Lee Sun Kyun, BLACKPINK, BTS in military: Headlines of the week

The last week of December arrived with the heartbreaking news of ‘Parasite’ star Lee Sun Kyun’s untimely demise, while YG Entertainment confirmed that they will not be handling the individual contracts of BLACKPINK members and Park Seo-joon starrer 'Gyeongseong Creature' debuted with high ratings… take a look at the headlines of the week that went by.

In an unfortunate turn of events, December 27 brought the news of Lee Sun Kyun’s untimely demise. The actor was found dead in a car at a park in Seoul, after his wife reported that Lee Sun Kyun was missing. In what looked like a final note, the actor apologised to his wife and his agency. This tragic event took place days after Lee Sun Kyun was questioned by the police for 19 hours in an alleged case of consuming illegal drugs.

On December 29, YG Entertainment confirmed that all four members of BLACKPINK have not renewed their contracts with the agency. In a statement, YG Entertainment said, “BLACKPINK recently renewed their contracts with YG for their group activities, and we have agreed not to proceed with additional contracts for [the members’] individual activities. We will do our utmost to support BLACKPINK’s activities, and we will cheer on the members’ individual activities with warm hearts.”

Park Seo-joon and Han So-hee starrer ‘Gyeongseong Creature’ premiered on December 22. The series received mixed reviews and even saw some criticism but the data from the OTT platform says otherwise. The drama secured one of the top spots in the weekly list of most-watch TV shows (non-English). Just within a few days of its release, the first season fetched 3 million views and accumulated 24 million viewing hours. After seven episodes were released in the first season, the second part will air on January 5 with three episodes.

Earlier in December, the remaining members of BTS, Jungkook, Jimin, RM and V, enlisted for the mandatory military training. Weeks later the first official photos of RM and V made their way to social media. Both the idols donned the uniform and had serious looks about them. RM and V enlisted together and are expected to wrap up their training by 2025. BTS is expected to reunite in the same year.