K-wave AI News

Hello and welcome to your AI guide to the latest cultural updates from Korea. Here's our top story.

The government is ramping up safety measures ahead of a wave of large-scale events nationwide this summer. A pan-ministry meeting on Thursday reviewed safety protocols for festivals, concerts, sports events, and other gatherings, as well as crowded sites like subways, airports, and beaches. Key measures include intensified monitoring and safety officer deployment for events expecting over 20,000 attendees, and on-site inspections for performances drawing more than 5,000 people. Coastal safety personnel will be stationed at all 256 beaches to strengthen patrols, while crowd levels at the busiest train stations and rail lines will be closely watched.

The 2025 KBO League, which kicked off in late March amid a record-breaking boom, wrapped up its first half with Thursday's games. The Hanwha Eagles shook up the league standings by clinching the top spot in the first half, a first for the team in 33 years. The league has entered a six-day All-Star break, with the marquee game slated for Saturday in Daejeon. The second half resumes on July 17, with teams set to intensify their push for the top, adding heat to the season's all-time high baseball fever. The KBO became Korea's first professional sports league to surpass 10 million in total attendance last year, and it's on pace to exceed 12 million this year if current trends hold.

The Ron Mueck solo exhibition at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Seoul has attracted over 503,000 visitors in 90 days. According to the museum, the show recorded an average of 5,590 daily visitors, the highest for any single exhibition since the museum's opening. Visitors in their 20s and 30s made up 70% of the audience, with their reviews, widely shared on social media, helping to sustain the buzz for nearly three months. The exhibition is the largest retrospective of Mueck's work in Asia, featuring 24 pieces, including 10 sculptures, 12 studio photographs, and two documentary films. The show runs through this Sunday.

That's all from me. Stay tuned to the Kulture Wave.