Entertainment News

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On today’s Close Up, the Korean idol group sensation BTS has sold out tickets to its upcoming tour in the U.S. and Europe. Movie director Kim Ki-duk has taken legal action to deny sexual assault allegations against him. And a film on Christianity by a Korean Buddhist monk wins three awards from overseas.

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Korean idol boy band BTS has again proven their status as global stars, with their sold-out concert tour. The boy group is scheduled to hold concerts in ten U.S. and European cities, starting with Seoul in August. Its agency sold tickets for concerts in each city one by one between May fifth and June first. The company said that 280,000 tickets for 21 shows all sold out. In particular, U.S. concerts sold out three minutes after they were put on sale. The sale of tickets ended only in a matter of minutes in major cities like Berlin and London. Now tickets are being sold online through illegal channels at steep prices of up to millions of won. BTS' agency is being inundated with fan requests to hold more concerts.

[Soundbite] (Kim Ki-duk (in Feb.)) : "An incident that occurred four years ago has now become a legal case…."

Movie director Kim Ki-duk has filed a defamation suit against the production team of a current affairs program that reported on sexual assault allegations against him. Kim also sued actresses who held interviews with the program. This move comes three months after the allegations were raised in March. The filmmaker denied the accusations and denied being a sexual assault offender. However, he admitted that he is not ethically 100 percent perfect. Meanwhile, Kim also filed a complaint against another actress for making false accusations against him. The actress has been staging a legal battle against him since last year. She sued Kim for slapping her in the face on the set and forcing her to film under coercion during the production of the movie "Moebius." Early this year, the prosecution only charged Kim with assault. He was cleared of other charges because of the lack of evidence. A Christian film made by a Buddhist monk has won 3 awards at a foreign film festival. The distribution agency of "Sermon on the Mount" announced that the film won honors for best director, a special award given to sponsoring firms as well as an executive prize at the Cheboksary International Film Festival in Russia. The film is based on the motif of Jesus' sermon on the mount recorded in the bible's New Testament. In the story, seminary students seek to discover the intrinsic nature of Jesus Christ through hard discussions. What's most surprising is that the film's director is a Buddhist priest named Daehae who heads the Daehaesa International Buddhist Temple in Gyeongsan, Gyeongsangbuk-do Province. The priest said she made the film with the belief that though Buddhism and Christianity are different in doctrine, they share the same fundamental essence. 'Sermon on the Mount' was formally invited to the Moscow International Film Festival last year. At a film gala in Sochi, Russia, the film received the best actor award.