South Korean singer-songwriter Roy Kim is to join dozens of Taiwanese signers in performing at this year’s HITO Music Awards in Taipei later this month, the first foreign singer invited to attend the event.
In what will be his second visit to Taiwan, the 21-year-old Kim is to appear at the music awards on May 31 at the Taipei Arena, said radio station Hit FM, which is organizing the event.
One of Kim’s songs, the theme song of South Korean TV drama Pinocchio, topped Hit FM’s Asia chart earlier this year.
The drama, a hit in both South Korea and Taiwan, chronicles the life of young reporters at two competing TV news stations.
Kim has released two studio albums and several singles.
He first visited Taiwan in November last year, during which he sang at a meeting with fans in Taipei.
He will be the first foreign-language artist to perform at the music awards since they were established in 2003, Hit FM said.
Almost 30 singers and groups are scheduled to perform at the event, including Taiwanese singer Rainie Yang (楊丞琳), who will stage a special medley of classic songs by previous HITO Music Awards winners, the organizers said.
Other singers performing at the event include Della (丁噹), Jia Jia (家家), Wilber Pan (潘瑋柏), Elva Hsiao (蕭亞軒) and Jolin Tsai (蔡依林).
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were