[Weekly Digest Feb.13 - Feb.19] SM's co-CEO raises suspicion over founder's offshore tax evasion ... BTS' Suga to hold first individual world tour

Ha Eun Lee

◇ SM's co-CEO raises suspicion over founder's offshore tax evasion

▲ This file photo shows Lee Sung-soo, co-CEO of SM Entertainment. (Yonhap)

SM Entertainment's co-CEO Lee Sung-soo claimed in a YouTube video Thursday that Lee Soo-man, the founder of SM, established a Hong Kong-based company named "CT Planning Limited" in 2019 to evade taxes and has taken 6 percent of SM's business dealings with overseas labels. 

Lee also claimed that the release of a new album by SM's leading girl group aespa, scheduled for Monday, has been pushed back as the founder insisted lyrics include keywords reflecting his recent interest in tree planting. The result of the founder's push was content no one would sympathize with, so the management decided to cancel the release for the band's sake, he claimed.

After the disclosure, Lee Soo-man said, "He is a nephew of my wife, and I've seen him since he was 4 years old," adding he joined the K-pop agency at the age of 19, starting with a job managing fans.

◇ Japanese animated sports film ‘The First Slam Dunk’ hits 3 million admissions in S. Korea

▲ These photos, provided by distributor NEW, show Song Tae-seop and Kang Baek-ho from 'The First Slam Dunk.' (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

"The First Slam Dunk," the film adaptation of the epic manga series “Slam Dunk” which hit the local theaters on Jan. 4, recorded cumulative admissions of 3 million 81 as of 2:25 p.m. Thursday, the 44th day of its premiere. It marks the very first film that hit the big screens in South Korea to be exceeding 3 million cumulative admissions.

Even before its release, the film garnered worldwide attention with Inoue Takehiko, the illustrator of the original manga, being in charge of writing and directing himself. The movie picks up right from where the original manga series left off, featuring the last match between Buksan High School and Sanwang Gong High School.

The animated film scored big on nostalgia, especially among those in their 30s and 40s, who reminisced about their teenagehood during which they cherished the manga series in the 1990s. After creating online buzz and going viral, the film has been topping the Korean box office since Jan. 27, securing its position for 19 days.

The film raked in a total of KRW 30.6 billion as of Wednesday, surpassing the record of the 2016 Japanese animated romantic film “Your Name.” (KRW 29.5 billion), which yet sits in first place among Japanese films released in Korea in terms of admissions.

◇ BTS' Suga to hold first individual world tour

▲ This photo, provided by BigHit Music, shows the schedule for BTS rapper Suga's first world tour set to kick off in April. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

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