CNBLUE’s frontman Jung Yong-hwa has decided to withdraw from “Talk Mon,” a talk show on Olive TV that features the singer as its host, following recent controversy over his graduate school admission. A local media outlet reported Tuesday that Jung was admitted to Kyung Hee University’s graduate school program for applied arts even though he had not showed up for two official interviews. It was a...

MBC’s “Idol Star Athletics Championships,” a variety show featuring droves of K-pop stars competing across different sports events, has once again come under fire, following a series of injuries sustained by participants. Controversies over the show’s safety arose as Ungjae of K-pop boy band Impact was reportedly rushed to a hospital for shoulder pain after a shoot that took place at Goyang Gymn...

Singer-songwriter Jo Jung-chi will return with a new full-length album on Jan. 26, his agency Mystic Entertainment said Wednesday. According to the agency, Jo’s upcoming album marks his first full-length album release since 2013’s sophomore effort “Posthumous Work.” “Jo, who has been loved by fans as a TV entertainer for his witty personality, will return as an artist after a long time. Jo’s ne...

Ever since her K-pop career began in 2006, Younha has often been described as one of the most talented singer-songwriters of today. Due to her chameleon-like vocal abilities and masterful songwriting -- which crossed genres from ballad to rock to jazz -- a renowned music critic once said, “I’d like to advise female musician wannabes to study Younha, who is truly the best musician, equipped with ...

From their punky hairstyles to outfits straight out of the 1980s, there is something clearly different, and special, about Wetter. Named after a hope to “wet” people with its music, the four-piece rock band is a rarity in the Korean music scene: Its music isn’t peppered with trendy synthesizers or studio technologies. The stripped-down sound heavily focuses on the pure sounds of the instruments ...

Jo Kwon of 2AM slammed an article with a headline that mocked the singer. On Thursday, Jo posted to his Twitter account a screen capture of a headline of a local media report, with a caption that said “I’ve been ignoring all the gossip and malicious comments about me, but this is surely the lowest of low among the articles I’ve seen.” The headline read, “Jo Kwon, Is this real? Do you want to da...

Actor Park Bo-gum will star in the second season of the JTBC reality show “Hyori’s Bed & Breakfast” as a temporary employee. According to the show’s production staff Saturday, Park has been cast as a three-day assistant for Lee Hyo-ri and Lee Sang-soon, a celebrity couple who run a guest house on Jeju Island. The staff said that the casting was made based on viewers’ opinions and the fact that ...

K-pop icon G-Dragon, well-known for his entrepreneurial spirit, will open his own cafe and a bowling alley on Jeju Island, his agency YG Entertainment said Saturday. According to the agency, GD Cafe and the bowling alley will open in February and March, respectively, as a part of Jeju Shinhwa World, an integrated resort complex. Featuring design ideas of the Big Bang frontman, the cafe was inspi...

Veteran actress Son Ye-jin will return to the small screen for the first time in five years with the new JTBC series “Pretty Sister who Treats Me to Meals” (working title), the channel said Wednesday. The upcoming drama will revolve around the love story between Yoon Jin-ah, a 30-something supervisor of a coffee franchise played by Son, and Seo Joon-hee, the younger brother of Yoon’s best friend...

Ever since K-pop superstar Infinite became a six-member act with the departure of Hoya last August, the group seems to have spent its time preparing for its comeback hoping to prove it is still intact from the blow. Infinite’s latest full-length album “Top Seed,” released Monday, is the group’s first release since its 2016 EP “Infinite Only,” also the first full-length album since 2014’s “Season...

In 1996, when cassette tapes were not old-fashioned and wide-legged pants were trendy, there was one particular song dominating the Korean airwaves: “Novice’s Love,” a love ballad by an 18-year-old high-schooler. Even after 20 years, Yangpa, whose real name is Lee Eun-jin, vividly remembers the first performance of that smash hit, her debut song that immediately shot the teenager to stardom. “T...

After three years in the K-pop scene, GFriend’s dream has finally come true: The group successfully wrapped up its first solo concerts “Season of GFriend” in Seoul on Saturday and Sunday. The concerts, held at the Olympic Hall at Olympic Park in Seoul, were a testament to the six-piece group’s reputation as one of Korea’s most promising young acts. The event, which ran for more than three hours ...

Dark clouds are gathering over K-pop act T-ara’s future, with its former agency seeking exclusive rights to the group name. On Monday, local media reported that MBK Entertainment, which had represented T-ara for a decade until the members’ departure last week, had applied to register the group’s name “T-ara” as its trademark at the Korean Intellectual Property Office on Dec. 28 last year, three ...

K-pop boy group iKon is gearing up for a comeback with its second full-length album “Return,” according to YG Entertainment Saturday. A teaser video for the upcoming album, released on the agency’s official blog Saturday, featured the members in a short film that was dubbed with member Bobby’s short reflective monologue. “Return” marks the group’s first full-length album in over two years since...

S.M. Entertainment, one of Korea’s leading K-pop agencies, announced Thursday that it will hold auditions around the world to search for aspiring K-pop stars. The upcoming auditions, titled “2018 S.M. Global Audition,” will begin in Korea on Jan. 21 before traveling to 45 cities across 10 countries, including China, the US and Japan, until December. S.M. will also be holding an audition in Viet...