Top 10 Most Followed K-Pop Stars on Social Media, Ranked From Least to Most Followed

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Lee Byung-hun-starring disaster movie “Concrete Utopia” topped the South Korean box office over the latest weekend, replacing female led crime caper “Smugglers.” Directed by Um Tae-hwa, “Concrete Utopia” is set in a Seoul that has been largely destroyed by a massive earthquake. One building stands tall among the wreckage and becomes a refuge for those already inside, but the inhabitants must fend of the unwanted attentions of outsiders. It opened on Wednesday, earning $8.40 million between Friday and Sunday and fully $11.3 million over its full opening five days, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic).

TIFF has begun announcing their Conversation With… (ICW) series for this year’s fest with Oscar winner Pedro Almodóvar, Hong Kong actor Andy Lau and Concrete Utopia Korean stars Lee Byung-hun and ParkSeo-jun set to sit down for chats.

Jeon Somi’s agency will remove an animated character from the music video of one of her latest songs after viewers accused it of plagiarism.The video in question comes from the visual accompaniment for the South Korean singer’s single ‘Fast Forward’ – the lead track of her new EP ‘Game Plan’. The track and music video both debuted on Monday (August 7).Following its release, some viewers have pointed out how the character in the original video resembles the artwork style of Japanese cartoonist, Rumiko Takahashi and her characters illustrated in the manga series Urusei Yatsura (1978-87).The artist is also most widely recognised for her fantasy romance series, InuYasha, which ran between 1996 and 2008.In the music video for ‘Fast Forward’, it appears as if the character is meant to resemble the 22-year-old singer, however, many highlighted how it was nearly identical to the artwork on the cover of the first volume for Urusei Yatsura – with the main changes only being to the direction the character is facing and the hairstyle (via Koreaboo).Now, Somi’s agency, THEBLACKLABEL, has issued a formal apology in light of the accusations of plagiarism, and insisted that they “deeply apologise” for the parallels between the characters.“We have reviewed the issue as soon as we were made aware of the criticisms that the animation within ‘Fast Forward’ reminds viewers of a character from another animation,” the agency said in a press release yesterday (August 9, via Korea JoongAng Daily).“We have decided to delete and change the scenes at issue.

It’s so hard to say goodbye, but sadly, several K-pop groups are disbanding for good.

Following his debut solo tour earlier this year, Suga, the K-pop superstar rapper/singer/songwriter, has become the third member of BTS to begin South Korea’s compulsory military service.

BTS‘s Suga were the cause of a recent commotion on a Seoul subway train.Yesterday evening (August 6), South Korean police received several reports from passengers on the Seoul Subway Line 9 express train to Gimpo airport. This included over 20 reports of people allegedly getting hurt, a riot, as well as a strange smell on the train, leading to an investigation by police and firefighters, per Yonhap News.According to SBS News, panicked passengers rushed out of the train upon its arrival at Sinnonhyeon station, causing at least seven passengers to suffer “cuts and bruises” in the evacuation.

Marta Balaga Raven Banner Entertainment continues to rack up sales for Richard V. Somes’ action spectacle “Topakk.” “Topakk”(“Trigger”) has been sold to Aud (South Korea), Superfine Films (India), Kinologistika (CIS and the Baltics) and Lighthouse (German-speaking Europe). It’s not the end of good news, as the film – debuting its trailer and produced by Fusee, with Strawdogs Studio Production and Nathan Studios co-producing – is also set to bow at Locarno next week.

A Rochdale pub landlord has spoken of his surprise after Manchester City star Rodri called into his boozer this week.

There is so much K-pop excellence in 2023!

Everyone is still Keeping Up With the Kardashians.

ODD EYE CIRCLE are coming full (odd eye) circle.

King the Land has become Netflix’s most-watched TV show of the week.According to Netflix’s official most-watched list, which tracks the platforms most popular content based on views, South Korean drama King the Land is the most-watched TV show on the streaming platform for the week of July 17-July 23.While Netflix ranks its TV shows in separate English and non-English categories, the total views for King the Land stand at 4,700,000. That exceeds the Number One English language series Sweet Magnolias latest season, which clocked in 4,600,000 views.It is also the romantic-comedy series’ sixth week in the Top 10 most-watched non-English TV shows.

Linda Caicedo is one of the players we expect to see playing against South Korea, at 10 pm EDT, and has an inspiring story for women and athletes playing all sorts of sports. Scroll down to learn more about her.The U.S. kicks off World Cup tonight with Trinity Rodman wanting to earn her stripesGoogle celebrates the 2023 Women’s World Cup kick-off with a special DoodleCaicedo was diagnosed with ovarian cancer when she was 15 years old, a diagnosis that proved to be a challenge for her career as an athlete.“I remember I was going into surgery one day and I was feeling really bad because I thought that I was not going to be able to play top-level football again,” said Caicedo according to AP News.

Jungkook of K-pop boyband BTS has topped the Billboard Hot 100 with his solo single ‘Seven’.‘Seven’, which features American rapper Latto, debuted at Number One on the Billboard Hot 100 for the chart dated July 29, 2023, blocking Jason Aldean’s ‘Try That in a Small Town’ from the top spot.The single, which Jungkook released on July 14, is the second Hot 100 chart-topper by a South Korean solo artist, following bandmate Jimin with ‘Like Crazy’ in early-April.According to Billboard, ‘Seven’ garnered 21.9 million streams, 6.4 million in airplay audience and 153,000 combined digital and CD singles sold from July 14 to July 20.Aside from the Hot 100, ‘Seven’ also charted at Number Two on Digital Song Sales, Number Four on Streaming Songs, Number 30 on Adult Pop Airplay and Number 33 on Pop Airplay.The #Hot100 top 10 (chart dated July 29, 2023)— billboard charts (@billboardcharts) July 24, 2023‘Seven’ is also Jungkook’s seventh time at Number One on the Billboard Hot 100, having previously topped the chart with K-pop boyband BTS six times from 2020 to 2021. The group’s last chart-topper was ‘My Universe’, a collaboration with Coldplay.The song has also earned Latto her first-ever Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper.

Yang Hyun-jun has signed for Celtic on a five-year deal from Gangwon FC.

Fans of K-pop superstar Jung Kook were left saying the same thing after he came to the UK to perform his new single on The One Show. The BTS member sang Seven from a secret London location in front of a specially-invited audience.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Amid deep concerns about the risks posed by artificial intelligence, the Biden administration has lined up commitments from seven tech companies — including OpenAI, Google and Meta — to abide by safety, security and trust principles in developing AI. Reps from seven “leading AI companies” — Amazon, Anthropic, Google, Inflection, Meta, Microsoft and OpenAI — are scheduled to attend an event Friday at the White House to announce that the Biden-Harris administration has secured voluntary commitments from the companies to “help move toward safe, secure, and transparent development of AI technology,” according to the White House.

Celebrity fragrances have been popular since well before the era of celebrity beauty brands, and they remain a lucrative project for the stars to explore.

If elections in Uganda were free and fair, pop star-turned politician Bobi Wine might be president of his country instead of the dictator Yoweri Museveni, who has clung to power for 36 years.

EXCLUSIVE: Anonymous Content has partnered with New Europe Film Sales to handle North American rights for animated feature The Peasants, directed by Oscar-nominated Loving Vincent filmmakers D.K. Welchman and Hugh Welchman.