestic tally for Cameron’s decade-in-the-making return to the story of the blue, Na’vi people on a moon called Pandora, and as much as $500 million worldwide.

Box office experts said it was too soon to judge whether the movie would recoup its massive costs.

The movie was released 13 years after the first instalment wowed audiences with pioneering 3D technology. The original “Avatar” remains the all-time box office champion with $2.9 billion in global ticket sales.

The sequel was delayed multiple times as Cameron and co-writers crafted a story to be told over four additional movies. A third “Avatar” instalment and part of a fourth already have been filmed.

In “The Way of Water,” actors Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana return as Jake Sully and Neytiri 10 years later, now parents of five children. Their peaceful life is interrupted when the Sky People, the Na’vi name for humans, return to go after Jake.

Reuters

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K-Pop 2022 : From rise of new groups to return of legends

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2022

Addictive rhythms and powerful choreography continued to propel K-pop up the global music charts in 2022. Korean artists have reached the top spot on the Billboard 200 – the ranking of the best-performing albums and EPs in the US – a record four times this year.

Stray Kids was the first Korean act to top the chart this year with its album “Oddinary,” followed by Blackpink, (G)I-idle, and RM.

Apart from the global chart-toppers, this year’s K-pop scene was undoubtedly dominated by the fourth generation girl groups such as NewJeans, IVE, (G)I-idle, Le Sserafim and Aespa.

In addition, the return of groups such as Big Bang, Girls’ Generation and Kara after several years of hiatus brought new energy to the industry.

Here is a list of 20 tracks that best capture 2022.

1. “Pink Venom” – Blackpink

Blackpink nabbed their first No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with their latest full-length album “Born Pink” in early October, making them the first K-pop girl group to take the throne.

“Pink Venom” is the first single from the album, and infuses the group’s trademark hip-hop style with the sound of the Korean traditional instrument geomungo.

The single peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Global 200 chart for two weeks.

The song ends with a chaotic rhythm as the beat drops.

2. “Maniac” – Stray Kids

Stray Kids’ popularity grew by leaps and bounds with “Maniac,” the focus track from the EP “Oddinary,” which ranked No. 1 on the Billboard 200.

The EP also sold over 1 million copies, a first for both the band and its label JYP Entertainment.

Stray Kids said they tried to show their unique explosive power in a restrained manner for the song, but the track still carries Stray Kids’ trademark noisy backing and a killer hook.

3. “Hello” – Treasure

“Hello,” the lead track from Treasure’s second EP “The Second Step: Chapter Two,” is filled with a positive and energetic message that reflects the cheerful image of the group.

The dance song delivers cheerful vibes, with a bright mood overlaid with Treasure’s warm vocal colour.

Their label YG Entertainment’s characteristics pop out strongly in the chanted chorus with hip-hop elements.

This is the group’s first song without Bang Yedam and Mashiho, members who withdrew from the group a month after the release of “Hello.”

4. “Hype Boy” – NewJeans

NewJeans, the first girl group from the Ador label under K-pop powerhouse Hybe, made an impressive debut this year with their songs topping local charts.

The rookie group’s second single “Hype Boy” came with four different music videos.

The mid-tempo melodies and repetitive lyrics lead up to a catchy chorus, but what really made their track go viral was their refreshing and easy-to-follow dance, with choreography that looked back to the earliest generations of K-pop.

5. “Love Dive” – IVE

Another rookie girl group, IVE, has cemented its position in the K-pop scene with its second single, “Love Dive.”

The song is appealing and charismatic as it expresses the courage it takes to “dive into love” but what the girls really fall in love with is themselves.

The motif of this was the story of Narcissus, the figure from Greek mythology who was so impossibly handsome that he fell in love with his own image reflected from a lake.

The lyrics “Narcissistic, my god I love it” forms the hook of the song echoing like chants.

6. “INVU” – Taeyeon

The title track of the soloist Taeyeon’s third LP “INVU” is a pop-house tune. A synth harmony is overlaid with a melody that combines with the singer’s high-pitched vocals makes the storytelling more dramatic.

The lyrics say that the singer knows she will get hurt and tired of loving the people, but she will continue to love others nonetheless.

That is why she says “I envy you,” since others will stop loving her and abandon her, but she cannot do the same.

From beginning to end, it contains changes in emotions and personal maturity under an organic and dense musical design.

7. “_WORLD” – Seventeen

“_WORLD,” from the album “Sector 17,” is an R&B song with a funky rhythm and a sweet melody.

The song invites listeners into a “new world” with horn instrumentals, light disco influences, and soft and smooth vocals accentuating the “fresh teen” image that has represented Seventeen since its debut.

The highlight of the tune comes with Vernon’s rap, opening with the lines, “Knock, knock, knockin’ on heaven’s door / Run your fingertips over the whipped cream cloud.”

The light, flowy, and amicable song glides through the ears, definitely making it a pleasant track to listen to.

8. “Tomboy” – (G)I-dle

(G)I-dle comes back for ‘vengeance’ after a yearlong hiatus with its megahit song “Tomboy,” a rebellious pop-rock song with an ear-catching melody and eye-catching choreography.

In the song, the girls refuse to become the “blonde Barbie doll” they say men want them to be and instead choose to be tomboys.

The hook, which combines the members’ unique voices with a rough instrumental sound, and the addictive variation that flows out at the moment the atmosphere is heightened are the points to look out for.

9. “Wild Flower” – RM

BTS’ RM made a stunning debut as a solo artist with his album “Indigo” and the main track “Wild Flower” this year.

RM sings of wanting to live not like a firework but a wildflower, highlighting the artist’s fear of losing his love for music.

“Wild Flower” is composed of string instruments including a subtle guitar and percussion.

Vocalist Youjeen from the band Cherry Filter adds volume to the song by adding her powerful delivery to the explosive chorus.

“Wild Flower” reached No. 83 on the Billboard Hot 100.

10. “Dreamers” – Jung Kook

This year’s World Cup became more memorable for South Koreans thanks to “Dreamers” by BTS’ Jung Kook, adding to the national team’s success in make it to the last 16 for the first time in 12 years.

“Dreamers,” part of the Qatar World Cup’s Official Soundtrack, featured Qatari singer Fahad Al Kubaisi.

The track speaks of how people make dreams come true through self-determination and perseverance: “Look who we are, we are the dreamers, We make it happen, ’cause we believe it.”

The song debuted on Spotify’s Daily Viral Song chart in all 73 countries making Jung Kook and Japanese singer Fujii Kaze the only Asian musicians to achieve the milestone.

11. “Good Boy Gone Bad” – TXT

12. “Polaroid Love” – Enhypen

13. “Antifragile” – Le Sserafim

14. “Girls” – Aespa

15. “Still Life” – Big Bang

16. “Forever 1” – Girls’ Generation

17. “When I Move” – Kara

18. “Yet to Come” – BTS

19. “Event Horizon” – Younha

20. “Beatbox”- NCT Dream

The Korea Herald

Asia News Network

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Building the team behind a K-pop superstar

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2022

Success is now not just about the fame of a single K-pop act. It’s the whole system of personnel working together to keep the “brand” in the limelight.

“Million-seller” had been a title not many in the K-pop industry could achieve, but it has become undeniably more commonplace compared to a few years ago. K-pop, once a minor genre in the global music market, has grown at an ever-faster pace to form a whole industry unto itself.

System for spotlight

Kim Jin-woo, the CEO of multilabel company RBW, said the key challenge for the industry now is establishing a company with concrete fundamentals that can compete in the global market.

“The key to success is the quality of content, and the main factor deciding the quality is how much the company can invest. If we’d made the early Mamamoo music videos with a 50 million won ($38,400) budget, now we have to spend at least 10 times that to compete against other big-name groups,” Kim said.

Such enhanced quality comes from the raised global awareness and presence of K-pop groups over the last three years or so. According to Kim, while K-pop’s global reach has made steady progress over the past decade, the growth during the pandemic was unprecedented.

“K-pop companies are now making content to compete in the global market, like Hollywood for example. It has to be able to stand out in such an expanded market. The marginal cost in producing quality content has increased immensely,” the entrepreneur said.

Such a paradigm shift has allowed large companies with deeper pockets to come out on top, with smaller and smaller labels either dying out or being absorbed by those powerhouses.

Entertainment firm RBW

Kim urged that it is essential for small labels to cultivate an organized system, not only for those firms to survive but for the whole K-pop industry to go in the right direction.

“Producing a K-pop singer is like operating a boat. It’s the artist who stands up front, but there are people who row the boat, raise the anchor, spread the sails and turn the wheel. All crew members have to work together like one in order for the artist and the company to succeed,” the label chief said.

Rather than chasing short-lived success, Kim has spent 12 years compiling knowledge and building the system upon which companies, and their members, could prosper in the long term.

RBW, short for Rainbow bridge World, was co-founded by Kim Jin-woo and his partner Kim Do-hoon, also the chief producer, in 2010. Kicking off with a budget of 100 million won ($76,600), the two young CEOs could not make their own music from the start. The early years were devoted to performing the roles they could inside the entertainment industry, making music for other musicians, taking up agent roles, marketing and networking.

“We were able to compile experiences and go through trial and error because we worked for others. We continued to study and research how to build a sustainable system in the meantime, learning from not just our own but others’ experiences,” Kim said.

Now, RBW has grown into a profit-making production with over 4,000 intellectual properties related to music under its belt. In November 2021, RBW officially listed itself on the nation’s secondary, tech-heavy market Kosdaq.

Entertainment, not entertaining

Kim has been sharing his insight as an entertainment entrepreneur through various channels since 2016, including at the entertainment business department at Myongji University, which he established and teaches, and a government-funded training course.

In November, he published the book “25 Business Secrets for a K-pop Production” to spread his initiative to the wider general public. Through his book, the CEO not only aimed to give insight into how people work inside the industry but also share the reality that is often overlooked from the outside.

Kim said the overbearing spotlight on K-pop artists is a “social problem” and stressed there is much more than what people see on the stage.

“Our society recommends becoming a K-pop artist. There are over a dozen audition programs (on TV) flooding out every year, but this industry really doesn’t need that many stars. The industry might be prospering, but behind this bright side lies the truth that more people are failing to achieve their dream as an artist and are wasting their youth,” Kim said. “This has become a serious social problem.”

While a label launches just one to two new groups a year, several dozen teenagers endure grinding months to years in training. A handful of top-tier trainees debut, but even among them, only a lucky few can achieve stellar success. Kim said those who do not make it to the spotlight have the potential to contribute to the industry behind the stage.

“They know what it takes to become an artist, who works with the artists and how to communicate inside the industry, and rather than starting from scratch for another job, they could make use of the precious asset here,” said Kim, who explained he himself also once pursued a career as an artist.

Such experience is also valuable as it is not easy to see what it really takes to run a K-pop business, which is the reason Kim published his book. The CEO hoped his book could become like a beginner’s guide for those wanting to work in the entertainment industry.

“Right now, there are too many people who jump into entertainment to ‘entertain.’ But it’s not all about entertaining. There’s work to be done here, just as with any other business,” he said.

According to Kim, RBW is exporting such cultivation system overseas through business partnerships as well.

“If the first-generation K-pop was about performing abroad, the second generation was the foreign labels sending their artists to South Korea for training. Now, we’re training not the artists, but the producers and staff members who create those artists,” he said.

Kim’s emphasis on building a well-organized company with well-educated people is based on his long-term vision and deeply rooted passion for K-pop. RBW’s vision is to not just prosper alone but to nurture a healthy ecosystem upon which new companies can prosper and keep the industry growing.

Under Kim’s vision, RBW has been taking the incubator role step by step, acquiring smaller aspiring labels under its roof and giving them full independence in operations, yet supporting them financially and systematically. Following its market listing last year, the company has conducted mergers and acquisitions involving DSP Media, WM Entertainment and, most recently, Goodfellas Entertainment.

“I believe there are younger minds who could strive higher than me. We’ll continue to make good artists and content of our own, but we’d like to go beyond that. Whether it be through investment or acquisition, we’d like to find the best strategy for startup companies and help them accelerate, as with the case of WM and DSP,” Kim said.

The Korea Herald

Asia News Network

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Sussex’s Netflix docuseries: Shock bombshells made in the six episodes, Harry and Meghan being at war with royal family

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2022

‘Again and again, Harry and his wife paint themselves as victims of an uncaring, chilly institution so intent on its own survival that it would do anything to maintain the status quo’.

The couple didn’t pull their punches in the final episodes of their tell-all docuseries, providing an extraordinary insight into why they left the UK.

After the first three episodes, released last week, touched on the early days of the couple’s relationship, the relentless media attention they’ve faced and what Harry referred to as “unconscious bias” within the royal family. 

The last three episodes saw prince Harry and his wife Meghan piled fresh criticism on the British royals in new episodes of their documentary series released on Thursday, accusing his elder brother Prince William of screaming and shouted at him when they met to discuss the Sussexes’ exit from royal life. He also claimed that at the meeting Sandringham his dad Charles lied while the Queen sat and said nothing.

Harry also accused his father, the then Prince of Wales, a fundamentally honest man, not only of lying but also conniving in the leaking of information about his own son. These are the gravest charges to have come out of Harry’s mouth in the three years of this unedifying royal soap opera, and it is hard to see how there can ever be a way back for him and his wife.

They amount to the most partisan attack on the Royal Family since Princess Diana’s Panorama interview 27 years ago. Then, it was Diana’s demolition of Prince Charles and her questioning of his suitability to be King. But hers was a strategic attack, staking out ground ahead of her divorce.

Cut to another egregious clip from Diana’s notorious interview, which she explains how Prince Charles had been consumed with jealousy at attention coming her way rather than his. Meanwhile, Meghan had inherited the late princess’s fame as a global icon. The unsubtle message was that it was Harry’s wife who was the royal superstar and, by implication, not his sister-in-law, Kate.

In another scene Harry accused royal insiders of “lying” to protect his brother in the trailer of the show. The Duke of Sussex said: “They were happy to lie to protect my brother. They were never willing to protect the truth to protect us.”
However, it did not explain who they were referring to.

Both Buckingham Palace and William’s office, Kensington Palace, have said they would not be commenting on the documentaries.

A royal source also said neither the palace nor representatives of William or other royals had been approached for comment for the series itself, contradicting a Netflix statement that said they had declined to comment.

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K-pop heartthrob Jin kicks off 18 months of mandatory military service

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2022

BTS member Kim Seok-jin, who is better known as Jin, began his military service on Tuesday in one of South Korea’s northernmost military bases.

The K-pop heartthrob posted a picture of himself with a buzz cut on the fan-community platform Weverse on Monday with the caption: “It looks cuter than I thought.”

According to the South Korean military, Jin will start his service at the boot camp of the 5th Infantry Division in Yeoncheon, Gyeonggi Province.

He will be joining 200 other new cadets and after five weeks of training, he will be placed in the military unit.

Born in 1992, Jin is the oldest among BTS members and will be the first to serve in the military.

He enlisted in the military even though the 2020 amendment to the Military Service Act would have allowed him to postpone it to the end of the year.

The South Korean National Assembly revised the law in December 2020 in recognition of BTS’s global success, allowing them to postpone their conscription until they turned 30.

Military duty is compulsory for all able-bodied men in South Korea between the ages of 18 and 28.

Big Hit Music, the agency behind the K-pop mega group, announced that no official events will be held to commemorate Jin’s admission day. The agency urged fans and media outlets to avoid visiting the boot camp to prevent any cases of emergency.

The agency also said that Jin will drive to the boot camp without a farewell party.

“For safety management, the Army and related ministries will be operating an all-source situation room and there will be ambulances ready for any emergencies. We will make sure there are no safety loopholes at the scene,” an army officer said during a regular briefing on Monday.

Jin’s six other bandmates – RM, Suga, Jimin, J-hope, V and Jungkook – will be enlisting in that order, BigHit Music said.

BTS has been on a hiatus from group activities since June this year, so members can take a break and focus on solo careers.

Jin released a solo single called “The Astronaut” on October 28 and entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart on November 12 at No 51.

The Korea Herald

Asia News Network

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Time names Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh its 2022 Icon of the Year

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 07, 2022

Michelle Yeoh is capping off an extremely successful year with the prestigious honour of being chosen as Time magazine’s Icon Of The Year.

This year alone, Yeoh is involved in several projects including The School Of Good And Evil, Minions: The Rise Of Gru, Paws Of Fury: The Legend Of Hank, and the upcoming Avatar: The Way Of Water.

However, it is the indie film, Everything Everywhere All At Once – released in March – that is getting Yeoh all the rave reviews.

While the 60-year-old has starred in many American movies over two decades since she made the leap from Hong Kong to Hollywood in 1997, she has never been No.1 on the call sheet until this year with Everything Everywhere All At Once.

She tells Time that it is because Asian actors have always been relegated to stereotypical or inconsequential roles.

“It shouldn’t be about my race, but it has been a battle. At least let me try,” the Ipoh-born actress said.

So when the plump role of an overworked and frustrated wife in Everything Everywhere All At Once landed on her lap, Yeoh gave it her all.

“When you get an opportunity like this, you have to pour your heart and soul into it, because you don’t know when the next chance is. I think that is my biggest fear: Please don’t let this be the one and only,” Yeoh said.

Her stellar performance in the movie is generating Oscar buzz for Yeoh.

Time wrote: “Yeoh is carrying an added weight in this year’s Academy Awards race: the understanding that victory for her would be received by Asians everywhere as a victory for them too. No Asian woman has won Best Actress.”

Yeoh knows what a nomination and a win would mean, not only for her but to her legion of fans as well.

She said: “I’ve thought about it. And not just me – I feel like my full Asian community has thought about it. They come up to me and they say, ‘You’re doing it for us.”

Earlier this year, Time magazine named Yeoh as one of its 100 Most Influential People Of 2022.

Other visionaries on the same list as Yeoh included Apple’s Tim Cook, Oprah Winfrey, Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk and the Kardashians’ matriarch Kris Jenner.

The Star

Asia News Network

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‘Avatar’ sequel finally premieres 13 years after original

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 07, 2022

Thirteen years after James Cameron released the highest-grossing film of all time, “Avatar”, the filmmaker finally premiered its long-awaited sequel in London on Tuesday.

“Avatar: The Way of Water” takes audiences back to the enchanting world of Pandora, where in the first film the native blue Na’vi people battled human colonists for the moon’s natural resources.

Set more than a decade later, “The Way of Water” sees actors Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana return as Jake Sully and Neytiri, now parents of five children.

Their peaceful life in the paradise-like jungle is interrupted by the return of the “Sky People”, the Na’vi name for humans, who are after Sully. To protect their family and their tribe, Sully, Neytiri and their children flee to a far-flung territory and seek refuge with the oceanic Metkayina clan.

With their bodies and skills suited to forest life, the family must quickly learn the ways of the water to survive while facing their enemy’s nearing threat.

“This was a labour of love spread out over a decade, so it’s great to finally be able to share it,” Worthington told Reuters at the film’s world premiere.

“This is a heart-wrenching story, it’s mighty, it’s very powerful, you hope that it connects (with audiences) but it’s not just the carbon copy of the first one, we’ve really expanded the world, we’ve expanded this family unit.”

Saldana said reprising her role was “emotional”.

“It was exciting, it was also very scary because obviously, Jim had raised the stakes for himself, which meant that everybody was going to have a brand new challenge to have to deal with,” she said.

Sigourney Weaver plays Kiri, Neytiri and Sully’s adopted daughter, who is 14. Her biological mother is Dr Grace Augustine, who Weaver played in the original movie.

The 73-year-old said she met Cameron for lunch to discuss the movie and taking on the role of the teenage girl.

“We didn’t really talk about could I do it. It was more like you’re going to do this. And then he said ‘I know that you are still 14, you’re very immature, you clown around. Nobody else knows that but you. So I knew you could do this. I was like, was that a compliment or…?” she said.

Released in 2009, “Avatar” ranks as the top-grossing film of all time with more than $2.9 billion in global ticket sales.

Actors Trinity Jo-Li Bliss, who was born the year the original movie came out and stars as Tuktirey and Jack Champion, who plays Spider, said shooting the film’s many underwater scenes was the most challenging.

“I guess free diving, like having to hold my breath underwater and with everyone and we’re in the scene and we’re connecting to the emotion of the scene and each other, that was definitely something I didn’t expect,” said Bliss.

“I think learning to hold my breath for like five minutes and 33 seconds is definitely my favourite thing that I learnt. I think, I never thought I could even go past a minute so it really opened my eyes to that,” added Champion.

Four “Avatar” movies are planned through 2028.

“I never had any doubt that this day would come because I’d read all four of the scripts … but I think that the enormity of the task, of the world-building … creating this whole new level of detail … that was difficult,” producer Jon Landau said, adding most of the third movie had been filmed.

“We shot a lot of ‘Three’ because the kids are ageing out, so we had to do that though, just through necessity. But you know, we’re very humble in the thing that we only get to do the rest of them if this does connect. So, you know, we put all our love into this one,” said Worthington.

Reuters

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Film screening for International Human Rights Day

MONDAY, DECEMBER 05, 2022

On the occasion of International Human Rights Day and in collaboration with the Movies that Matter Foundation, the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands invites you to a screening of three special human rights films on December 14-16, 2022

The Netherlands Human Rights Policy
Human rights are the cornerstone of the Netherlands’ foreign policy. In order to raise awareness about human rights around the world, the Netherlands partnered up with Movies that Matter.

Movies and documentaries are able to convey a story in a way that words alone cannot, and human rights documentaries open our eyes to human rights violations and spark debate and dialogue.

We hope that a human rights dialogue will be kick-started by screening these films. 

About the films

As I Want – Samaher Alqadi

Equal Rights for Women and Girls

In 2013 a crowd of enraged women take to the streets after a string of severe sexual assaults occur in Tahrir Square on the second anniversary of the revolution in Cairo.

The Law of Love – Barbora Chalupová

Equal Rights for LGBTQI+’s

It looks like the Czech society is LGBT+ friendly. But when it comes to legalizing marriage, ignorance and hatred suddenly appear.

Czeslaw, and his companions run a campaign to show that the fight for LGBT+ rights in Europe is not over.

Bigger Than Us – Flore Asseur

Supporting Human Rights Defenders

The film tells the journey of Melati Wijsen, who decides to go around the globe to meet her peers, young activists just like her, who already have managed to have a huge impact in their fields thanks
to their convictions and determination. Melati can feel that the clock is ticking and that change is too slow. She wants, she needs to understand what is preventing change. To join forces. And to come up with her new plan.

Date :

14 December 2022 – The Law of Love

15 December 2022 – As I Want

16 December 2022 – Bigger Than Us

Time : Door opens at 18.00 hrs., screening starts at 19.00 hrs.

You are welcome to attend one or more films.

Please indicate your preference for the film(s) you would like to attend in the registration form

RSVP Please click here

Please kindly be noted that seats are limited

( No parking available at the premises )