The Korea Times

EVAN channels fear of being forgotten into music on 1st mini album

Six months after walking away from one of K-pop's biggest boy bands, EVAN says the album he has built as a soloist is organized around his anxiety — that an artist whose music stops reaching people has "ceased to exist." The soloist, known until March as Heeseung of ENHYPEN, dropped his first mini album "DEATH OF ME" on Monday. He hosted a press event just hours ahead of the official release at the Grand Peace Palace at Kyung Hee University in eastern Seoul. The idea behind the album, he explained, came from a line in the anime "One Piece" about how a person truly dies only when they have been forgotten. "When my music no longer reaches people, my reason for existing as an artist disappears," he said. "This album carries the meaning that I won't let that happen." Belift Lab, the HYBE label that announced his departure from ENHYPEN on March 10 and that he remained with as a soloist, describes "DEATH OF ME" as an album about holding onto a tangle of emotions and moving forward anyway. The group, meanwhile, has continued as a six-member act since the announcement. Asked directly about the

Sep 7, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min

EVAN channels fear of being forgotten into music on 1st mini album

K-pop

Who is Bang Si-hyuk?

HYBE Chairman Bang Si-hyuk, 54, studied aesthetics at Seoul National University and was recruited by JYP Entertainment founder Park Jin-young in 1997. He spent his JYP years writing songs for acts including g.o.d, Park Ji-yoon and Rain before founding Big Hit Entertainment in 2005. He kept writing after going independent, working on singer Baek Ji-young's 2008 ballad "Like Being Shot By a Bullet" and 2AM's "Never Let You Go" (2010), making him one of the country's most sought-after composers well before he had a hit act of his own. Big Hit Entertainment's first girl group, GLAM, launched in 2012 as a joint project with Source Music and disbanded in January 2015. BTS debuted in 2013 and went on to achieve global success, transforming the small entertainment agency into the country's largest music company. Big Hit Entertainment expanded into a multilabel operation with the purchase of Source Music in 2019, followed by Pledis Entertainment and KOZ Entertainment in 2020. Bang rebranded the growing empire as HYBE in 2021 and stepped down as CEO that July to chair the board. He remains the co

Sep 7, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min

K-pop

HYBE chairman case reaches prosecutors: What's next for him?

The police file on HYBE Chairman Bang Si-hyuk arrived at the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office last week with a precise number attached: 263.1 billion won ($190 million) in what investigators called improper gains. The question that will decide Bang's fate is one that police and prosecutors have spent almost two years failing to settle between themselves: what crime, if any, the conduct amounts to. On Thursday, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's financial crime investigation unit referred Bang and four others to prosecutors without detention on suspicion of fraudulent unfair trading under the Capital Markets Act, closing an investigation that went on for 21 months. Prosecutors will now review the record before deciding whether to indict, order further investigation or drop the financial crime charge, and lawyers who work these cases say all three remain possible. What police say happened Investigators allege that in 2019, while the company, then known as Big Hit Entertainment, was already moving through preliminary listing procedures, Bang and others told existing shareholde

Sep 7, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min

HYBE chairman case reaches prosecutors: What's next for him?

Law & Crime

Man behind BTS referred to prosecution over allegedly lying to shareholders

Seoul police referred Bang Si-hyuk, chairman of HYBE, the entertainment giant behind boy band BTS, to prosecutors Thursday over allegations that he deceived early investors in the agency into selling their stakes before the company went public. Police did not request an arrest warrant for him. Bang is accused of unfair trading in violation of the Capital Markets Act. The police alleged that in 2019, when HYBE was still known as BigHit Music, he told existing shareholders that the company had no plans for an initial public offering, prompting them to sell their shares to a special purpose company set up by a private equity fund tied to him, even as BigHit was already moving through preliminary listing procedures. The fund sold the shares after the company listed in 2020, and police believe Bang collected roughly 30 percent of the proceeds under an undisclosed agreement. Financial authorities have put his improper gains at nearly 200 billion won ($145 million). The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's financial crime investigation unit opened the case in December 2024 and raided HYBE's Yongs

Sep 3, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min

Man behind BTS referred to prosecution over allegedly lying to shareholders

K-pop

Solo queens crowd September's K-pop comeback race

The heat has finally started to break, but nobody told the K-pop release calendar. September opens with Chung Ha, Kwon Eun-bi, Lisa and Jisoo all putting out new music in just a four day span, the densest run of solo releases by women in K-pop this year. The month only gets busier, with a long-delayed first full-length album, a debut EP, a band's second wave and a rapid-turnaround return from HYBE's girl group LE SSERAFIM still to come. Solo queens open the month Chung Ha started the run on Tuesday, releasing the digital single "México" through MORE VISION. It is her first new music since "Save me," the birthday single she put out in February. Kwon Eun-bi then arrives Sept. 3 with the digital single "DEJAVU," her first release in a year and four months. It is also her first since signing with RBW in April, after ending a long run with Woollim Entertainment at the end of March. RBW has been teasing a wider tonal range with the single, compared to the sharply sexy register of her last release. BLACKPINK's Lisa also lands on Sept. 3 with "SaWaDiKa," the lead single from her six-track EP "PR

Sep 3, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min

K-pop

Kwon Eun-bi opens new chapter with 1st single since label move

K-pop singer Kwon Eun-bi has taken to numbering versions of herself. The first one, she said, was spent working out who she actually was. The second one starts Thursday. "The Kwon Eun-bi at Woollim Entertainment was a time of getting to know myself," the singer said during an interview with The Korea Times at a cafe in Seoul's Gwangjin District, Monday. "Going solo meant having to think hard about who I am, and that was quite difficult at the time. I'd had so little time alone that I hadn't thought about it much." The second, she said, "feels like a fresh start, finally knowing what I enjoy doing." Some of what she found was smaller than expected. "I discovered that I like little things more than I'd expected. Traveling abroad, meeting friends and giving out small gifts," she said. "I was always the older sister, always the leader, so I lived pretending to be that person. Turns out I was more than that." That leadership role is where most listeners first encountered her. Kwon debuted in 2014 with the short-lived girl group Ye-A, left the following year and signed as a trainee with Woollim

Sep 3, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min

Kwon Eun-bi opens new chapter with 1st single since label move

Travel & Food

Geobukseom, Oido make quiet case for West Sea

SIHEUNG, Gyeonggi Province — Local travelers who judge a destination by the number of attractions tend to look east, toward the deep blue water and fine sand beaches that fill summer travel supplements. The West Sea close to Seoul and its metropolitan area has long been treated as the consolation prize — flat, brown at low tide and governed by a tidal range that rearranges the shoreline twice a day. Yet, those who would like the coast for tranquility and reflection will find this stretch offering exactly that at a price nobody has thought to advertise. Siheung, a city of more than 500,000 in Gyeonggi Province, sits about 40 kilometers southwest of central Seoul and holds two coastal destinations — Geobukseom and Oido — of entirely opposite temperaments. Geobukseom, which literally translates as “Turtle Island,” is an island of marinas, surf lagoons and glass towers that has not yet filled up. Oido, some 10 minutes away, is a former island that has been grilling shellfish for day-trippers for decades. The "turtle" is not without its reason. Pull Geobukseom up on a map and the o

Sep 2, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min

Geobukseom, Oido make quiet case for West Sea

K-pop

TUNEXX tunes in to single frequency on 2nd EP 'BLUE MODE'

There's a passage in the bridge of rookie boy band TUNEXX's new title track that the members simply call the "kill part." "If I mess it up, I'm the one who gets killed," Sungjun said. "If I actually pull it off, it's whoever's watching. I'm practicing hard so it lands the second way." It was a bold line in an otherwise pretty quiet morning. The seven-member rookie group met with The Korea Times in central Seoul on Aug. 20 for an interview ahead of its first comeback, in what was also the members' first official opportunity to speak directly with the press. Questions drew pauses. Answers sometimes trailed off halfway through and several members looked toward leader Dongkyu before speaking. They had, after all, debuted only five months earlier. TUNEXX will release its second EP, "BLUE MODE," on Sept. 2 at 6 p.m., marking the IST Entertainment group's first comeback since its March debut with "SET BY US ONLY." Dongkyu described the new four-track album as a contrast to the group's debut, which he characterized as a declaration of individuality. "If the last album felt like each of us saying,

Sep 2, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min

TUNEXX tunes in to single frequency on 2nd EP 'BLUE MODE'

K-pop

K-pop Report Card Bops, flops, way too much tropical pop

As hot as the season itself, July and August saw a relentless stream of K-pop releases all fighting for their own moment. Some delivered, but quite a few were just lukewarm. One question kept coming to mind: How much longer is K-pop going to see something work and immediately decide everyone needs to do the same thing? Taste in music is subjective, and one person's skip might be another's song of the year. These are my takes, not court rulings, so you're more than welcome to disagree. i-dle, "We Made" EP — Track "Gimme Dat Love" released July 6 Verdict: Nearly there Electronic had barely finished sweeping through K-pop when "Gimme Dat Love" showed up like an ominous message — Latin-tropical sounds and Afrobeats are next. Genre-hopping is all fun and games until the song fits the beat better than it fits the people singing it. The production begs for some attitude, while a few of the vocals stay almost too clean and straight. The beat is sweating, but some of the vocals sound freshly showered. Yeonjun, "NO LABELS: PART 02" EP — Track "Ice Cream" released July 10 Verdict: Worth replaying

Aug 28, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min

[K-pop Report Card] Bops, flops, way too much tropical pop

Law & Crime

Korea's Supreme Court seeks damages against pro-Yoon courthouse rioters

The Korean Supreme Court filed a civil lawsuit seeking 1.2 billion won ($795,000) in damages against people involved in last year’s courthouse riot linked to former President Yoon Suk Yeol, marking a rare case of the judiciary taking legal action against private individuals. The National Court Administration (NCA), a Supreme Court unit responsible for overseeing the judiciary’s administrative affairs, said Wednesday it filed a damages lawsuit with the Seoul Central District Court against five people convicted over their involvement in the Seoul Western District Court riot, seeking 1.18 billion won in repair costs for property damage, along with interest for delayed payment. The "Republic of Korea" is listed as the plaintiff in the lawsuit. “The riot constitutes a collective act of violence and destruction against a courthouse, where the country’s judicial functions are carried out,” the NCA said. “It was a serious illegal act that severely undermined the court’s function and authority, and it is necessary to hold those who participated in the riot strictly accountable und

Aug 26, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min

Pyo Kyung-min

Read more

EVAN channels fear of being forgotten into music on 1st mini album

Who is Bang Si-hyuk?

HYBE chairman case reaches prosecutors: What's next for him?

Man behind BTS referred to prosecution over allegedly lying to shareholders

Solo queens crowd September's K-pop comeback race

Kwon Eun-bi opens new chapter with 1st single since label move

Geobukseom, Oido make quiet case for West Sea

TUNEXX tunes in to single frequency on 2nd EP 'BLUE MODE'

K-pop Report Card Bops, flops, way too much tropical pop

Korea's Supreme Court seeks damages against pro-Yoon courthouse rioters

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