Latest news with #Baek
Korea Herald
30-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Korea Herald
CJ ENM unveils plans to expand use of AI across content pipeline
Entertainment giant aims to streamline operations and cut costs with AI, spotlighting a new content strategy centered on AI-driven films, series and animation South Korean entertainment powerhouse CJ ENM announced plans to expand its use of artificial intelligence across its content pipeline as part of a broader strategy to boost production and realize ideas that would otherwise be limited by budget constraints. During a press event Monday, the company said AI will be applied across four key areas: scriptwriting, production (such as the editing process), international distribution of content, and original content such as films and series developed using generative technology. Among its AI-driven projects is "Cat Biggie," a no-dialogue short-form animation about a cat who becomes a father to a baby chick. Created by a six-person team over five months, which is a fraction of the typical workforce and timeline, the 30-episode series will roll out globally on YouTube in July. Each episode will run for two minutes, and the series will be released for free to boost character recognition among global audiences, the company said. Jung Chang-ik, who created "Cat Biggie," said during Monday's CJ ENM Culture Talk event held at the company's Talent Studio in Seoul, that deploying AI significantly shortened the creation process. "In comparison to traditional animation production methods, which typically require at least 20 to 30 staff members and a development period of over one to two years when including the planning and development stages, our team of just six creators completed the project in only five months," said Jung. "This can truly be considered an innovative process, and it was made possible due to the integration of AI solutions," he said. Baek Hyun-jung, head of AI Business & Production at CJ ENM, emphasized the company's long-term vision for AI, citing two additional AI-based projects in development: the Greek mythology-inspired series "Legend" and the film "Apartment," both targeting late 2025 releases. Baek also pointed to AI's potential to unlock previously unattainable concepts, particularly in high-cost genres like sci-fi and fantasy. "As production costs and related factors continue to grow on a massive scale, the amount of content that can actually be produced each year is, in reality, very limited," she said. "Fantasy and sci-fi genres, in particular, require substantial budgets, which leads to genre-based limitations, especially when compared to Hollywood, where large-scale action blockbusters are produced much more frequently," she said. "Because these genres often involve astronomical production costs, no matter how many creative sci-fi or fantasy ideas exist, very few of them are actually realized. That's why our goal is to integrate AI-driven graphics technologies into traditional dramas and films, allowing us to tell richer stories and deliver higher-quality visuals without being restricted by subject matter," Baek added. One hurdle in AI-led production remains consistency, a critical component for serialized or long-form storytelling. "Even when using the same prompts, (AI is) very limited in generating identical characters or backgrounds. This makes it extremely challenging to produce video content with coherent storytelling. However, at CJ ENM, we are working to advance our solutions to ensure consistency tailored to the desired style," Baek explained.
The Review Geek
18-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Review Geek
Second Shot at Love – K-drama Episode 12 Recap, Review & Ending Explained
Episode 12 Episode 12 of Second Shot at Love begins with Geum-ju and Ui-joon heading to the nursing home. Mr Seo is drinking nearby and sees them. Geum-ju waits outside and calls the cops when Mr Seo goes after Ui-joon. Why did Nurse Baek abandon Ui-joon? Nurse Baek survives the stabbing and Geum-ju heads to her place to pick up some clothes. She ends up finding a letter which details why Baek left Ui-joon. A flashback shows that Baek gets pregnant with Ui-joon when she is in college. Her father disapproves and wants her to get an abortion. When she refuses, he forces her to give Ui-joon to Seo's mother and sends her abroad. She finally returns during Ui-joon's graduation. She keeps her identity a secret as she believes it would hurt less if he thought his mother had died. Once he becomes a doctor, she stays by his side. On his birthday, her father wants to meet her. It is why she swaps shifts with Nurse Jeong. After the murder, she promises to make Mr Seo pay for ruining Jeong and Ui-joon. At present, Ui-joon confronts her and she reveals that she was scared. The town ladies learn that Baek paid for all of Ui-joon's 'scholarships' and tuition. While the cops search for Mr Seo, there is also an investigation as Baek kidnapped him and held him captive in the nursing home. How does Ui-joon come to terms with the situation? Ui-joon isn't sure how to react to his mother and avoids Baek. She asks Geum-ju to stay by his side no matter what. She ends up revealing how he cut ties with Geum-ju because he was afraid Mr Seo would hurt her. Fortunately, Ui-joon has no such plans. He promises that he won't leave Geum-ju again to protect her. To lighten the mood, Geum-ju jokes that she will protect him. She helps him find Mr Seo but unfortunately, it is too late. Seo gets drunk and passes away at his mother's grave due to alcohol poisoning. Ui-joon holds his funeral but no one is present. Gradually, everyone from Bochun shows up and helps with the ceremony. Even the elderly patients send condolence wreaths. Ui-joon is overwhelmed and thinks he has failed as a doctor and a son. He also blames himself for Baek's injury. Geum-ju assures him that Baek endured it all so her son could find some happiness. In the end, he brings Nurse Baek to the funeral and accepts that it was alcohol that ruined Mr Seo. He also calls Nurse Baek his mother and thanks her for being by his side. She tears up as she calls him her son and they hug. How do Seon-wook and Hyeon-ju get together? Seon-wook runs away to Seoul as he has a hard time getting over Hyeon-ju. Seon-hwa is sick with worry and her mother-in-law comforts her. She regrets opposing Seon-hwa and Young-woong's marriage. No one can stop love and she urges Seon-hwa to be happy for Seon-wook and Hyeon-ju. Hyeon-ju tries to surreptitiously bring some food but Seon-hwa catches her. Hyeon-ju declares that she is ready to wait till Seon-hwa becomes her friend again. She accepts that Seon-wook's kindness kindled her feelings for him but she will let them go. However, Seon-hwa tells her not to give them up. Gwang-ok also urges Hyeon-ju to be courageous. Turns out Jeong-su and Gwang-ok have a rich guy-poor girl love story. She thought she would ruin him but soon realised that she could not live without him. She tells Hyeon-ju not to have any regrets. At present, Hyeon-ju finds Seon-wook. He is shocked that Seon-hwa gave her blessing and that Hyeon-ju wants to date him. He is overjoyed and they hug. How does it end for everyone? A year passes by. Nurse Baek's probation is over and she joins a cooking club. Geum-ju and Ui-joon are happy and still dating. At home, Ui-joon and Seon-wook often compete over the title of best future son-in-law. Ui-joon leaves the clinic and opens a hospital to treat alcoholism. Geum-ju goes to team dinners now but remains sober. At the end of Second Shot at Love Episode 12, Geum-ju and Ui-joon go on a run. She is still tempted by alcohol now and then. To distract her, he kisses her and she runs after him for more. The Episode Review With most of the drama wrapped up, Second Shot at Love Episode 12 gets emotional as it solely focuses on Ui-joon and his family. The K-drama continues with the theme of alcoholism but with Mr Seo, who ends up hurting his ex and dying because of it. However, there is too much going on, in fact, worthy of a whole K-drama instead of a one-episode subplot. Mr Seo goes from wanting money from Ui-joon to wanting to kill him as a way to get back at his ex. But it is never shown when Seo realises that Baek is back. It is not clear when they broke up and it doesn't make sense why Grandma Seo takes in the child of her teenage son's ex-girlfriend. If Baek's family is so powerful that they keep Nurse Baek abroad till she is a middle-aged woman, why do they stop caring once she returns and sticks by Ui-joon's side? If Mr Seo was such a bad man, why did he visit his mother's grave? There are too many plot holes that are never explained and it is a shame, as this storyline is quite intriguing. Unfortunately, this show was never about the Baek family drama. But by shoving it into the finale, the Hans don't get the finale they deserve. Geum-ju becomes a secondary character in her own show. Hyeon-ju and Seon-wook barely get any space to wrap up their love story. And apart from a few passing comments about the Hans' alcoholism, it is never brought up again. All in all, as a stand-alone episode, this one works as a strong foundation for a thriller that we will never get, and ends up as a disappointing final episode for the show it actually belongs to. Previous Episode Expect A Full Season Write-Up When This Season Concludes!
Korea Herald
30-05-2025
- Korea Herald
‘Please take me with you': Diver recounts eerie discovery of teacher missing since 2010
Days after South Korean police confirmed that the body found in Andong Dam in Andong, North Gyeongsang Province, belonged to a school vice principal who vanished in 2010, new details have emerged, including an account from the man who discovered the body. Baek Min-gyu, 55, a former leader of the Andong water rescue team, was conducting maintenance work on the dam on May 17 when he accidentally dropped a ladder into the water twice. Wearing scuba gear, he dove down roughly 30 meters to retrieve it, only to drop it again in the same spot. The second time he went in was when he found the body, which was later confirmed through DNA testing to be the vice principal, who was 53 at the time of his disappearance on August 17, 2010. Baek, who participated in the original search 15 years ago as a civilian, said he felt as if he were hearing a voice before the discovery. "I kept hearing, 'Please, take me with you,'" he said in an interview with a local news outlet. "I don't even know why I went back so deep into the water for that cheap ladder. I just felt I had to." The victim's body showed damage to the head, arms and legs, but other parts of the body, including the torso, remained mostly intact. The Gyeongbuk Provincial Police Agency said the water and mud appear to have combined to help preserve the body. The police plan to give Baek a certification of appreciation for helping solve one of the region's longest-running missing-person cases.
Korea Herald
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Korea Herald
'Magic Candies' brings Oscar buzz to local screens
Oscar-nominated animated short marks first Korean children's book adaptation by major Japanese studio This year's dearth of Korean works at major film festivals and awards shows — no feature films made it to the Oscars or Cannes — has left local film fans searching for bright spots. One of the few silver linings came from an unexpected source: "Magic Candies," a 21-minute animated short based on Korean author Baek Hee-na's children's book that landed an Oscar nomination for best animated short film in January. With the short film now heading to Korean theaters, the children's book author Baek and Japanese producer Takashi Washio gathered for a press conference at Lotte Cinema Konkuk University in Seoul on Friday. While buzz around the film here largely centered on whether it would score an Oscar, Baek noted that awards were not the main draw for her. "When we made this animation, the goal wasn't commercial," she said. "Every time I write a book, what's really important to me is the personal feeling of having created something I can be proud of anywhere." The project marks the first collaboration between a Korean children's book and a major Japanese animation studio. It brings together established talents: Baek won the prestigious Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award in 2020 for her body of work, while Toei Animation's Washio and director Daisuke Nishio are industry veterans behind hits like "Pretty Cure" and "Dragon Ball Z." The film forgoes the sleek polish of mainstream animation in favor of something quirkier and more expressive. Its rough, textured look stays true to Baek's distinctive approach — she is known for building miniature sets with clay figures, then photographing them under carefully arranged lights to create her storybook illustrations. For Baek, who herself studied animation in college, preserving the original's handmade sensibility was crucial. "I was worried about losing the analog feel if it went CG," she said, referring to computer graphics. The back-and-forth took nearly a year. "They said they'd create CG models of all the characters first and show me. If I liked it, then I'd give permission." That attention to detail extended beyond aesthetics. Washio, working with Korean material for the first time, took pains to capture the authentic local feel. "We did location scouting in Seoul several times," he explained. "I told the director I saw a lot of magpies when I came to Korea, and he looked it up and found out magpies are Korea's national bird. That's how we got to put one the opening scene." The film combines Baek's original "Magic Candies" with elements from another work ,"I Am a Dog," for a more complete narrative arc. "When I first read 'Magic Candies,' I thought it might be too short for a film," Washio said. "But after reading 'I Am a Dog,' I thought it was excellent and would work well from Dong-Dong's perspective." The cross-cultural collaboration paid off beyond expectations. The film has won eight awards across seven international festivals and earned official invitations to over 30 others before landing its Oscar nomination. The biggest revelation for Baek came from something she had never considered. "When I write picture books, I think a lot about the characters' expressions and movements, so seeing them move wasn't that surprising," she said. "But I'd never imagined the character's voice. So when I first heard Dong-Dong speak, I got really emotional — it was like I'd eaten a magic candy myself."
Business Times
25-04-2025
- Business
- Business Times
Hup San Social Club is a love letter to Singapore's early Chinese immigrants
[SINGAPORE] A century ago, Club Street was a hotbed of Chinese social clubs, where immigrants caroused. Today, a new speakeasy wants to recreate that convivial spirit. Located at the crossroads of Club Street and Ann Siang Hill, Hup San Social Club is a cosy and clandestine hideout tucked away in the basement of a shophouse. Occupying the ground floor is sister restaurant Club Street Laundry – cafe by day and modern Australian eatery-cum-wine bar by night. The names of both concepts pay tribute to the building's previous occupant in the early 1990s: a laundromat called Hup San Laundry. Co-owner and beverage director June Baek hopes for Hup San Social Club to be a 'friendly neighbourhood bar' that brings people together – just as Club Street's social clubs did in the old days. 'We want to make this a new gathering spot for second-generation immigrants such as ourselves,' says Baek, who hails from South Korea. Her three co-owners – an Australian, British and a Eurasian-Singaporean – similarly have roots elsewhere. A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU Friday, 2 pm Lifestyle Our picks of the latest dining, travel and leisure options to treat yourself. Sign Up Sign Up To reach Hup San Social Club, one must first enter Club Street Laundry, and go through a nondescript grey door behind a dining counter top. Patrons head down a narrow flight of stairs and push past a beaded curtain to enter a dimly-lit, cellar-like space, decked out in wooden furnishings amid soft hues of red and green. Black baroque-style tiles line the ceiling and a large antique mirror hangs on one wall. The other walls are plastered with framed vintage prints. Hup San Social Club is tucked away in the basement of a shophouse, with sister restaurant Club Street Laundry occupying the ground floor. PHOTO: HUP SAN SOCIAL CLUB Lamps draped with silk and lace, as well as the recurring motif of a red begonia, add a feminine touch to the interior – which some customers have otherwise dubbed a 'man cave', quips Baek. The space is kept small and intimate to facilitate conversations between patrons and bartenders, she says. It sits 12 comfortably – at the bar, a small table and at wooden ledges along the wall – with a nook near the entrance recently gaining green velvet seats and a table for bigger groups of four to five. A confluence of Asian flavours At Hup San Social Club, each drink seeks to evoke an experience or feeling. These range from the literal and playful – 'a refreshing midday escape' or 'a much-needed smoke break' – to the abstract, such as 'the beauty of ageing' for a vinegary tequila-based concoction, or 'and your life will always be' for a whiskey-cognac brew with a hint of rose. The menu's 14 cocktails are a collection of Baek's 'all-time favourites' across nine years of bartending in South Korea, Vietnam, the US and Singapore. Asian spirits, such as baijiu and soju, feature as the base in a few drinks. While some cocktails reflect Baek's South Korean roots, the menu also features South-east Asian and Japanese flavours. One of the bar's bestsellers is Achar, a sweet-sour concoction with a kick of spice that was designed to 'tickle all the taste buds.' Named for the spicy pickled vegetables common in Peranakan cuisine, the gin-based cocktail features an achar cordial made from vinegar, cumin seeds, coriander seeds and fenugreek. 'Every Korean bartender has their own cocktail recipe with a kimchi flavour profile. To me, achar resembled a Singapore-type of kimchi,' she says. The menu includes a warm cocktail, Pumpkin Ma Heart, described as 'a warm embrace'. It is texturally similar to a traditional Irish coffee, says Baek – but without caffeine or whiskey. Pumpkin Ma Heart is the only warm cocktail on the menu. PHOTO: HUP SAN SOCIAL CLUB The star ingredient is a housemade pumpkin yam mix – which gives the drink a thick, porridge-like texture – that is pre-prepared and kept in a sous vide machine at 68 deg C. When the order arrives, the mix is added to a base of Sailor Jerry Spiced rum and topped with cold cinnamon-infused coconut cream for contrast. In addition to the core menu, Hup San serves 18 classic cocktails and a range of spirits, including baijiu and soju, with Baek planning to bring in Japanese shochu too. While patrons can order mains from Club Street Laundry to be sent down – and those upstairs can similarly order cocktails – the bar is also getting its own menu of small bites this quarter. Achar
