Ra Hwak-jin / Woo Ji-won

◇ TWICE to return with new English single next month

▲K-pop girl group TWICE is seen in this image provided by JYP Entertainment. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

 

K-pop girl group TWICE will release a new English-language single in January and its 12th EP two months later, the group's agency said Wednesday.

The band also tweeted a teaser image showing the schedules for the upcoming releases, with text apparently indicating the English song will come out Jan. 4.

Details of the new releases, including the name of the song and the album, have not been given.

The nine-piece group was one of the most-streamed K-pop artists of the year on Spotify, the world's largest music streaming platform, across the globe, along with BTS, BLACKPINK, Stray Kids and Seventeen, according to the list announced by the service early this month.

In the United States, TWICE was the most-streamed K-pop girl group of the year on Spotify, with its songs streamed 289.41 million times as of Dec. 15, according to JYP Entertainment. Globally, they have been streamed over 5.5 billion times.

"Between 1&2," the group's latest release and its 11th EP, came out Aug. 26, which debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200.

◇ YG Entertainment founder acquitted of blackmail

 

▲Yang Hyun-suk, founder and former head of YG Entertainment, appears at the Seoul Central District Court, in this Nov. 14, 2022, file photo. (Yonhap)

Yang Hyun-suk, founder and former head of K-pop agency YG Entertainment, was acquitted Thursday on charges of blackmailing an informant in an attempt to block an investigation into a drug scandal.

The Seoul Central District Court delivered a not-guilty verdict, saying there is insufficient evidence that Yang had blackmailed the whistleblower to inflict concrete and direct harm.

The court also noted the lack of credibility of the informant's testimony.

The K-pop guru was indicted on charges of threatening a former trainee who had testified to police in 2016 about drug suspicions surrounding B.I, a former member of YG's boy band iKON.

The informant, who was apprehended for drug charges, said during police questioning that B.I had purchased marijuana and LSD pills that year.

 

▲ Yang Hyun-suk, founder and former head of YG Entertainment, appears at the Seoul Central District Court. (Yonhap)

The informant later testified during a court hearing that Yang had called her to his office and threatened to ruin her career unless she reversed her testimony.

Prosecutors had sought a three-year prison term for Yang, arguing he thwarted an initial investigation into B.I by intimidating the informant.

Yang stepped down as chief producer of the company in June 2019 amid the probe.

B.I was sentenced to three years in prison, suspended for four years, in 2021 for purchasing and using marijuana and LSD pills.


◇ Lee Seung-gi sues four people including CEO of Hook Entertainment

▲This photo, provided by Hook Entertainment, shows Lee Seung-gi. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

Lee Seung-gi, a singer and actor, has filed a lawsuit on several people, including Kwon Jin-young, CEO of Hook Entertainment, and executives, for concealing a portion of his income made from music and advertising.

Lee Seung-gi sued CEO Kwon and the executive in charge of finance at the prosecution service of Seoul on Thursday morning on charges of violating the Act on Aggravated Punishment for certain economic crimes, according to his attorney.

Lee Seung-gi's side claimed, "Hook concealed the incomes made out of music from Lee Seung-gi for about 18 years, and they never made the settlements."

Lee Seung-gi is assuming that Hook also hid part of the income made from his advertisements.

 

▲ This photo, provided by Hook Entertainment, shows Lee Seung-gi. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
Lee's side said, "It was known to Lee that about 10% of the advertising model fee has been paid to the advertising agency under the name of 'agent fee,' but in reality, Hook's former and current directors seem to have shared some of the agency fee instead of paying it to the advertising agency."

Hook finally admitted such claim on December 16, when Lee Seung-gi raised the issue, and paid 630 million won for advertising fees and the delayed interest.

Lee Seung-gi's attorney sued Hook's CEO, Kwon, and three former and current directors, including A, on charges of fraud and embezzlement.

Earlier on Dec. 16, Hook transferred around 4.81 billion won to Lee without any communication with him for the unsettled income he made and filed a confirmation lawsuit to confirm that there is no remaining settlement left.

"The unsettled money is not the reason I am undergoing a law suit against Hook; it is because it is inappropriate to spend the money someone has earned working hard in an unjust way just because of someone's greed," Lee stated at the time.

Lee Seung-gi's attorney revealed, "We knew from a media release that Hook filed a law suit, and we haven't received the written complaint."

"There is a big gap between the amount of money Hook settled without reaching out to Lee Seung-gi and the amount of money Lee Seung-gi figured," the attorney continued, "we will respond to Hook's confirmation lawsuit while also filing a counterclaim (counter-suit) to claim unpaid music fee settlement and sue for damages for illegal acts against Hook and related parties."

 

[ⓒ K-VIBE. 무단전재-재배포 금지]