Cover Here are the latest happenings in the Korean entertainment world (Photo: Warner Bros.)

From comeback announcements to casting news, we're rounding up the biggest news from the Korean entertainment scene this week

Welcome to the first edition of Tatler's Korean entertainment weekly round-up where we bring you the hottest and biggest updates from the world of K-pop, K-drama and Korean culture. This week has been packed with comeback announcements, from Minzy, EXO, 2PM and more. We also saw the debut performance of Twice's new single in The Ellen DeGeneres show. 

In the thriving world of Korean drama, Netflix added two new Korean titles to its line-up—a horror movie and a romantic drama. Up and coming actors are also in talks for another Netflix drama while one just got confirmed for a lead role.

Find out all that and more in our Korean weekly round-up below:

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BTS' "Butter" stays #1 On Hot100 chart

BTS' new summer song, Butter debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot100 chart last week, making them the first group in history to debut three number songs on the chart. This week, Butter spends another week at No.1 on the chart.

Ahead of the group's 8th anniversary, RM also dropped a new solo song—Bicycle—as part of their Festa 2021 anniversary festivities.

See also: BTS Anniversary: The Best BTS Gender-Defying Fashion Moments

Minzy of 2NE1 will be making a comeback

Minzy of former girl group, 2NE1 is confirmed to be making a comeback with a new single album in July. She will also be doing promotional activities to coincide with the album release. According to her management, MZ Entertainment the single album is "a vibrant song that is perfect for summer, piquing fans' interest and excitement".

Minzy left YG Entertainment in 2016 and joined The Music Works as a solo artist. She left the agency last year and established her own agency, MZ Entertainment. In November 2020, Minzy made her debut in the Philippines, releasing a Tagalog version of her song, Lovely.

See also: 8 Female Korean Stars And Their Favourite Designer Bags

 

GOT7's Yugyeom unveils track list for solo album

After GOT7 left JYP Entertainment, the group released a new single, Encore. Though some went on to sign to different labels and pursued individual activities, the group is far from disbanding. Yugyeom—who signed with AOMG—unveils the tracklist for his first solo release with the agency. On June 3, AOMG revealed a teaser image with a flower illustration together with the June release date. The day after, they confirmed the release day for June 11 along with a new teaser image.

On June 5, another teaser image with a new debut date, June 17. Two days after, the full tracklist was released along with the album's title Point Of View: U together with the song producers which include AOMG artists such as Gray, Loco and Jay Park. On June 9, Yugyeom released black-and-white teaser images, followed by music video teasers on June 10 and 11.

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NCT's Taeyong and Red Velvet's Seulgi dropped collab song

NCT's Taeyong and Red Velvet's Seulgi joined forces to release a collaboration track, Rose. The two artists from SM Entertainment co-composed the music and lyrics.

Red Velvet is also expected to make a full group comeback in August while NCT's sub-unit NCT Dream recently announced the release of a repackaged version of their first full album, Hot Sauce. The repackaged album is titled Hello Future.

See also: Hong Kong Rapper-Producer Dough-Boy On His New Album, "Power" And Bridging Asia Through Music

EXO makes comeback with "Don't Fight The Feeling"

The highly-anticipated return of EXO is here. The group released Don't Fight The Feeling, which consists of five tracks and dropped the official music video of the eponymous title song. The album release sees the return of members Ziumin, Lay and D.O. since their 2018 album, Don't Mess Up My Tempo, though members Chen and Suho didn't participate in this new album as they're currently completing their military service.

The album surpassed 1.2 million pre-orders in 27 days, breaking their own personal record of 1.1 million from their previous album.

See also: EXO's Kai Partners With Gucci For An Exclusive Collection

2PM announces comeback date

Another group making their long-awaited comeback is 2PM, who made the announcement by releasing a trailer titled, The Hottest Origin. The group will be making their return after five years with Must on June 28. 2Pm's last comeback was in 2016 with Gentlemen's Game before the members enlisted for mandatory military service.

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Twice performs new single "Alcohol-Free" on Ellen

Girl group Twice recently trended in Hong Kong following the release of their Alcohol-Free music video as well as their debut performance for the song on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Because of travel restrictions, the group can't fly to the US and perform in person but that doesn't make the performance any less exciting. Twice members gave off island vibes in a set designed as a bar in a tropical resort.

Alcohol-Free is the group's first single from their upcoming album, Taste of Love scheduled for a June 11 release.

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Lee Do-hyun and Kwak Dong-yeon in talks for new Netflix series

Up and coming actors Lee Do-hyun from Youth of May and Kwak Dong-yeon from Vincenzo are currently in talks for a new Netflix series called Hunting Dogs based on the popular webtoon. Lee's agency, Yuehua Entertainment confirmed that the actor received a casting offer but noted that it's "one of the several projects he is considered".

Lee's popularity skyrocketed following his Baeksang Arts Awards Best New Actor win and recent roles in Sweet Home, 18 Again and Youth of May. He's also reported to be in talks for another drama with Im Soo-jung.

Similarly, Kwak's agency H& Entertainment also responded that the actor received an offer and is one of the projects he's considering. The actor was recently in Vincenzo opposite Song Joong-ki and is filming a movie, 6/45.

See also: 10 Baeksang Awards-Nominated Dramas And Movies To Watch

Netflix's "The 8th Night" releases new teaser

It's not October yet but Netflix is releasing a new horror drama after this year's The Call. The new supernatural thriller, The 8th Night follows an ex-exorcist who had to return to work together with a young monk and a detective to stop a powerful supernatural being from uniting.

The movie is helmed by newcomer Kim Tae-hyung and boasts a stunning cast that includes Lee Sung-min as the exorcist, Park Hae-joon as the detective, Kim Yoo-jung as a crucial character to solving the mystery and Nam Da-reum as the young monk. The 8th Night will be released on July 2 on Netflix.

See also: 15 Scariest Asian Horror Movies To Watch

New Netflix drama "You Are My Spring" confirms broadcast date

While many are anticipating the release of Nevertheless on Netflix, the streaming giant already has two other Korean dramas on its July line-up. The first is a one-off special episode from the Kingdom universe, Kingdom: Ashin of the North, the other is You Are My Spring, a new exciting romantic drama.

You Are My Spring will be produced by Studio Dragon which helmed other Korean dramas on Netflix such as It's Okay To Not Be Okay. The 16-episode romance drama stars Seo Hyun-jin, Joo Young-do, Chae Jun and Ahn Ga-young. It will tell the story of adults who still have a childish state of mind. They happen to live in the same building where a murder takes place. Each character has their own personal backstory and it'll be interesting to see how they all come together.

You Are My Spring will be released on July 5.

See also: 11 Popular Korean Dramas To Binge-Watch On Netflix In 2021

Ahn Hyo-seop confirmed to star in new drama

Baeksang Arts Award 2020 Best New Actor winner, Ahn Hyo-seop has been confirmed to star in a new drama, Office Blind Date. This romantic comedy is about an office employee who goes on a blind date in place of a friend. That date turns out to be the CEO of the company she's working at. It's based on a web novel in 2017 which has been adapted into a webtoon in 2018.

Ahn will be playing a third-generation chaebol (heir) who has it all—looks, intelligence, wealth and impressive skills as a businessman. He seems like the perfect man but actually suffers from trauma and because of this, he struggles with love.

It was first announced that Jo Bo-ah was in talks to star opposite Ahn but recently, Kim Se-jong may be set to nab the lead role of Kang Ha-ri. Office Blind Date is slated for a 2022 release. You can catch Ahn in his upcoming historical drama, Red Sky together with Kim Yoo-jung scheduled for a September 2021 release.

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Song Kang-ho selected for Cannes' jury

Actor Song Kang-ho becomes the first Korean male actor to be a jury member of the prestigious Cannes Film Festival. The Parasite star is the fifth Korean to be a member of the jury, joining the likes of Shin Sang-ok in 1994, director Lee Chang-dong in 2009, actress Jeon Do-yeon in 2014 and director Park Chan-wook in 2017.

His movie, Emergency Disaster is also part of the Cannes' out of competition line-up.

See also: Cannes Film Festival 2021: The Full Movie Lineup

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