Welcome back to SB Week in Review! With Chuseok just around the corner, this was an exceptionally slow week for K-pop news, with no major comebacks or debuts taking place. However, plenty of announcements were made and — of course — plenty of rumors continue to circulate. Here’s all the news you may have missed:

Serious News

  • 20121221_seoulbeats_parkgeunhye3Families of 131 victims of the Sewol Tragedy filed suit this week against both the government and the ferry company.
  • Almost humorously, President Park Guen-hye called this week for more “accurate” reporting from the media, specifically in regards to internet reporting. This comes after her party accused both Naver and Daum Kakao of phrasing headlines in a way that benefited the opposing party. Keeping in mind Park’s history of internet censorship, one has to wonder exactly what she means by “accurate” and “fair” reporting.
  • The saga really never ends with Kim Hyun-joong: This week, his lawyers called a press conference to request Miss Choi to submit to DNA testing regarding the paternity of her child. Miss Choi’s reps quickly responded saying that they felt the conference and request were a violation of her civil rights.

Debuts and Comebacks

  • Collaboration queen Soyu (Sistar) came together with Kwan jeong-yeol (10cm) for the sweet track, “Lean on Me.”
  • Gary came back with the explicit “JOA” featuring Jay Park. He also dropped his solo album 2002.
  • Block B‘s Kyung changed things up with his cutesy first solo release “Some.”

Teasers and Announcements

  • 20150921_seoulbeats_ailee_vividEarly in the week, Ailee dropped the first teaser image for Vivid, which will be her first full-length album. The MV teaser for “Mind Your Own Business” soon followed. Both the album and MV are due out on the 30th!
  • Songstress IU is reportedly gearing up for a fall comeback.
  • Following the pre-release “My Type,” iKON began teasing their upcoming half-album track list and confirmed double title tracks. YG also left an ambiguous tweet that hinted at the return of Winner and later confirmed that Winner will return in conjunction with iKON’s debut.
  • Jay Park is certainly keeping himself busy. This week he announced that he plans to drop two MVs for SOLO.
  • Remember the rumor of two idols fighting in a Seoul club? Turns out it was an MV filming for 24K, who released the fight scene as a teaser trailer this week for their fourth album.
  • GOT7 continued to drop individual member teasers for Mad, due out on the 29th. The group also released the first teaser video for the album’s single “If You Do.”
  • Following the release of “Shooting Star,” Lovelyz are gearing up for their Lovelyz8 album release as well as a new single, “Ah-Choo.”
  • Speculations were correct, 4Minute’s Jiyoon will be appearing on Unpretty Rapstar 2.
  • In a collaboration announcement no one saw coming: Park Jin-young (JYP) collaborated with rapper P-Type for the track “All I Need.”
  • B1A4 member Gongchan is set to make his acting debut through the upcoming web drama Delicious Love.
  • Following Jonghyun and Taeyeon‘s lead, SM announced this week that Super Junior‘s Kyuhyun will also hold his first solo concert as part of the new the Agit Series. In addition to the Agit series, SM also announced the Moment lecture series this week. EXO‘s Suho and Lee Dong-woo will hold the first lectures.
  • Kangta might finally be freed from the SM basement! Sports Donga reported that he is working on a new album that should be out in January.

Other News

  • 20150901_seoulbeats_ikonFormer Wonder Girls member, Sohee, became a free agent this week after her contract with BH Entertainment came to an end.
  • Rapper One of SMTM4 signed an exclusive contract with YG Entertainment. As a result, his current stint as a member of rookie group 1PUNCH will come to an end, and the duo will become actually become one (little) Punch, the solo act. Another SMTM4 contestant, Innovator, signed with FNC Entertainment.
  • The trend continues: Teddy and Kush are planning to launch their own sub label under YG Entertainment.
  • A recent jTBC report on sajaegi caused YG Entertainment to announce that they welcome sajaegi investigations. Though the report mentioned no names, many netizens were quick to point fingers at YG and iKON.
  • Rumors began to circulate this week that power couple Lee Min-ho and Suzy had broken up. Worry not though — both sides quickly denied the rumor.
  • iKON fans were upset to learn that iKON would not be included in the running for MNet‘s M! Countdown this week. The producers explained that the group’s pre-release “My Type” is not being promoted and therefore can’t rank on their weekly chart.
  • In wake of her fashion “plagiarism” scandal, Yoon Eun-hye cancelled her plans to attend the 2015 Busan Film Festival.
  • Former Exo members update of the week: Proud owner of the ‘good good,’ Luhan released a new MV this week for “Your Song.” Tao came under fire for not only arriving late to a London Versace show, but also for the casual way he walked the runway to his seat after the show had already began. Tao took another hit this week as SM announced their counter-suit against the former member. Both sides quickly released statements. Seems like we’ll be in for yet another long legal battle.

(Naver [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13], Nate, SportsToday [1] [2], Newsen, TVReport, Daum, StarNews. Images via YG, YMC Entertainment, JYP.)