Top Korean News Of The Week: Blackpink Announces Comeback, SHINee’s Minho To Attend Paris Olympics As Olympic Friend
A lot of things have happened in the K-pop and K-drama world over the last seven days! From Blackpink‘s comeback plans being revealed to HYBE and ADOR publicly reigniting their feud, here’s every important Hallyu headline you should know about.
YG Entertainment founder Yang Hyun-suk recently revealed that Blackpink would be making their highly-awaited comeback as a group in 2025. The girl group’s last comeback was in September 2022, with their second studio album Born Pink. Additionally, Blackpink would also be kicking off their third world tour in the upcoming year.
BTS’ label BIGHIT MUSIC will be hosting Jungkook’s solo exhibition, GOLDEN: The Moments. The exhibition, which will be taking place in Seoul from August 30, reportedly “records the moments in which Jungkook presented his musical world to an even wider world” through his debut solo GOLDEN.
SHINee’s Minho will be making history as he attends the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics as the first-ever Olympic Friend appointed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The Chase singer will be cheering for Korean athletes and experiencing the global camaraderie of the Olympics as a part of the important role.
On July 22, YG Entertainment released a special video in which founder Yang Hyun-suk announced that 2NE1 would be officially reuniting for a global tour. The WELCOME BACK tour, which is in celebration of their 15th debut anniversary, will kick off from October 5 at Olympic Park in Seoul. Following that, the iconic group will be holding a concert at Kobe’s World Hall in November and at Tokyo Ariake Arena in December.
After making waves at Paris Fashion Week 2024, Blackpink’s Lisa and SEVENTEEN’s Mingyu have been appointed as brand ambassadors. While Mingyu is Dior’s newest global ambassador, Lisa has been named as Louis Vuitton’s House Ambassador.
On July 23, controversial South Korean media outlet Dispatch accused CEO Min He-jin has been accused of allegedly stealing the members of NewJeans from Source Music, purposely delaying the girl group’s debut and paying large sums of money to a shaman who was helping her pick the members for the group. The outlet also released clips and pictures from their NewJeans pre-debut days, which had been provided by HYBE, without asking the members’ permission.
In response, ADOR said, “The report is false information and defamatory. We are currently preparing to take legal action.” Additionally, NewJeans’ parents spoke out against HYBE and revealed their plans to take legal action against the parent label.
