Welcome back to another edition of SB Week in Review! In case you missed it, here’s all the news of the week:
SERIOUS NEWS
- On October 20, about 390 South Koreans had the opportunity to reunite with their North Korean relatives. It was a touching reunion for many of the families as they have been separated for over 60 years. This is an initiative to improve North-South ties and the last occasion of this kind took place in February 2014.
- A prostitution ring, consisting of former girl group members, models and celebrities, was busted earlier this week for their services, after evading suspicions for the past two months.
COMEBACKS AND DEBUTS
Junsu slays with his impressive vocals as he makes his solo comeback with emotional ballad “Yesterday”.
- Veteran boy group Click B is finally back with a charismatic MV for “Reborn”.
- Shinhwa‘s Dongwan made a solo comeback with “I’m Fine”.
- Sweet Sorrow released “Hiding My Heart”.
- IU is back with a MV for her title track “Twenty-three”, earning an all-kill on the charts immediately upon release, with the other songs from Chat-shire also charting highly.
- Sunny Days returned with “Blah Blah”.
- Zico dropped his solo MV with some pretty awesome animation in “Yes Or No”.
- Topp Dopp returned two members down, but made an impression nonetheless with “The Beat”.
- N.Flying made a comeback with “Lonely”.
- Dia moved along their promotions with a follow-up MV for “My Friend’s Boyfriend”.
- Twice made their much-awaited debut with “Like Ooh-Ahh”, with their accompanying album The Story Begins. The girl group is already making waves for their top-notch visuals all-around.
- SMTM-alumni Andup dropped a solo track “It’s Me”, featuring Incredivle.
- Sleepy collaborated together with Baek Ah-yeon to release a soothing track “Kibuntat”.
- Rock band Buzz dropped a passionate track with “Forever Love”.
- HIGHGRND finally released the MV for “Parachute” which they have been teasing all week long.
TEASERS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
SM is going all out for f(x)‘s impending comeback, with a special gallery in Itaewon set up to showcase the members’ teasers. The exhibit will carry on until October 26, after which their comeback titled 4 Walls will be released at midnight.
- B.A.P has been reminding fans about their comeback on November 15 as the members uploaded teaser images on Twitter.
- Yoo Seung-ho and Park Min-young have been cast together in Remember.
- VIXX is confirmed for a full-length album comeback, set to be released on November 10.
- Monsta X will be continuing with the follow-up promotions for their repackaged album, having released brooding teaser images for “Hero”.
OTHER NEWS
Choi Jin-hyuk has left the army on a disability discharge following a knee injury after seven months of service.
- Congratulations to BtoB, who finally clinched their first music show win with “Way Back Home”.
- It is reported that YG is looking to acquire a stake in Korea’s KFC operations, as an additional stable income stream. Reactions from the ground have been rather … cynical.
- Dating rumours between Kim Soo-hyun and Sohee were swirling all week before they were swiftly quashed.
- Rumours between CL and Winner‘s Mino were also circulating based on photoshopped fan photos, but YG was quick to deny any relationship.
- One couple did confirm their relationship — congrats to Alex and Rainbow‘s Hyunyoung.
(Osen, Ilgan Sports, Sports Chosun, Mydaily, Yonhap News, 10asia, MBC, TV Report, X Sports)