[12/30] Kpop News Roundup (Hybe, Squid Games, Boys Planet, and more)

[RussianRoulette]

﹒⊹ 𝜗𝜚Howdy Howdy 𝜗𝜚 ⊹﹒

I honestly wasn't expecting any news updates for awhile but things never stop apparently.

Here we go.

︵﹒⊹ 𝜗𝜚 ︵︵ 𝜗𝜚 ⊹﹒︵

Hybe Top Company Status

Previously, Tokki's were petitioning for Hybe to loose their top company status due to them claiming Hybe was bullying NJ.

Other people were petitioning for Hybe to loose their top company status due to a death of a Hybe employee back in 2022.

To explain what Top Company Status is, the source article explains it as:​

The Best Jobs Company is awarded to companies that have been recognized for their efforts to improve employment, including creating jobs and practicing work-life balance. 100 companies are selected each year. Companies certified as Best Jobs Company are awarded a presidential certificate of approval, and are given various benefits, such as preferential credit ratings, preferential interest rates for credit support, and procurement points.​

Tokki's made a petition for Hybe to loose it's company status and after it being reviewed by South Korea’s Ministry of Employment and Labor, they have decided that Hybe will keep their top company status which was awarded to them last September.

The ministry which did the review said that Hybe was fully cooperative in the review investigation and with working with the local government offices.

They said that their reasoning for letting Hybe keep it's company status is because in the Hanni bullying situation Hybe was not found guilty of workplace harassment, and with the employee death they said there was no violation of the law with the fact that the accident was not fully processed.

Source Article

Squid Game Actor Canceled

Park Sunghoon, who was previously getting praised for playing the transgender character Hyunju in season 2 of Squid Games, is currently being canceled on the internet for "accidentally" sharing Squid Game parody porn on his instagram stories.

I will explain more under spoiler because the contents are very sexually explicit and triggering. Please take cation before reading

Spoiler: Trigger Warning

What he shared on his story was a parody porn of squid games called "squirt games".

People are really angry about the nature of this parody. In squid games the characters get killed off if they loose. In this parody they have women get r*ped to death if they loose.

I am also not sure if he shared the censored version of the promos for this parody on his story or the uncensored version, but people are angry that he consumes and was "accidentally" promoting r*pe porn.

His company released a statement saying he "accidentally' shared it after it was shared to him in his instagram dm's.
They also said he is deeply sorry for the incident especially given the current circumstances of the country and promised to be more careful going forward.

Squid Game fans are currently disappointed that there seems to be almost no unproblematic members of the Squid Game cast.

Gayo Daejeon Tributes

Many kpop fans attending Gayo Daejejun have been in an uproar online over the fan tributes/gifts.

To best explain what fan tributes are: You know how sometimes kpop idols hand out gifts to fans who attend music show recordings? For example: I remember Blackpink's Jisoo handed out a dior perfume and lipsticks to fans who attended one of her Flower promotion stages. These gifts given to fans are tributes.

These tributes were/are originally supposed to be an every once in awhile thing and just a surprise gift to say thank you to fans, though fans have grew to expect these gifts at every performance and have started to get angry when these gifts are not handed out.

Fans of certain groups who attended Gayo Daejejun were really pissed off and complaining over certain groups/artists either not handing out tributes or not having their tributes be "worth enough".

For some side context: The tributes (for this show at least) is usually expected to be some type of lunch with a drink, or at the very least some type of food and a drink, with maybe even something like a photocard. Some groups even go above and beyond and at this event Boy Next Door had a a whole fish cake (I think Taiyaki?) and coffee truck stand for fans. Food is usually expected due to the fact that fans have to wait a really long time for the stages. Think of it as "Thank you for waiting all day, lunch is on me".

Here are examples of Stray Kids and Plave's fan tributes, which people were really happy with:

I grew to know about this because apparently Taemin did not prepare any gifts at his previous prerecording and fans were attacking him for it. For Gayo Daejejun, Taemin and his staff had apparently (quickly?) prepared a bottle of water, an energy bar, hot pack, and a photo card. He was also apologizing to fans and asking if they were still mad at him.

Aespa was one of the groups who didn't have a gift for Gayo Daejejun along with Day6. Aespa is especially getting heat though due to an interaction where a fan asked them about the gifts/food and Giselle responded by asking why didn't the fans just bring their own Kimbap.

This is slightly unrelated: but I wanted to share this fact that I learned the other day which is that apparently you can get thrown out of recordings if you don't have the newest version of the groups light stick??? I saw an international Atiny share their experience that they got into an Ateez music show recording but got thrown out by security because they had the first generation Ateez light stick and not the newest one. Lighsticks aren't cheap and some groups release a new light stick every year, so I thought this rule was pretty harsh

Boys Planet Season 2

Boys Planet, which brought us Zero Base One/ZB1, is set to begin filming Boys Planet 2 next year.

The list of companies sending artists/trainees have dropped and are:

Fans have been talking about how surprised they are at this list. More specifically, they are surprised to see YG, who is considered to be one of the top kpop companies, sending their trainees onto the show with a bunch of smaller companies.

Some people are surprised to see IST on the list considering how they are dropping artists left and right, though i'm personally not surprised at all.

I'm most surprised to see MLD ent on this list, do they even have any trainees??? Do they even exist anymore??? Last time I checked their CEO fled the country to avoid the fact that he didn't pay multiple employees any wages

Happy Birthday

I will be skipping the Happy Birthday section in of this today due to many fans asking to please not celebrate any kpop birthdays during the national period of mourning.

May the victims rest In peace.

︵﹒⊹ 𝜗𝜚 ︵︵ 𝜗𝜚 ⊹﹒︵

I feel like I had more things to say but my mind is blanking right now. If I remember i'll just throw it into the next news roundup.

Today's QOTD: How are you guys planning on spending new years eve? Are you staying up?

My work closing and letting us out early which i'm grateful for, I think I could cry if I had to spend midnight at work dealing with people
I also have new years day off so i'm happy I can spend it with my family. I also will definitely be up for midnight since my insomnia usually makes me go to bed around 2-3 am

﹒⊹ 𝜗𝜚Tune in next year for another Kpop News Roundup! 𝜗𝜚 ⊹﹒​

 

[mimenet]

YG has sent trainees to mnet survivals before iirc. I think Produce season 4? If I remember right they really don't get the same voting bump that JYP or even former SM trainees tend to get. I think that produce trainee got cut in round 2.

 

[UMJI MOODS]

The ministry which did the review said that Hybe was fully cooperative in the review investigation and with working with the local government offices.

They said that their reasoning for letting Hybe keep it's company status is because in the Hanni bullying situation Hybe was not found guilty of workplace harassment, and with the employee death they said there was no violation of the law with the fact that the accident was not fully processed

I figured this was to be highly unlikely to be changed. The government of South Korea's National Pesion Fund owns approximately 8.2% of outstanding Hybe stock making it one of the company's largest investors. Any loss in shares valuation is felt by this fund. So they were unlikely to change the status.

 

[Beefy]

- extremely disappointed with Park Sunghoon. I fell in love with Hyunju and now her character’s success has been ruined by a nasty ass man. Why are most the men on this show absolute trash like

- the tribute thing is soooo like y’all didn’t have to wait out there for 7 hrs! I know most idols are rich and it’s great that a lot stepped up but I think fans needs to get their priorities straight.

- for New Years, I’ll be staying at home too! But I’m unfortunately babysitting so I doubt I’ll be able stay up this year

YG has sent trainees to mnet survivals before iirc. I think Produce season 4? If I remember right they really don't get the same voting bump that JYP or even former SM trainees tend to get. I think that produce trainee got cut in round 2.

yes, they did! Mahiro and Jyunhao (?) and they didn’t do well. The only one who did kinda well was Hyunbin (season 2) but he was under their modeling subsidiary.

I think YG refuses to send (some of) their best and this reflects in how their trainees do. They tend to lack skill and charisma in comparison to other bigger companies.

 

[fromisEJel]

Fans being so self-centered thinking that they deserve tributes just because they go there to support their artists. They are lucky to get the chance to see their idols unlike others, and that should be enough.


I am off from work on both New Year eve and New Year day thankfully. So going to spend some time exercising, and watching videos, and maybe playing some games.

And well, I will stay up till New Year at least to send my crush a happy new year message.

 

[RussianRoulette]

I figured this was to be highly unlikely to be changed. The government of South Korea's National Pesion Fund owns approximately 8.2% of outstanding Hybe stock making it one of the company's largest investors. Any loss in shares valuation is felt by this fund. So they were unlikely to change the status.

A government agency invested stock in Hybe???

A lot of Tokki's seemed pretty sure they would win because when Hanni had to make her speech at that hearing a lot of the politicians were pretty starstruck by her and asking to take pictures. I feel like knowing something related to the government has stock in Hybe changes a lot of things regarding this whole drama.

YG has sent trainees to mnet survivals before iirc. I think Produce season 4? If I remember right they really don't get the same voting bump that JYP or even former SM trainees tend to get. I think that produce trainee got cut in round 2.

yes, they did! Mahiro and Jyunhao (?) and they didn’t do well. The only one who did kinda well was Hyunbin (season 2) but he was under their modeling subsidiary.

I think YG refuses to send (some of) their best and this reflects in how their trainees do. They tend to lack skill and charisma in comparison to other bigger companies.

I feel like i've seen a lot of former YG trainee's in survival shows and some have done pretty well (Minju from Illit is one person I can think of), but I feel like I don't recall many direct YG trainees, though maybe that's because I usually watch girl group survival shows over boy group ones?

I guess it would make sense that YG would have more boy group trainees right now. Treasure is going to be 6 years old this upcoming year so it's probably about time YG starts to plan their next boy group.

- the tribute thing is soooo like y’all didn’t have to wait out there for 7 hrs! I know most idols are rich and it’s great that a lot stepped up but I think fans needs to get their priorities straight.

Fans being so self-centered thinking that they deserve tributes just because they go there to support their artists. They are lucky to get the chance to see their idols unlike others, and that should be enough.

I am off from work on both New Year eve and New Year day thankfully. So going to spend some time exercising, and watching videos, and maybe playing some games.

And well, I will stay up till New Year at least to send my crush a happy new year message.

The whole tribute thing seems crazy to me too. As an oversea fan, the fact that you can see your idols at all seems like such a privilege to me that people take for granted. Unless it's me, I feel like one thing that's happened in this year of 2024 is that Kpop fans have become really REALLY entitled, its crazy!

I also will probably be spending new years eve and new years day exercising. I've had almost no time to exercise this past 2 months so I need to get back into shape. I just bought 2 new workout sets and i'm debating on taking up pilates again this new year

 

[Polaris_Tae]

Most venues either allow you to bring items such as a small bottle of water or they sell food/drinks on-site. The level of privilige that these fans have to have these expectations of these idol groups is off the charts.

As for NYE, I'll be spending it making cute content on H+ again!

 

[hatmixx]

- extremely disappointed with Park Sunghoon. I fell in love with Hyunju and now her character’s success has been ruined by a nasty ass man. Why are most the men on this show absolute trash like

Fr it's like every actor has some terrible shit behind them