Beauty
K-beauty sets records, but it no longer owns the shelves alone. Chinese and Japanese brands are pressing into the same overseas aisles: A.S. Watson’s new “BrandLab” incubator now backs C-beauty and J-beauty side by side with K-beauty across 17,000 stores in 31 markets. China’s Proya enters 400 Ulta Beauty stores in the US this November, while Japan’s Curel expanded into five more European countries this year. China’s cosmetics exports reached $7.82 billion last year, up from $4.84 billion in 2021.
K-Pop
Producer Lee Soo-man returned to the domestic scene after three years, and his multinational nine-member rookie group A2O LITE topped Melon’s Top 100 just 29 hours after debut with “NEON” — an unusually fast result for a rookie. YG is preparing a new five-member boy group and four-member girl group, while TREASURE releases “SHOCK” on Nov. 2 and AMPERS&ONE drops its first full album, “PATHFINDER,” on Nov. 17.
K-Food
K-food exports to Europe rose 17.9% in the first half, with ramen up 47.5% to $150.3 million, and 11 Korean firms appeared at SIAL Paris. Yet the EU’s RASFF issued 18 notifications against Korean food this year — the most since 2020, including eight “alerts” — and Latvia rejected instant noodles in July over glycidyl esters. The government still targets $16 billion in K-food exports and will have Kroger source tteokbokki under its own brand from November.
Film & Drama
Lee Chang-dong’s “Possible Love,” South Korea’s official Oscar entry for Best International Feature at the 99th Academy Awards, streams on Netflix on Nov. 6 after a Venice competition premiere. It is his first film in eight years, starring Jeon Do-yeon and Sul Kyung-gu, and Netflix will also release his full filmography. The Korea-Japan crime thriller “Blue Road” arrives Nov. 20.
What to Watch
“Possible Love” lands on Netflix on Nov. 6, ATEEZ’s “GOLDEN HOUR: Part.6” drops on Nov. 13, and the Korea-Japan thriller “Blue Road” opens on Nov. 20.
Sources
- https://en.sedaily.com/finance/2026/10/27/chinese-and-japanese-beauty-brands-push-into-k-beautys-turf
- https://news.sbs.co.kr/english/article.do?news_id=N1008802377
- https://ground.news/article/ygs-5-member-boy-group-and-4-member-girl-group-debuts-becoming-concrete-yang-hyun-suk-reveals-it-himself
- https://www.mk.co.kr/en/economy/12180719
- https://www.asiae.co.kr/en/article/in-depth/2026102810530840752
- https://www.whats-on-netflix.com/news/k-dramas/k-dramas-coming-to-netflix-november-2026/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Possible_Love
Leave a Reply