Leessang‘s Gary took home his second Christmas win on the Christmas special episode of SBS‘s ‘Running Man‘.

The episode divided the members into teams to complete a variety of missions at ski resorts and swimming pools. The final mission was a game where the members attempted to ‘kick out’ the opposing team in snow ball fight fashion.

Gary managed to take out six members on his own, leading the red team to a final victory. As he had also won on last year’s Christmas special, the producers dubbed him ‘The Man of Christmas’.

Viewers commented, “Gary Christmas daebak”, “Gary is truly the man of Christmas”, and “Looks like Gary was meant for Christmas specials”.

Photographer Jo Se Hyun guested on the December 24th episode of MBC‘s ‘Happy Day‘ and praised Girls’ Generation‘s Tiffany for her positive personality.

Reporters visited the scene of the photographer’s photo exhibit, ‘The 10th Letters from Angels‘, for the release of his new pictorial on raising awareness for adoptees and single mothers.

The photographer commented, “If we combined all of the fees that the celebrity models should have been paid for for their participation, it would amount in the billions of won (7 figures in USD). If it were not for their support, I don’t believe that the stereotype on adoption would’ve changed this quickly. A while ago, Kwon Sang Woo had a photoshoot with a child that had surgery for a heart disease, and he was very upset for him.”

He continued, “During Tiffany’s photoshoot, the child accidentally urinated on her. (Instead of getting distraught), Tiffany said, ‘Children’s urine is like medicine for the skin. It’s good for you.’ I realized then that Tiffany did not have just a pretty face but a beautiful heart as well. It really made me see her in a new light.”

DJ DOC‘s Kim Chang Ryul and artists under his entertainment company ENT102 will be opening a charity street stand for the needy on December 26th.

Scheduled to be located in Shinchon, the one-day street-side food stand will be run by artists Han Min Kwan, WE, Flash Boys, Wonder Boyz, and Kim Chang Ryul. The artists will cook and serve the food themselves for each of their customers, as well as hold special events like Han Min Kwan’s auction of personal items, Kim Chang Ryul’s ‘rollerskating dance time’, and Kim Mi Kyung‘s special lecture.

Several stars and sports athletes close to the artists donated their personal items to be auctioned off to help the cause.

Kim Chang Ryul stated, “I will be waiting for everyone to join us in making the year-end a warm and special time of year for the needy.”

Source + Photos: Sports World via Nate

The debut of Pledis Entertainment’s 17-membered boy group SEVENTEEN made headlines last year when they were first announced.

Interest in the group was heightened with the release of a teaser spot on the company’s official YouTube channel on December 17th, and anticipation for the group is only growing bigger with the subsequent releases of more promotional teasers.

Pledis Entertainment representatives told allkpop, “We opened up SEVENTEEN TV as a unique marketing approach to presenting the country’s biggest idol group ever. Through the show, fans will be able to see the training process and the day-to-day activities of the members through a CCTV installed in their rehearsal room for live streaming on USTREAM. Everything about SEVENTEEN’s production process leading up to their debut is available for viewing.”

Netizens have taken a positive view to the unique approach the company is taking, leaving comments like, “Is a 17 member group really making a debut? Daebak!” and “I’ve always been curious about what happened inside the training room of an entertainment company.”

A special Christmas event will air live on USTREAM at 6:00PMKST on December 24th on the group’s USTREAM channel here.

Catch up with their teaser releases thus far if you haven’t already!

Tip: pledislovers

Hit production team Duble Sidekick has led a busy year thus far, but is looking to close the year with another bang with the unveiling of a new project.

As the producers behind hits like SISTAR‘s “Loving You“, MBLAQ‘s “It’s War“, Miryo‘s “Dirty“, and more, as well as the winners of the ‘2012 Melon Music Awards‘ singer-songwriter award, there’s no questioning the mark they’ve made in the music industry thus far. They’re looking to take things a step further by producing their own rookie artist under their own label, ‘Duble Kick Entertainment‘.

Originally comprised of two members, the production team has expanded their name to a total of nine composers. They stated, “By going corporate, we decided to become a professional team. We’ll be prioritizing our project album first before we begin discovering new talents for our rookie team.”

The team of composers aim to focus their attention away from just the production of music and into a variety of other areas. Park Jang Geun explained, “We’re not going to be making just music anymore, but focusing on things like concepts, choreography, and music videos.”

Source + Photos: Star News via Nate

Singer Kim Bo Kyung is the third up in the KBS 2TV‘s ‘School 2013‘ OST release!

On December 24th, Kim Bo Kyung released “Don’t Think You’re Alone” through various digital music sites. The singer is well-known as an OST hit maker, having participated in dramas like ‘City Hunter‘, ‘Arang and the Magistrate‘, and ‘Queen of Reversal‘.

Through the song, Kim Bo Kyung aims to sing about the grim reality that students must battle every day in school while consoling them with supportive lyrics like, “No matter what situation you’re put in, never forget your dreams.”

A representative commented, “The song has detailed lyrics, deep string sounds and the best session performance, making it a perfect song all around. The song will definitely be a source of strength for ‘School 2013′.”

The song is the co-production of Group DN and music director Kang Dong Yoon, both of whom are known for their hits on dramas like ‘Bad Guy‘, ‘Secret Garden‘, ‘The Bridal Mask‘, and ‘Dream High‘.

Check it out below!

On December 24th, miss A‘s Suzy was victim to an unfortunate incident where a netizen sexually harassed her on Twitter.

The netizen had sent her a mention with a graphic picture of himself using a promotional picture board of Suzy to engage in a sexual activity. JYP Entertainment officials stepped up by announcing that they would be reporting the case to the appropriate authorities.

Officials announced, “Recently, a picture of a netizen indirectly sexually harassing Suzy quickly made its way around the internet. As Suzy is still a minor and a high school student, we’ve decided that the situation was grave enough to involve the authorities. We have reported the picture to the Cyber Terror Response Center for further investigation.”

The Twitter account of the netizen in question has currently been deleted.

Source + Photos: Donga Ilbo via Naver

Just as they were gearing up for their comeback, GLAM has some unfortunate news for their fans. Member Trinity has revealed that she has left the group.

According to industry officials, Trinity left for personal circumstances. Her departure had been in discussion since the end of the group’s debut promotions with “Party (XXO)“, and the decision was recently finalized.

GLAM will be moving forward with their comeback at the end of the month as planned, having previously revealed the teasers of Dahee and Miso.

Stay tuned for more updates.

Source + Photos: OSEN

Vocal group 4men has demonstrated their ticketing power once again by selling out nine consecutive concerts in a row!

Starting December 21st, the group launched their nine day Christmas concert titled ‘2012 Last Concert Year-End Wrap-Up’ at the Merry Hall in Seokang University. Tickets opened for sale on the 10th and all nine concert dates were sold out a week before the concerts began.

Considering that there are dozens of other year-end concerts going on at the moment, the achievement is all that more dear to them.

Representatives of their agency told allkpop, “We’re receiving a lot of requests from fans asking if we can add more seats. We’re really thankful for all of the love and support. 4men and the staff have done all they can to prepare the concert and we feel that fans will be pleasantly surprised with what’s coming.”

Fans will be able to enjoy surprise stages, hit song performances, and a chance to reflect on the year together with their favorite artist.

In related news, the group is also looking forward to their new album release next month.

TVXQ‘s Changmin will be partnering up with MC Kang Ho Dong for a new KBS variety show!

The variety show will mark Kang Ho Dong’s official comeback to KBS as well as Changmin’s first experience as a fixed MC. Since his debut with TVXQ nine years ago, Changmin has maintained his focus as a singer until now.

That’s all about to change with the New Year, as it’s been revealed by a KBS PD that the two are working on a new show slated to be released mid-January. SM Entertainment confirmed on the morning of December 24th, “Changmin will be joining Kang Ho Dong’s KBS variety show.”

The content of the show, however, will be kept in top secrecy. “Even within our company, only a portion of the staff now. We’re keeping the entire thing under wraps.”

Although this will be his first variety outing, he’s well known among the SM crowd for being the wittiest out of all of the artists. Check back for more updates!

Source + Photos: SPN via Nate

B.A.P has been expanding their music audience all year long, and it seems their efforts have not been in vain, as the boys were recently chosen as the ‘Song of the Year’ in Germany’s ‘Remarkable Awards 2012‘.

In its third annual year, the German Korean Entertainment Awards is an awards ceremony held over the period of three days through the participation of German fans. B.A.P took home the ‘Best New Male Artist’ as well as the ‘Song of the Year’ award with “No Mercy” beating out strong contenders like Big Bang‘s “Fantastic Baby” and Psy‘s “Gangnam Style“.

The same award was won by SHINee‘s “Lucifer” in 2010 and B2ST‘s “Fiction” in 2011.

“No Mercy” itself has a remarkable number of achievements, having charted first on the German Asian Music Chart for two months in August and September. It remained in the top 10 at ninth on the November chart.

B.A.P is finished the year strong after coming away with several rookie awards, five total thus far including ‘2012 SBS MTV Best of the Best’, ‘2012 Super Rookie Award‘, ‘Melon Music Awards‘, ‘So-Loved Awards‘, and finally the ‘Remarkable Awards 2012′.

Girls’ Generation has announced that they’ll be holding their first comeback performance through a comeback show on January 1st!

On January 1st, MBC will be airing ‘MBC’s New Year Special: Girls’ Generation’s Romantic Fantasy‘ where the ladies will be performing their fourth album title track “I Got a Boy” and “Dancing Queen” as well as a number of other new songs and performances for the very first time.

Hundreds of fans had already gathered to see the girls pre-record the show on December 23rd.

Check back with allkpop for the show’s broadcast at 11:15 p.m. KST!

On December 24th, SPEED finally unveiled all seven members with a new image teaser and a music video teaser for their title track, “It’s Over“.

Comprised of members Taewoon, Jungwoo, Yoohwan, Taeha, Sejoon, Jongguk, and Sungmin, SPEED opened up their official YouTube channel where they’ll be sharing LED performance productions, behind-the-scenes footage of their music video set, and more.

Along with the teaser, fans will find a special Christmas greeting from the music video’s stars and director Park Bo Young, Ji Chang Wook, Ha Suk Jin, and Son Na Eun, to be released soon.

SPEED’s music videos for “Sad Promise” and “It’s Over” are slated for release on January 7th next year and are already a hot topic online for the vast amount of money being invested into the project.

Check out the clips below!

Lip Version teaser

Christmas Greeting

On December 22nd, 2PM performed for a packed crowd of 8,000 at the Venetian Cotai Arena, setting Macau ablaze with their popularity!

The boys captivated Macau upon arrival on the 21st where they were greeted by hundreds of fans upon arrival at the airport. In the afternoon, they met with 300 lucky fans chosen through a lottery for a high touch event followed by a press conference attended by 100 different local media outlets competing for an answer from the boys as they talked about their determination and anticipations.

The excitement vibrated from the scene, where thousands of fans were seen waiting inside and outside the high touch event and concert hall. Fans had begun waiting since the early morning, surprising local officials with the popularity of the group.

As seen above, the concert kicked off to loud cheers from the audience, and the cheers only grew louder as the live performances went on. Colorful placards held up by fans from Korea, Japan, Thailand, and more were seen in the audience.

As it was held before Christmas, Nichkhun performed a special Christmas carol for the fans, singing a part of it in Cantonese. Check out his Cantonese skills below:

The members also prepared a surprise birthday for member Taecyeon‘s birthday, giving him the opportunity to spend it with 8,000 fans. For the encore, the members passed out presents to the audience.

It goes without saying that 2PM impressed the locals and officials, with many calling it the best concert in Macau of 2012.

2PM stated, “We’d like to thank our fans in Macau for giving us such a great gift of love before the 2012 Christmas holiday. With Macau as our last stop, we’ll be concluding our 2012 concert tour to prepare for our 2013 tour in Singapore, Guangzhou, the Philippines, and Thailand. We ask for your interest and support.”

2PM will be continuing their individual activities upon their return to Korea on the morning of the 23rd.

On December 22nd, former ‘Birth of a Great Star‘ contestant Roh Ji Hoon guested on MBC‘s ‘Quiz That Changes the World‘ and confessed to having gone on a date with a girl group member to an amusement park.

The soloist was asked to share an ‘unforgettable Christmas memory’, to which he revealed, “I sent her a random text because I wanted to spend Christmas with someone, but she actually agreed to the date.”

When asked by MC Hyun Young if there was any skinship involved, he replied, “There was some skinship when we were on rides because she’d get nervous and slightly lean on me.”

Roh Ji Hoon kept her name under wraps, however, reasoning, “Unfortunately, we never ended up dating. I don’t see her at all presently.”

Netizens commented, “I wonder who it is”, “Must’ve definitely been an unforgettable Christmas”, and “Is Roh Ji Hoon spending Christmas alone this year then?”

On December 21st, J.Y. Park heated up Busan with ‘Bad Jazz Bar‘ concert, which attracted 3,000 fans.

Amidst a string of hit performances by the singer and producer, a stage of particular interest was a 19+ rated  fan service where he invited one female fan up to the stage and laid her down on a sofa for an unforgettable performance, truly demonstrating that the concert was indeed ‘bad’.

His concert concluded with performances of “Don’t Leave Me“, “She was Pretty“, and “Honey“. He stated, “I’m happy to be able to spend the year-end with my amazing Busan fans. Thank you for your love.”

The ‘Bad Jazz Bar’ concert will continue to Daegu, Incheon, and Seoul throughout the month.

Source + Photos: Mydaily via Nate

2PM‘s Jun.K and AOA‘s Hyejeong‘s romantic skinship on tvN’s ‘The Romantic & Idol‘ has caught the attention of viewers.

On the seventh episode scheduled to broadcast on December 23rd, Jun.K and Hyejeong surprised producers with their ease of skinship involving whispers, linking arms, laying on each other’s arms at the beach, and putting on the seat belt for each other – all skinship that would normally be performed by a real couple.

The episode also saw the couples express their confusion over their real feelings as they find themselves being drawn to their partners more and more. The members were asked to speak the truth for three minutes in a special ‘Midnight – The Room of Truth’ corner before they go on a final date to choose their ultimate partners.

Check it out when it airs on the afternoon of the 23rd!

Source + Photos: Star News via Nate

Big Bang has captivated 50,000 fans at their Fukuoka concert!

On December 22nd, the boys performed at the FUKUOKA Yahoo! Japan Dome for their world tour, ‘Big Bang Alive Tour 2012 in Japan Final in Dome‘, which was attended by 50,000 fans. The dome tour was in response to the millions of requests made by fans that had missed their world tour earlier this year.

Big Bang performed hit tracks like “Lies“, “Tonight“, and “Fantastic Baby” in addition to their original Japanese releases like “Koe wo Kikasete” and “Feeling“. For their encore, the members came out dressed in Santa outfits and danced the world famous ‘horse dance’ from Psy‘s “Gangnam Style“.

Thus far, the tour has managed to garner a grand total of 800,000 fans and counting, since the tour in Japan will continue through January 12th and 13th at the Osaka Kyocera Dome before finally holding its grand finale in Seoul on the 25th through 27th.

Actor Kim Min Joon surprised fans on December 20th when he tweeted about retiring his acting career, but fans can rest assured, as it seems he won’t be completely leaving the entertainment industry.

Kim Min Joon had originally tweeted, “I’ll be halting my acting activities until I have a reason to act again. I’ve been deliberating over this for the past few months, no, years now, and finally made the decision today. I’m just worried that people will misunderstand my decision to be connected to the election in any way.”

One Way Entertainment, however, commented, “He won’t be retiring. His expression was a bit of an exaggerated way of saying he needs a break. He’s completed a lot of projects over the past two years and he’s wanted to go on break for a while. After voting, he met up with the company yesterday and mentioned his need for rest, which the company accepted.”

His ambiguous tweet had originally led to speculations over whether he was going on hiatus to get married to his girlfriend, SBS journalist Ahn Hyun Mo. Regarding the rumors, representatives stated, “We’ll tell you first hand of such good news. His decision to take a break was not based on any plans for marriage. They are still very much in love.”

Gagman Jung Hyung Don has revealed that wife and scriptwriter Han Yura is an avid fan of Song Joong Ki.

Girl’s Day‘s Minah guested on the December 19th episode of MBC Every1‘s ‘Weekly Idol‘ where she revealed that her ideal man was Song Joong Ki. In response, Jung Hyung Don stated, “I know Song Joong Ki’s personal phone number”, and excited the girls by offering to call him for them.

Upon Song Joong Ki actually answering the call, Jung Hyung Don began by apologizing, “I’m sorry for calling you out of the blue like this. Girl’s Day wanted to hear your voice.” Song Joong Ki mannerly responded, “Hyungnim, it’s no problem at all. It’s fine.”

Jung Hyung Don put the studio in a fit of laughter by saying back, “My wife is absolutely crazy for Song Joong Ki as well, which makes marriage life hard for me.” The actor thoughtfully responded with a laugh, “Let’s grab some drinks soon.”