2PM SITE

Jay Park, Art of Movement, Johnnyphlo, Decipher & more to perform at Rutgers University!

2010-03-29T18:12:00.000-07:00

Yes, you’ve read correctly: Jay Park’s making his very first public appearance in New Jersey with allkpop! In collaboration with the Korean Students Association of Rutgers University, allkpop brings you Rutgers’ largest annual Korean-American Production, projectKOREA III: A KSA Cinderella Story.

The action-packed event will feature opening performances by artists from Muzo Entertainment, including Johnnyphlo and Decipher, the Kollaboration 10 winner Clara Chung and special performances by Art of Movement’s Cha Cha, Dialtone, Junior and – last, but certainly not least - Jay Park.

projectKOREA III: A KSA Cinderella Story

Join the Korean Students Association as we venture through a “different Korea.” Based on the hit Korean drama “궁” (Goong, aka Princess Hours), this timeless musical explores a hypothetical Korea where the royal family still flourishes. You will laugh, cry, and be amazed by all the acting, dancing and singing as we portray this “different Korea”, helping us realize the importance of embracing one’s heritage.

Date: Saturday, April 3, 2010
Time: 6:30pm – 10:00pm
Location: Nicholas Music Center, Douglas Campus
City/Town: New Brunswick, New Jersey

TICKET PRICE:

Pre-sale
$20 Rutgers Students
$25 Non-Rutgers Students

At the Door:
$25 Rutgers Students
$30 Non-Rutgers Students

The event is already receiving undivided attention from the public as it will mark Jay’s first major public appearance apart from 2PM.

The tickets are sure to sell out fast so be sure to purchase yours soon.

Taecyeon’s funny incident while preparing for Cinderella’s Sister

2010-03-29T18:11:00.000-07:00

Like the character we have seen of him through variety programs and reality shows, 2PM’s Taecyeon can be quite the goofball. Sure enough, he has had a few silly moments during preparations for the drama Cinderella Sister, wherein he will make his acting debut.

Recently, actor Seo Woo shared an anecdote of fellow acting-mate Taecyeon on KBS 2TV’s Entertainment Tonight. He stated, “It was our first day of practicing our scripts. Taecyeon didn’t realize that his pants zipper was down and loudly said his greetings.”

Actor Chun Jung Myung added, “At that time, the teachers/seniors got a lot of laughs because of that.” I’m sure they weren’t the only ones enjoying the moment.

As we all used to say when we were little kids… “XYZ,” Taecyeon!

Keep on the lookout as Cinderella’s Sister will air on March 31st!

Jay Park asks fans to pray for victims of naval ship tragedy

2010-03-29T18:00:00.000-07:00

After Jay Park / Park Jaebeom posted a music cover, a 2PM support message and a message to fans on Youtube, it seems like the ex-idol is using his Youtube account as a form of direct communication to the online public sphere and his fans.

As you should know by now, the naval patrol ship Cheonan sank in the vicinity of Baekryeong Island off the west coast of the Korean peninsula on Friday evening (KST), taking 104 crew members under the waters with it. The defense ministry stated that the patrol ship broke in two after the explosion occurred. It’s commonly speculated that some of the soldiers that are still missing may have been trapped inside as the ship sunk.

Although fifty-eight individuals have been rescued, the tragedy has shaken up Korea, dominating headlines and clutching the attention of people worldwide. Jay Park for one has posted a message on his Youtube account:

Lets pray for the fallen soldiers and sailors.
My heart goes out to their families.

여러분힘내새요. [Translation: Everybody stay strong.]

박재범 [Park Jaebeom]
AOM

According to a report by the Associated Press, a coast guard official stated that people can survive winter waters if they are rescued within a two hour time frame. Colonel Park Sung Woo, a spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, revealed during a press briefing that thirteen of the rescued have been hospitalized for injuries, with two suffering cerebral hemorrhages. However, the conditions aren’t life-threatening. “Our military will keep searching for missing sailors and we will determine the exact reason for the sinking after the ship is brought to the surface and examined,” he stated.

Initially, it was feared that North Korea played a hand in the sinking; however, officials later stated that the North hasn’t made any unordinary movements recently, and are doubtful that North Korea attacked. It was also stated that it may take days or even weeks to determine precisely what occurred on the patrol ship that led to the sinking.

Nichkhun confirmed to appear on We Got Married!

2010-03-29T17:58:00.000-07:00

It looks like the rumors that have been circulating about the possibility of Nickhun’s appearance on MBC reality program We Got Married are true as he has been confirmed to partake in the coming episode–as the Adam Couple’s English teacher!

On an episode set to air on the 27th, 2PM’s “Thai Prince” was invited to Jo Kwon and Ga-In’s apartment to help them learn English.

From the moment the broadcasting began, Ga-In could not take her eyes off Nichkhun, arousing unprecedented jealousy from her make-believe husband Jo Kwon. However, it’s no surprise that Ga-In was captivated by him. He’s not called the “Korea’s Wink King” for nothing, you know.

Testifying to his appointed title as “Angel Khun” (why does this guy have so many nichknames nicknames?), Nichkhun displayed a perfect demeanor throughout the show. Even as Jo Kwon and Ga-In were cooking samgyubsal (fatty slices of pork belly meat), Nichkhun’s favorite Korean dish, the guest himself actively helped Ga-In during the preparation.

As always, Jo Kwon and Ga-In’s interaction on We Got Married should be incredibly entertaining to watch. Let’s hope Nichkhun can do something about Ga-In’s fail English.

The episode will air on the 27th

Fan-created album for Jaebeom cancels release

2010-03-29T17:55:00.000-07:00

Initially planned for a release on the 26th, self-created album dedicated solely on Jaebeom has now been canceled indefinitely.

As reported, the album, For_Jay, With All My Heart, has already caught the eyes of the man himself – Jay even left a thoughtful comment to express his gratitude toward the fans through his Youtube channel.

On the 25th, the head of the community announced,

“The fan-created album production has been canceled. All the donations collected for the production will be donated to charity.”

The production was canceled due to the sticky situation Jaebeom is in at the moment in regards to his relation to the rest of 2PM members.

People who still favor the remaining members of 2PM felt concerned toward the album release, for it might spark yet another battle between the fans.

To look on the positive side, the original intention of creating the album as a gift to Jaebeom has been fulfilled. Although quite disappointing, we wish the best of luck to every contributors of the production

2PM’s Taecyeon is a master of push-ups

2010-03-29T17:49:00.000-07:00

2PM’s Taecyeon blew Chun Jung Myung away with his push-up skills.

On tonight’s episode of Happy Together 3, the four main actors from Cinderella’s Sister came on as guests to promote their upcoming drama.

Chun Jung Myung talked about his army days and how they made you do 72 push-ups in two minutes. He then showed off 50 push-ups in 30 seconds and wowed the small crowd of MC’s, guests and staff of Happy Together.

They then asked Taecyeon to try it out as well. He completed 50 push-ups in just 26 seconds. Poor Chun Jung Myung. We all know guys hate losing in things like this.

Chun Jung Myung joked, “He didn’t stretch his arms all the way! My average is 72 but I did 90 before.”

Taecyeon is truly a beast

Jaebeom thanks his fans

2010-03-25T23:54:00.002-07:00

As you guys know, 2PM’s ex-leader Jaebeom (Jay Park) uploaded a video through his YouTube account, created in February, for the first time with his cover of B.o.B’s Nothin on You. Recently, Jaebeom’s fans have even created an album dedicated to him, which began as a project back in January for a group of musically talented fans.

Well today, Jaebeom wrote a thank you message for his fans through his YouTube channel. It read:

I heard the songs. ke ke. Why are you guys better than me in singing/ rapping. ke ke. Now I’m embarrased to upload a video…ㅠㅠ keke

노래들었어요 ㅋㅋ 저보다 노래/랩 잘하시면어떻게요ㅋㅋ 영상또올리기부끄럽게…ㅠㅠ ㅋㅋ

Jaebeom also told his fans to look out for his future video uploads as he commented:

i’ll try to put up a couple more videos with in a couple days so look out for that
love and respect
peace

Well, you heard the man. Stay tuned to his future video uploads in YouTube!

Park Myung Soo does 2PM’s Heartbeat

2010-03-25T23:54:00.001-07:00

Yet another hilarious parody by comedian, Park Myung Soo.

On the most recent episode of KBS Happy Together Season 3, he parodied 2PM’s Heartbeat, bringing in much attention.

He did this for the cast of the upcoming drama, Cinderella’s Sister who were on the show and included 2PM member Taecyeon.

Park Myung Soo imitated Nichkhun and caused a swarm of laughter in the studio. His dance and clothing was perfect(?), but despite his efforts, was still lacking in some aspects. He also shocked everyone by ripping off his clothes, and showed fake, drawn abs to the camera. Yoo Jae Suk, then said to the guests, “I’m sorry.”

Well done PMS, you just made my day(and ruined someone elses)!

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Moon Geun Young and Taecyeon banned from drinking

2010-03-25T23:51:00.000-07:00

Why is actor Moon Geun Young prohibited from drinking?

It is due to her health. She was diagnosed with Hepatitis A in early March, and her immunity level had dropped. The doctor strictly told her to stay away from alcohol.

The problem is, on the first episode of Cinderella’s Sister, the nation’s sister might have to drink actual rice wine on a scene to make her acting more realistic. The thought of using real wine was however discarded, due to her doctor’s disapproval.

2PM’s Taecyeon (also part of the cast in the upcoming drama) was told to stay away from alcohol as well, which is pretty ironic, because he is part of a beer commercial.

Hmm… What could be the reason for Taecyeon not being able to drink?

The drama airs from March 31st.

Fans release self-created album dedicated to Jaebeom

2010-03-25T23:45:00.002-07:00

Professional artists aren’t the only ones capable of releasing fine art music; mighty fans are too. The album titled For-Jay, produced / written / composed / sung by fans of Jaebeom, was officially released through websites where k-pop music is sold.

The project to create such an album began back in January when a netizen opened up a cafe to recruit musically talented fans. These hardcore fans then self-created all the consisting tracks and even the teaser videos by hand.

The tracks include, For You (너에게), One Step at A Time (한걸음씩), and With All My Heart.

The head of the community revealed, “This album has nothing to do with the ongoing boycotts. It is our last gift to Park Jaebeom. All the incoming profits made through the sales will go directly to charity under Jay’s name.”

New posters for CASS with 2PM’s Nichkhun, Taecyeon and Yoon Eun Hye

2010-03-25T23:45:00.001-07:00

Last month, the CF drama for CASS Beer involving 2PM’s Nichkhun and Taecyeon along with actress Yoon Eun Hye was released. Over a month later, new promotional posters of the three have been revealed.

Although the music drama had quite a serious tone among the three, these posters show a more light hearted side to them as they smile broadly. A total of four photos were released: a group shot and then individual shots of each person holding a CASS Beer can.

Taecyeon trying to adapt quickly to variety and drama

2010-03-25T23:29:00.000-07:00

We have been bombarded almost daily with pictures and teasers for Cinderella’s Sister ever since it begun it’s promotion blitz and the drama still hasn’t aired!

On March 24th, a press conference was held at the Imperial Palace Hotel where the four main leads for the drama, Moon Geun Young, Chun Jung Myung, Seo Woo and Taecyeon appeared before the media.

The drama is loosely based on the classic fairy tale of Cinderella, and takes on a slightly different interpretation with an evil twist, showing viewers the perspective of Cinderella’s sister played by Moon Geun Young.

During his interview, Taecyeon admitted that he had some difficulty in acting since it was his drama debut. He has become an all-rounder in recent times, singing with 2PM, being a host on Inkigayo, doing a variety show (Family Outing 2) and now acting.

“It’s difficult to do a variety show and act at the same time.

On one hand, it’s a very tiring but fun time doing Family Outing. But I have to switch to a more solemn mood when I begin filming my drama scenes. It’s confusing having to switch but I am doing my best to adapt.”

He continued,

“I asked Sang Hyun hyung for acting tips and it did helped. I love taking on challenges so I didn’t want to miss this drama opportunity when it came up.”

Cinderella’s Sister will air from March 31st, replacing Chuno.

2PM mentioned during recent bboy competition with Jaebeom

2010-03-23T07:29:00.001-07:00

The last we’ve heard of the famed Jaebeom/Jay Park was just a week ago when he posted a cover of B.O.B.’s Nothin’ On You on Youtube. Now a week later, he returns to Youtube with the Seattle-based dance crew Art of Movement.

Recently, Jay, Dial Tone, and ChaCha of Art of Movment (AOM) headed up to Canada for yet another B-boy competition. The following was posted on their official Facebook fan page just yesterday.

Dial Tone, Jay, and ChaCha are headed to Canada today for ‘Battle for T.N.G.”, a 3 on 3 B-boy competition! Let’s hope they go for the win! They’ve been training everyday! =)

In the videos, the announcer of the competition clearly references Jay and his former group 2PM. He even teases ChaCha, questioning, “He’s from 2PM too?! I didn’t know that! I’m just kidding man!” Among all of AOM’s b-boy videos, this has been the first time 2PM has been publicly mentioned to the whole audience. This may be due to the fact that Jay has been released from his contract with JYP Entertainment. In other words, if Jay was still with JYPE, then this video (which clearly references Jay to 2PM) would probably not have been uploaded because of confidentiality issues with the company.

If you still can’t recognize Jay, shame on you but I’m sure the screaming fangirls are a dead giveaway. We wish the best of luck to Jay and Art of Movement and… maybe we’ll see them on America’s Best Dance Crew next season? Let’s hope so!

Jay Park to return with new record?!

2010-03-23T07:28:00.001-07:00

First a Youtube cover and now an official musical return? It looks like Jaebeom / Jay Park’s return to the limelight (not that he was ever out of it, truthfully) is picking up momentum!

Recently, music producer & songwriter Einztein posted a few messages on his Twitter that’ll get fans anywhere & everywhere curious…

We… don’t know much about Einztein aside from the fact that he’s been been producing music for a few years under print label Einzteinz Laboratory, which he aptly references as the “e-lab.” He’s also known as the protégé of Fingazz, a record producer who’s known for producing music for various Chicano rap artists. Einztein has cited Dr Dre, Timbaland, Pharrell, Ryan Leslie, Michael Jackson & others as his influences. So in short, this guy doesn’t seem to be a big-name producer right now, but he’s got some beats worth listening to…

There have been rumors circulating that Jay recently visited Los Angeles for talks about a possible role in upcoming film Hype Nation. Because Einztein’s also located in Indio, California (about two hours east of LA), some now suspect that he was in the area to meet with Einztein.

Considering the fact that Jay himself has yet to give official word about the existence of this track & collaborative work with Einztein, we suggest taking this with a grain of salt. But who knows? Maybe Jay will be back sooner than we all thought! Stay tuned to allkpop as we further explore this matter.

Jaebeom participating in America’s Best Dance Crew?

2010-03-23T07:23:00.000-07:00

We’ve been notified at 2PM’s fan conference that Jaebeom might be entering America’s Best Dance Crew. It seems like the rumors might turn into reality soon.

Jaebeom’s b-boy group Art of Movement (AOM) has shown their talent in dancing through competitions that have been captured & spread via videos on Youtube. They have been ranked 4th in the local b-boy competition in Seattle, and are definitely one of the spotlight groups around the area. Many expect this group to audition for ABDC.

Jaebeom has been using his American name Jay after breaking away from 2PM. However, there is a possibility that he would be using his Korean name, in honor of the fans that helped him through his troubles.

It is not official as of yet, but I doubt that the group would back up on this opportunity. Stay tuned on allkpop as we will be on top of this matter.

DMW Media speaks up about Jaebeom’s potential in U.S. market

2010-03-23T07:22:00.001-07:00

2PM’s former leader Jaebeom, otherwise known as Jay Park of Art of Movement (AOM), has made quite an impact to the K-pop scene through a single clip of video he posted via Youtube. Although, to a passerby, it may seem no different than any other covers around, Jaebeom’s Nothin’ on You received titles as the Most Subscribed of the Month (now at #2), Most Viewed Video of the Week and more, after five days of its emergence on Youtube.

Of course, there is no doubt that the video has caught the attention of media in U.S. as well. On March 18th, a prominent media source, Digital Media Wire (commonly known as DMW) featured Jay Park himself through an article entitled, “Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, MySpace and the Story of Jay Park (AKA Jaebeom Park).” As the title suggests, the article narrated the ups and downs that Jaebeom has gone through.

Through the entry, the author expressed,

“I think this is just the beginning for Jay Park. If any Asian artist can make the difficult “crossover” to the American music entertainment market, I think he could be the one. He already has a big international fan base, and he is living proof of the power of social media.”

Many fans probably couldn’t agree more with the author’s comments in regards to the potential and power Jaebeom has in the U.S. market. In fact, many netizens have already begun to form petitions to help Jaebeom make his debut in America (as they no longer want him to return as a 2PM member).

With all of the time that he’s been getting in the limelight, it wouldn’t be shocking to see Jaebeom on the American stage sometime in the future. With the hope of seeing him soon on stage rather than in his bathroom, we wish Jay Park the best of luck in his career.

Nichkhun wants you in Thailand for the Songkran festival

2010-03-23T07:16:00.000-07:00

2PM’s Nichkhun who is the current goodwill ambassador of Thailand, was present at a press conference at the Westin Chosun on March 21st to promote the Songkran festival.

The Songkran festival is celebrated in Thailand as the traditional New Year’s Day from April 13 to 15th and a national holiday.

Nichkhun helped to promote the festival to the media and invited people, as he donned traditional Thai clothes and introduced traditional dances, crafts, desserts, etc.

Nichkhun shows off his cooking skills

2010-03-23T07:14:00.000-07:00

It seems like compliments are all 2PM’s Nichkhun ever gets.

On another episode of Sunday Sunday Night’s Danbi, a continuation of the Philippines trip, Nichkhun showed off his hidden cooking skills. He made Goong-joong dduk-bok-i. This is a sweeter version of the famous Korean spicy rice cake plate.

He set up the fire, prepared the ingredients and even sampled the food to make sure it was just right. He really showed effort in his charity work during his stay with the staff of Danbi in the Philippines.

The third episode of Danbi in the Philippines will continue on the 21st.

2PM goes chic for Zo Sunhi & Calvin Klein shoot

2010-03-23T07:13:00.000-07:00

2PM has rocked a wide range of concepts, from a zombie look to wearing, well, practically nothing at all; internationally renowned photographer Zo Sunhi recently featured 2PM in a photoshoot for a chicly clean & sexy look.

Zo Sunhi, who collaborated with 2PM for her latest photobook simply titled THE BOOK, captures 2PM in three different concepts: modern, sexy and vintage.

“I planned this collaboration book to capture 2PM’s most beautiful moment which is between boys and men,” the photographer explained. “I want to record the youth which this era represents for with 2PM.”

She expressed much satisfaction with the results of the project, saying, “I’m really glad that [the] photos came out much better than expected.” Sunhi also thanked Calvin Klein Jeans for wardrobing the idols and transforming them with modern and sexy outfits that exuded the sophistication of real grown-up men.

Nothin’ on You defeats SNSD on Cyworld Chart thanks to Jaebeom

2010-03-23T07:08:00.000-07:00

It’s been said that whatever idols sing must turn to gold (or may I use the term ex-idols in this case…), and that theory has been proven once again this week! An underrated song sung by an American singer B.o.B titled Nothin’ On You has officially claimed the number one spot on Cyworld’s Daily Popularity Chart, thanks to the recent cover made by Jaebeom himself that swept Youtube by storm.

This chart is based on the sales rank of user-purchased tracks for the background music on their personal minihompys. Winning over the current newly-released tracks, including Run Devil Run by SNSD and I Did Wrong by 2AM, such accomplishment is notable, considering the fact that the song does not even belong to K-pop.

Meanwhile, the video at hand has reached over two million views in two days and is still getting a handful of comments by the minute.

What other songs does Jaebeom have in store for us next?

UPDATE: Looks like iTunes might also be affected by Jaebeom’s cover; B.o.B’s track has risen to #2 on Top Songs. Of course, we can’t absolutely attribute this to Jaebeom, but considering the fact that Nothin’ on You wasn’t there last week and that this track came out last November, it’s likely that this was the case. (And look, Ninja Assassin’s #1 on the Top Movies list!)

Taecyeon takes on Chun Jung Myung

2010-03-23T07:06:00.000-07:00

It’s been revealed that actor Chun Jung Myung and 2PM’s Taecyeon had a very fierce fight on the upcoming drama Cinderella’s Sister!

For those of you that don’t know, Chun Jung Myung plays Hong Ki-hoon, a guy that has been hurt before but hides it and uses coldness to stay sane. He doesn’t receive love so he gives no love. But then he meets Eunjo, played by Moon Geun Young and realizes what he’s been missing out on. Taecyeon plays Han Jungwoo, who loves Eunjo because she was the only woman that ever cooked a meal for him when he was younger.

So as you can see, these boys will both fight for Moon Geun Young throughout the whole drama. But in these photos, we see them fight quite physically. The two are the complete opposites on the drama. One’s a bad boy and the other is the sweet one. Let’s find out who will win starting on the 31st.

2PM’s latest Hanami CF

2010-03-23T07:02:00.000-07:00

Though their leader has seemingly moved on, 2PM reunited as seven members once more for a new CF for Thailand’s popular snack Hanami. As many of you can guess, this CF was obviously recorded prior to the announcement of Jaebeom’s departure from the group.

We can see the boys together again, showing off nothing but laughs and smiles as they play a quick game of hot potato with a bag of Hanami snacks around the pool.

Jaebeom says, “2PM fighting!”

2010-03-23T07:01:00.001-07:00

Soon after Jay Park / Jaebeom uploaded a video on Youtube featuring his own rendition of B.O.B’s Nothin’ on You, an immense number of people flooded the account’s profile page for more information on Jaebeom. In fact, Jay’s Youtube account already has nearly 20,000 subscribers after only three hours! He’s only got one video up, but it’s already received over 150,000 views and five thousand comments (and counting), undoubtedly making this one of today’s hottest kpop issues.

Many people, including Hottests and non-Hottests, are relieved to be able to see this popular figure seemingly healthy & relaxed in his video. Fans worldwide are also ecstatic about this new connection to Jay, since they can now directly post comments on his page and follow his Youtube account & actions (quite literally – you can even see his most recent sign-in time in the profile box. Creepy…).

Merely hours after Jay posted his cover on Youtube, he also added the following blurb to his profile page:

2pm 욕은안했으면좋겠어요 애들착하고 좋은애들이예요 오해안하셨으면좋겠습니다. ^ ㅠ ^
[English translation: It would be nice if you didn't cuss about 2pm. They're nice and good kids. I hope you don't misunderstand them. ^ ㅠ ^]
2pm fighting!
i dont want you guys to hate on 2pm on behalf of me cause i still love those guys and likewise. they’re still my homies. if you dont want to support them thats cool you know but i just want everyone to get along and move on and all do great things know what i’m sayin? =)

During the aftermath of the JYPE-Hottest conference that took place a few weeks ago, there were many so-called “insider” rumors going around that JYP Entertainment was going to force Jaebeom to tell fans to support 2PM. This is purely my personal opinion only, but it seems like Jaebeom’s supportive words are genuine, and that he is relatively comfortable with where he is right now. For those of you that have turned away from the rest of 2PM/1:59PM/6PM/what have you, have your opinions regarding the male group changed at all after Jay’s message or do you stand by your earlier opinions?

Nichkhun removed from the cast of Shining Diploma

2010-03-23T07:00:00.000-07:00

Last November, we announced that 2PM’s Thai Prince Nichkhun would be starring in an upcoming film titled Shining Diploma. However, possibly due to the recent turn of events that 2PM has been facing, it seems like Nichkhun’s role in the movie is no more.

Earlier today, Producer Lee Jung Ryong commented,

“Truthfully, we were going to crank in the production of the movie late last year, but because of investment problems, we didn’t even get to start … Lee Misook, the female lead in the movie, also has to fulfill filming for two different dramas so we will push back our production 2-3 months … We have received a termination notice from Nichkhun’s side. Right now, having Nichkhun star in the film would be a negative situation.”

Additionally, a JYP Entertainment official stated,

“We’ve decided that it wouldn’t be a good idea for Nichkhun to star in the movie. Originally, the movie was supposed to be filmed late last year and finish filming early this year, but the the filming was constantly delayed. From a certain point forward, Nichkhun’s participation in the movie would have been difficult because of his schedules with 2PM.”

It’s really too bad, especially since this was supposed to be Nichkhun’s debut on the big screen. I’m sure many fans were looking forward to his first movie. What are your thoughts?

Jaebeom featured in We Got Married?

2010-03-23T06:59:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, 2PM’s former leader Jaebeom posted a cover of the song Nothin’ on You on Youtube.

Within hours, his video received hundreds of thousands of views and less than a day later, he already has over 41,000 subscribers! He’s also the top video in number of favorites for the day. Anyway, another recent video of Jaebeom has been catching the attention of many fans as it shows footage of him on the hit show We Got Married as part of a new couple!

It seems as though Jaebeom came back to Korea without even the netizens knowing and filmed an episode of We Got Married. And since I know you fans are dying to see this episode, I won’t say anymore and let you just watch the clip.

Jaebeom posts cover of Nothing on You on Youtube!

2010-03-23T06:55:00.000-07:00

After months of drama, chaos and confusion whirling around 2PM’s former leader Park Jaebeom, it looks like the controversial character himself is finally stepping out into the public once more. Just a few minutes ago, Jaebeom (or rather, Jay Park) posted a video of himself on Youtube covering the B.o.B’s Nothin’ on You.

Jay also posted, “one of my favorite songs right now, of course its not better then the original but yeah check it out” in the video info area. But that’s not all – Jay also posted a self-written rap with some pretty great references. Is this a subliminal message to fans? I’ll leave that up to you to decide:

i get approached a lot being who i am
and i gotta lot girls wishing i’m there man checkit/
and if i’m wrong with ya i dont wanna be right
i gotcha gigglin like everydays a comedy night
i’m a correct answer never do you wrong/
and i trust yah even though you’ve be gone/
but dont blame for getting little jealous/
its just hard when your talking to them fellaz/
i got that “taylor” body girl you know that i gotcha/
you can call me new moon because i orbit around ya/
your my world my everything, the only thing between our face is just that spaghetti string/
i’m faithful wont pull a kobe bryant on you/
its a jungle wont be “lion” pull a “tiger” on you
even know the exact shade of your eyes
my hearts ice your number one like yuna kim/

i used to be a boy
that had many girls
all over the world
but they got nothing on you babe
its forever just you and me
for all of eternity/
i know your stressing but i’m confessing baby your the only girl i want
you can be my bestfriend we can play x-men
you can be just i can be cyclops
cause i dont wanna end up like everyone else
hurtin all alone all by myself
this is just something that i’ve never felt

On his Youtube profile page, Jay also posted an optimistic message:

일단팬여려분한테너무감사하다고말하고싶습니다. 우리가족, 친구, 크루 한테너무 잘해주시고 좋은일들많이하셔서너무감사합니다. 노래랑랩하는거보고싶을까봐 만들었습니다 youtube account 를. 그리고 다같이 웃고 같이 열심히하고 화이팅합시다. 안좋은말씀들은안해도됩니다 ^ㅠ^.

Wassup everyone i’d like to thank all the fans that have been so nice to me, my family, my crew, thank you so much for all your love and support , created this youtube account so i can post up videos of just covers and whatever and you guys could watch so yeah check it out. Also i try to make every negative situation into a postive situation. saying or doing negative things arnt the right way to go in my opinion so less all just love and respect each other =) God Bless

몬일을하던최선을다하겠습니다.

Jay park
AOM

Haters may hate, but they’ve got nothing on Jay!

2PM’s Taecyeon goes topless in Cinderella’s Sister

2010-03-23T06:53:00.000-07:00

2PM’s Taecyeon is known for showing off his amazing body from time to time. In the upcoming drama Cinderella’s Sister, Taecyeon will show off his masculinity, of course, with his shirt off once again to his adoring female fans.

Taecyeon plays an original baseball player named Jungwoo. He shows love for Eunjo, played by Moon Geun Young, who is the only person that fed him.

He takes off his shirt for a scene where he is practicing baseball. I wonder if it was done for the purpose of the scene or for more ratings.

When he showed off his six pack to the cast and crew of the drama, ~~the girls on staff fainted~~ people were impressed.

His body is more than impressive, don’t you think? The first episode airs on the 31st.

2PM holds OPPO event in Thailand

2010-03-15T21:03:00.000-07:00

Fresh after their Follow Your Soul music video for OPPO was released, male group 2PM touched based in Thailand to model and shoot a commercial for the mobile company. The young men also held a press conference and performed Follow Your Soul at Central World (CTW) for a fanmeeting.

At the press conference, 2PM revealed the various solo activities that were filling up each of the member’s schedules. “I’m going to star in a series,” Taecyeon revealed. “Junho and Wooyoung are participating in a few variety shows. We are all also preparing for an upcoming album.” Chansung continued, “I’ve been participating on variety programs. Junsu composes music at home.” Nichkhun added that he was preparing for the new album as well, and that the 2PM boys were preparing for an upcoming concert in Korea.

2PM’s Follow Your Soul MV released!

2010-03-15T21:02:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week, boy group 2PM teased their fans with the release of the MV teaser for their track Follow Your Soul. The song and MV are being used to promote the OPPO Mobile brand.

As expected, we follow the boys as they share very cute moments with a very lovely young lady. However, after the awesome dance breaks come to pass, so do the 6 members in the young woman’s life. Although the song ends on a rather sad note, the MV is still very awesome.

2PM’s Taecyeon thought Moon Geun Young was younger than him

2010-03-15T20:55:00.000-07:00

2PM’s Taecyeon and Moon Geun Young are working together for the upcoming drama KBS 2TV’s Cinderella’s Sister. In a recent interview with KBS 2TV’s Entertainment Relay, Taecyeon talked about his first impressions of Moon Geun Young.

Taecyeon said, “To be honest, I didn’t know Moon Geun Young was a nuna. People always call her the Nation’s Little Sister so I thought she was younger than me. I was shocked to find out otherwise. Now, she feels like a nuna because she’s always helping and leading me. I show a lot of aegyo as the maknae of the cast.”

Moon Geun Young commented that Taecyeon is very cute from her point of view.

I think they are making this out to be bigger than it is because she’s only a year older.

The drama airs its pilot on the 31st.

Who do you want to get a candy kiss from?

2010-03-15T20:52:00.000-07:00

In a recent poll on monkey3, the website asked, “Who do you want to get a candy kiss from on White Day?” White Day is a romantic holiday in Korea where the guy gives his girlfriend presents such as candy, etc.

The candy kiss is referring to the infamous kiss that Lee Byung Hun and Kim Tae Hee shared on IRIS where he passed a piece of candy with his mouth to her mouth.

Our world star Rain won 40% of the votes and came in 1st place. More than 1,000 people voted for this perfect man. Netizens reasoned, “He seems like a good kisser,” “His kiss scenes are just as good as Lee Byung Hun’s,” and “Thinking about Rain giving me a candy kiss makes my heart flutter.”

Second place went to TVXQ’s Micky Yoochun with 2PM’s Nichkhun and actor Jang Geun Suk tied in 3rd place. 4th place went to Big Bang’s G-Dragon with SHINee’s Minho rounding up the top 5. Who would you want to get a candy kiss from?

Taecyeon and Wooyoung reenact a fashion finale stage

2010-03-08T22:04:00.001-08:00

Unwavering to keep their position of duo-male MCs of SBS Inkigayo, Taecyeon and Wooyoung of 2PM have once again hosted the show today in a cheerful ambiance.

During a short transition between the stages, Sulli of f(x) revealed a couple of snapshots taken from an Andre Kim fashion show that featured herself as the lover of Choi Siwon. Bursting from jealousy, the two boys decided to reenact the scene themselves! They then put their foreheads together, a signature move for all Andre Kim’s fashion shows, and quickly pushed off each other with disgust.

I gotta admit, these two men would make great models!

2PM’s Junho returns to Dream Team 2

2010-03-08T21:58:00.000-08:00

Last month, we reported that 2PM’s Junho would return to Dream Team Season 2. Due to the Jaebeom controversy back in September, he took a hiatus from the show. Now, however, he is back as a fixed member of the show.

On the recently aired episode of KBS 2TV’s Dream Team 2, Junho returned as a participant on the show. During this episode, Danny Ahn (g.o.d.), Eunhyuk (Super Junior), Minho (Shinee), Junho (2PM), Lee Hongki (FT Island), and Sangchu (Mighty Mouth) went up against Chu Sung Hoon, Kim Dong Hyun, Yoo Woosung, Lee Sang Su, Bae Myung Ho, and Kang Kyung Ho of the UFC Martial Arts team.

Although this episode is his return is his first since he left, the latest Jaebeom controversy has already taken its toll on his participation in the show. Besides his introduction and some simple conversation, most of his parts were edited out. In addition, due to the fans’ mixed emotions and views on 2PM as of last week, many are wondering how things will turn out for Junho and the show.

2PM boycott gives advertisers a headache

2010-03-08T21:57:00.001-08:00

After fans found out Jaebeom would not be returning to 2PM, many fans decided to take action by boycotting against the 6-member group… again. This time, they are refusing to buy their music, the products they endorse, and to support them as a fan.

A “H” initial beverage company that was endorsed by 2PM wrote on their website the other day, “Our contract with 2PM ended on January 31st of 2010. We are thankful for your opinions. Because the contract ended on January 31st, their last promotion activity was the February 6th fanmeeting. Also, we have no desire to renew the contract.”

Many fans are saying that the controversy over Jaebeom was the cause of this effect. But an associate said, “After the February 6th event, many fans still thought we had a contract with 2PM. We wanted to clear up the confusion.”

He continued, “The fans that still thought we had a contract with 2PM kept calling and emailing us about their boycott. It was too much for us to handle. We needed to do something about it. We didn’t end the contract because of the fans’ boycott.”

The company is basically saying that they wanted to notify fans because those who were boycotting still thought 2PM was endorsing the product. This meant, the sales in the product would have dropped because of the boycotters who were confused about 2PM’s endorsement deal with the company and would restrain from buying the beverages. The company itself was trying to clear up the confusion just to make sure their sales wouldn’t drop.

Because they are still the models for a mobile phone company, food and drink products, a clothing brand, and much more, this will only be a glitch on 2PM’s collection of endorsement deals. However, do you think the Hottests’ boycott will eventually take a detrimental effect on 2PM’s current endorsements?

Hottests are enraged with Taecyeon declaring a “new beginning”

2010-03-08T21:56:00.000-08:00

The hot issue of Jaebeom’s permanent exit is still burning, however, it doesn’t seem like Taecyeon is helping to make the situation any better. Taecyeon has recently written a post to his fans to his individual fan-cafe (amazingly still up and running) about having a “new beginning”, supposedly a subtle message of his feelings in regards to the Jaebeom-controversy.

“It’s a new beginning. Shall we start it together?” Taecyeon clearly states in his post.

Many netizens – that is, the Hottests included – have put Taecyeon under fire with speculations suggesting that the purpose of such message was to officially declare a fresh new start for 2PM, without their former-leader, Jaebeom… almost as if he has now taken the position.

Nonetheless, JYPE has made their defense already through the press, by revealing,

“The fancafe where Taecyeon left his message at is actually one of the very few websites that has not closed down yet, as they continue to show their unwavering support for him. [Because of this,] Taecyeon wanted to show his gratitude to the fans by leaving this message.”

Hottests, to no surprise, do not seem to agree with JYPE:

“I now begin to question the true meaning behind the message.”
“All I can do is just sigh in frustration.”
“It scares me. How he can even think of it in that way?”

It sure does not seem like the dust will soon be settled with more and more controversies are being added to the scene. Will 2PM ever be the same again?

2PM tells Jaebeom to shut up?

2010-03-08T21:51:00.000-08:00

A recent clip of 2PM including Jaebeom has surfaced that has Korean Hottests boiling with anger.

The general interpretation that many Korean netizens have been making is that he is rudely interrupted by his fellow 2PM members. While Jaebeom starts talking in the beginning of the clip, he is cut off by, who netizens think might be, member Chansung who tells him, “Jaebeomah Dakchyuh” (“Jaebeom-ah shut up”) or “Nuhneun Dakchyuh” (“You shut up”). Following the comment, you can clearly see annoyance and frustration portrayed in Jaebeom’s face.

But of course we cannot jump to conclusions. Although many netizens have agreed that Jaebeom’s face expression was clearly a reaction of being told to “shut up,” we cannot be sure that the “shut up” comment is what was actually said, as the conversation is not crystal clear. Personally, I think it sounds more like Taecyeon or maybe even a staff member, since the other 2PM member afterward, who netizens think to be Chansung (although I’m pretty sure it’s Nichkhun), talks formally. Try watching the clip over and over and you might start hearing different interpretations of what was said. At first, I did hear “Dakchyuh” but that might have just been because I was listening for those words. After a few more plays, instead I started hearing “Nuh man jo shim ha ra go” (“You be careful”).

In addition, the clip that was uploaded was clearly not the only part filmed, as there are messy cuts in the beginning. The person who uploaded it seems to have cut the clip this way to spark anger or make it seem like Chansung or Taecyeon said, “Dakchyuh.” I’m not saying that those words weren’t spoken, but why else would the person cut the clip in that fashion during such a tumultuous time, highlighting a few seconds to make Jaebeom seem like the victim? The clip from the actual footage could’ve been taken well out of context, and the only way we should believe anything is when we see the whole footage that would explain the actual situation.

Also, we should keep in mind that, even if this clip wasn’t fanmade, this one incident would not represent the entire relationship between the members, and that there are arguments and fights that lead to temporary bitterness between even the best of friends. It’s been shown in the past that the 2PM members not only considered themselves best friends but brothers… and how many of you fight with your brothers and sisters a day?

The staff of Danbi calls Nichkhun an angel

2010-03-08T21:46:00.000-08:00

2PM’s Nichkhun finished filming for an episode of Danbi on Sunday Sunday Night in the Philippines. He is the first male guest to ever come on the show. On the show, he guest starred with Song Ji Hyo to do some volunteer work in Manila.

After recording the episode, the staff of Danbi complimented Nichkhun by calling him Angel Khun, one of his nicknames. Even though it was hot and humid in the Philippines, he didn’t look tired at all and did a lot of hands on work.

He really looked like he wanted to do the volunteer work which made the staff proud. Check out Nichkhun’s hard work on March 7th.

Transcript of JYPE’s conference about 2PM & Jaebeom – Pt 2

2010-03-08T21:44:00.002-08:00

Earlier this week, allkpop transcribed and translated the first 58 minutes of the February 27 conference that took place between JYP Entertainment and Hottest fan community representatives regarding Jaebeom’s contract termination. Due to the numerable versions that have been circulating the internet, we’ve recorded all details observed from an audio clip into our transcript in the hopes of giving our readers an uncut translation of the conference.

If you have any doubts about the accuracy & objectivity of this transcript and would like to judge the audio yourself, you can download the full audio file of the conference to follow the discussion and verify the transcript’s details however you’d like.

Again, the first segment of our transcript took up the first 58 minutes; part 2 is 67 minutes.

Q: Excuse me. May I add to my question?
Host: Is this a related question? Then we’ll move on after that.
Q: Junho said that Jaebeom did whatever he had done wrong repeatedly. It also appears that members, for example Junsu, heard about what happened for the first time. Then while Jaebeom was repeating what he had done, did the 7 members have any opportunity to try and correct him or anything?
Taecyeon: To repeat what I said before, we didn’t know. We didn’t know whether that mistake was happening or not, and we found out on January 3rd.
Q: No. It was clearly said that it was a repeated mistake.
Taecyeon: Please ask the question clearly. So you’re asking if it is a repeat offense, why couldn’t we control that? We merely know that it happened repeatedly, and we didn’t know of it happening while it was happening. We just heard on January 3rd that oh, he did this and he did it multiple times, not like we knew it when it as it was happening.
Host: Since we seem to be getting questions for the company as well, we’ll bring in representative Jung Wook of JYPE for questions as well. Please ask questions for the members and the company.
New Q: You said you heard from the company about Jaebeom? So you didn’t hear about it from him directly? Did Jaebeom tell you the story himself?
Junsu: When we heard about what Jaebeom had done, we heard it from the president (JYP) over the phone.
Q: (interrupts) Did Jaebeom tell the members?
Junsu: He did. We couldn’t meet him but he told us over the phone.
New Q: I have a question for the representative. After JYPE promised full and sincere answers to submitted question sheets, multiple fan communities that can be said to be representatives of the fandom sent in question sheets. They sent it in. You never answered those, and so what is the point of this conference when you won’t even answer question sheets? Also, what is the reason behind holding a conference regarding Jaebeom after decision has been made and he has been removed from the group?
Representative Jung Wook (Rep): First, to answer question about question sheets, I personally wrote the official statement. As you’ve read, the announcement was made in late February because of Jaebeom’s personal concerns and request. The time that our fans sent in the questions sheets was around February 12th, and we made the announcement about Jaebeom on the 25th. We couldn’t lie to our fans just 2, 3 weeks before making an announcement about him. That would be deceiving our fans. The company couldn’t lie and say Jaebeom is well in Seattle and is practicing hard and preparing for a return and such. Did you understand that? On the topics of gigantic amount of rumours and personal attacks against our members, the reason why we didn’t run a conference before is because the media sources that you hate, they only release articles focusing on one controversial thing when a conference is done verbally. So we began doing it in writing, but in a situation like this, as you all know, it is a major situation. That is why we decided to run a conference in this way.
New Q: When the September incident happened a lot of rumours surrounded the issue, so please explain what happened back then. Also at the beginning there were talks of the company having control over the members’ Cyworlds. Please explain that.
Rep: This is also the answer to the second question but fans ask, JYPE, why don’t you control the members? Why don’t you control your entertainers? We apologize, but we don’t control our entertainers that much. When our entertainers use Cyworld or blogs I sometimes find that out when browsing through the Internet, and same with trainees. We just warn them, saying, you always have to be careful, you are entertainers so you have to keep control over yourself on everything. That is my job. I’m sorry to fans but I don’t like the word ‘control’ when it comes to entertainers. They are not to be controlled by us; they are humans that are on equal standings. We are sorry to the fanclubs, because if we did control then these guys won’t be sitting here right now. But that is the relationship between the company and the members. To talk about the September incident, I’m sure you went through a lot with us but the situation inside cannot be understood by those that were not in it. The weapon of choice for Jaebeom, I’m sorry to use the word “was,” but was not rapping, dancing, singing or acrobatics. His weapon was his pride. But his pride broke down in less than 20 hours. You might remember how he couldn’t even look at the camera on that day. He couldn’t look at the members or me straight when we came back to the office. We talked a lot, met up every day, talking about a lot of things. Since we have a lot of time today I’ll tell you everything. There is a rumour saying he sat in economy class on the plane because he had to buy the plane ticket himself. But as you know, there were reporters in the airport. They must have wanted to write articles like, “Jaebeom, leader of 2PM, got on business class with a manager, leaving the chaos behind.” I thought of that and that is why I bought him an economy class seat myself. Mister JYP was shocked too when he heard that Jaebeom sat on economy class. There were also talks of eating tonkatsu with leaders of fan communities. We met at a very late time so it wasn’t really a time for tonkatsu. (sound of fans laughing) That was how short on time we were. The last thing Mr. JYP and I told Jaebeom was, “Don’t lose focus. Don’t ever lose your focus.” We ate together, with all the members, and then let him go. What I told him was that 0% and 1% are very different. 0% is nothing, you can multiply whatever number to that but it will still be 0, so compared to that 1% is just so much larger. We didn’t want to tell any of this to outsiders. I know that the fans were in extreme shock. What I was thinking at the moment was that I need to keep all 7 alive. I wanted to give pride back to the kid to whom pride was the weapon. So I wanted to stop all rumours about him as best as I possibly could. I talked with fan leaders from midnight to 6 in the morning. You must not have been able to reach them at that time. Fans say, why? Didn’t you expect 2PM to win the top award at MAMA? I felt that way too. If we didn’t get the top prize, I was going to quit. That is how hard they tried. That was my wish. When the kids said that they would dance even without the leader, the comeback was already decided then. Do you believe everything the media sources say? Do you believe the rumours? I won’t say which media source it was but the article titled, “Jaebeom situation leaves lots of rumours.” The reporter who wrote that was at the airport when Jaebeom left. He was inside the airport. Why doesn’t JYPE play tricks with the media? You all say we control the media every day, right? Media can’t be controlled that easily. We have to deal with 83 media sources. You think that news articles will get pulled down and major portals will block things out when we tell them so, right? It doesn’t work that way. We made a list of media sources that wrote insulting articles on Jaebeom and we still don’t give them any references they can use for reporting. Do you remember when Chansung and Wooyoung wrote on their Cyworld, “Let’s walk together” and “Thank you“? The article that came out and said, “Troublemaking leader and members who defend him.” The media still keeps those reporters and you all trust those articles. I still don’t give anything to write for those reporters. I won’t give them anything until I die.
Q: Talking about Cyworld, sometime ago Wooyoung wrote “I’m frustrated,” and few days ago Chansung wrote “Confused.” Please explain that.
Wooyoung: I failed at controlling my emotions. It is a personal webpage so I wanted to talk truthfully, since it is for talking about my personal stuff. I didn’t say that because I didn’t like fans or anything. You know, sometimes you’re like, ‘ah… I’m so frustrated.’ It was as simple as that. We were trying so hard, practicing, trying to give back to the fans, then… it was because of senseless rumours. Because those rumours, those rumours were so frustrating. I’m not scolding the fans, but I hated what the fans were telling each other. Because they weren’t true. They’re not true and I wanted everyone to understand the reason why we sweat and try so hard in front of the mirrors.
Chansung: About confused. I wrote that a long time ago, and it was because I was confused about something personal. It has nothing to do with this situation, they just happened to happen at the same time.
New Q: When the rep spoke a little while ago, you said you tried your best for Jaebeom. When rumours and news articles came up on Jaebeom’s issue, you never blocked comment section of Internet news articles or anything, but when articles on Taecyeon’s bloody letters came on, the comments got blocked immediately. Fans asked Daum and other portals, why did Taecyeon’s articles get comments blocked and Jaebeom’s didn’t? Daum answered, saying they don’t block comments unless the person of concern or their management company requests for it, they don’t do it themselves. So I want to know why you did it for Taecyeon and not for Jaebeom.
Rep: You should remember how fast articles came out at the beginning of the September incident. Also, regarding blocking comments, I’m ashamed to say this but before that incident, we’ve never requested that before. Our policy is that whoever’s voice it is, we listen to it, so we’ve never really had a policy on requesting comments to get blocked. Also if you see articles regarding JYPE from before, like the Taecyeon situation or recent Jaebeom situation, even if we try to block comments, if the number of articles is overwhelming than it becomes pretty random. Some comment sections get blocked and some don’t. We haven’t really tried it before so we were doing it after checking our policy again, and for a situation like the one right now, not all articles get their comment sections blocked even if we request for it.
New Q: I had mentioned the word ‘control’ before. You said you don’t control entertainers, so that means when a problem happens, like right now, in relation to someone who is not under control, you are not going to be taking any responsibilities?
Rep: To answer that, you might not remember, but in 2008 our company got called out by Fair Trades Commission for a so-called “slavery contract.” The problem was that our contracts included clauses where entertainers had to tell the company where they were going. So we took that out. And the control you mentioned. I don’t know. The reason I used that word is because I don’t really like the word ‘control,’ and instead of controlling and getting controlled, we like to just talk. Talk and talk on the same level. Of course, differences exist for people who talk and listen, like if my father was to talk to me on the same level I still wouldn’t feel his situation. I want to explain it like that…
Q: (interrupts) That wasn’t what I was asking.
Rep: Yeah, no need to understand then.
New Q: I don’t like to use the phrase ‘personal life,’ but the personal life has become the problem. You said it wasn’t under your control? So that means you’re not taking any responsibility for what happened because of that? I’m asking, are you saying because personal life is not under our control we’re not taking any responsibilities for problems that occurred because of the personal life? I’m not asking about contracts.
Rep: I indirectly answered mentioning contract. Entertainers are still people with their own minds, and they are not subordinates of anything. They are humans too… so if they make mistakes, they still have to be responsible for those. That is the first, and for the second part of the question, what makes me really regret is that as I wrote on the statement, when he told me about the problem last winter, I didn’t know about it nor did any member know about it before. (Fan asks something but hard to make out) Entertainers are the first ones that have to take responsibility, of course.
Q: So you’re not taking any responsibilities for things that are not subject to your control.
Rep: If you question broadly then I have no choice but to answer broadly as well. You’re trying to describe an entire situation with the word ‘control.’
Q: You’re saying you’re not taking responsibility for problem that was caused by personal issues.
Rep: What responsibility are you talking about?
Q: Stop putting words in my mouth.
Rep: I’m doing it because you were the first to put words in my mouth. What responsibility are you talking about?
Q: The way Korean society will view Jaebeom from now on, you won’t take responsibility for that?
Rep: I’ll answer that. So this was what people were saying at the beginning…
Q: (interrupts) Sir, please get to the point.
Rep: I’ll answer, I’ll answer. This was what people were saying. What if I were to answer, saying he doesn’t want to come back, his parents don’t want him to come back, his health is not well?
(Sound of fans talking)
Q: I’m asking if you’re going to take responsibility for Jaebeom’s social status and reputation.
Rep: I’m asking because I’m curious whether there is a reason for the company to responsible for that.
Q: Because when the incident happened, Jaebeom was a part of JYPE. So you’re not taking responsibility for being careless when looking after him? Because his personal life is not something you have control over?
Rep: Because entertainers are ordinary people with responsibility over their own lives.
Q: I’m sorry, may I say something? You said personal life on the statement. I know that people like to make stories up and talk and stuff but because you said that word, Jaebeom suffered from furiously absurd rumours and his image is sticking that way. Are you not going to take responsibility for that? You said that, when you were talking about why he was terminated.
Rep: If there was a need to ask me to be responsible then it would be Jaebeom that will ask me.
New Q: We have a situation where rumours surrounding Jaebeom are being created because of an official statement. Does he know that the statement used this type of terminology?
Rep: Yes.
Q: Was a statement including phrases such as “social impact” and “social issue” really necessary, and did Jaebeom agree to the fact that the statement might bring great controversy?
Rep: Yes, he did. Did that answer your question?
Q: This was mentioned when you weren’t here yet, but there are rumours out there not just about Jaebeom but about all members. If you just ignore it because it is not true, the rumour spreads further and it becomes the truth. Many fans are accepting a lot of it to be the truth. Like the tonkatsu thing you said, the community leaders who were there had their personal information leaked and many other things are being accepted as the truth. Any plans on dealing with these rumours? If you can’t stop articles against your entertainers then please at least release articles that go against them. Also, JYPE already lost faith of the fans, and no matter what you wrote on the statement, the fans would have not accepted the fact that Jaebeom isn’t coming back. Why did you have to use the phrases like “problems with personal life” and “social impact” of all things?
Rep: Let me answer the second question first. I’m sure you’re thinking that whatever we said in the statement, you wouldn’t have bought it. We thought the same way. That was one reason. Also, after saying Jaebeom doesn’t really want to come to Korea, the six members perform fine with smiles on… I couldn’t see them become cowards and traitors, because…
Multiple fans: They’re already traitors!
Rep: Excuse me, please show some respect for the guest [audience member] who asked the question. Let me continue. If I just said Jaebeom doesn’t want to come back, and if the six members continued their work with smiles on their faces, the members who didn’t rest one second during the end of the year last year and were trying so hard with the hope that they can once again share their dreams together… why do they have to become traitors? That was the second reason. Third is the company. We can’t lie when we’re officially telling fans important things. Those are the three reasons why.
Q: What about the rumour.
Rep: Ah, sorry. There are two sides to the rumour thing. About rumours being made up by then fans, we can’t really do this or that about fans… doesn’t matter if the fans trust us or not, they’re fans. I don’t think it is wise to create a situation where we are opposing the fans. It is something a company must endure, and we are doing so, but I don’t know what will happen later. We’ve dealt with absurd rumours attacking our entertainers before, but when we catch those that spread them they’re just high school or middle school students. That creates more news, the whole fight against the rumour thing. A lot of ideas are coming up on this matter and we’re considering all of them.
New Q: As the members have been saying, the statement says that on December 22nd, he suddenly made a call to you [the rep]. The members have been saying that they had no idea about it before, which means Jaebeom had been keeping this a secret and then suddenly just called you about it. So was this because he couldn’t hide it anymore or because of his guilty conscience, or were there other external reasons behind his confession?
Rep: He called at around 4PM of December 22nd, and he called three to four times… if you’re really curious, I’ll get you the records from the phone company.
Multiple fans: Yes, please.
Rep: Alright. To tell you whether it was self-motivated or due to external pressure, if I hinted you or told you then you can kind of infer to a conclusion, so, about that… I don’t know. As Nichkhun said, he himself or his family can say anything, but we can’t tell you anything. But it is true that he called me on that day.
New Q: You said the company isn’t responsible for personal lives. However, the statement said that Jaebeom is being kicked because of his personal life. Also, the members said that he repeatedly did whatever he did. So if this is a problem that is big enough to cause termination, then it should have been talked about a long time ago. Nobody knew about this before this was mentioned in the statement. In other words, Jaebeom was really good at taking care of his personal life since nobody knew what he was doing. But the fact that the company is kicking him out for his personal life issues while not taking responsibility for it seems like the company is just making up excuses to get rid of him. Am I wrong?
Rep: Yes, you’re wrong. As Junsu said before, it was repetitive but we all learned about that afterwards, all at once.
Q: So if he was repeatedly doing something, then there must be a victim he was committing wrong to.
Multiple fans: You can’t ask question like that.
Rep: Jaebeom himself may be able to answer that but we can’t.
Q: If it was due to issues with Jaebeom’s personal life like the company is claiming, then neither the company nor the members had any idea about it until December 22nd?
Rep: Yes.
Q: From when he was promoting to December is almost 6 months. He was really good at hiding his personal life during those times?
Rep: Yes.
Q: Right? The company learned about it after the phone call.
Rep: Yes.
Q: Right? So you learned that and that means he was good at keeping his personal life a secret. If he kept it that way there was no need to get terminated due to those issues. His personal life is under fire because it was mentioned in the statement.
Rep: I answered a similar question…
Q: (interrupts) What we want to say is that you’re mentioning his personal life that he was taking good care of so that you can use it as an excuse to kick him out of JYPE, that is what we’re saying.
Rep: I gave three reasons for that before, and I think you’re asking pretty much the same question. We didn’t know until December 21st, we didn’t. Why did he confess on December 22nd when he was so good at taking care of his personal life? I can’t answer that because you can kind of guess what had happened if I told you. Why did I write it on the statement? I answered the three reasons. The members did nothing wrong and they’re victims in a sense. Company couldn’t lie in an official statement. I told you that before.
Multiple fans: We don’t understand you.
Rep: Nobody understood? About my positions?
Multiple fans: We understand.
New Q: I think I need to confirm this again. Even if the September incident did not happen, just the issue that Jaebeom confessed in December, that alone would have gotten him kicked out? Also, would you and all members make the same decision about any other member if they did the same thing? Also even after this conference, some might accept the reality but some might not. There will be people who will still ask, what did Jaebeom do? I mean, some people are even asking 2PM to disband. Even if people can’t accept this, even if fans become violent would you not reveal Jaebeom’s mistake?
Rep: To answer the first question, as I wrote in the statement, I never thought of the September incident as something that will make Jaebeom leave the team or never come back. I still stand by that thought. Both Mr. JYP and I know English. We both know English and the tone of that [MySpace comment] could easily be misinterpreted by some people. But we were preparing for his comeback because we thought that it wasn’t something important enough to decide someone’s future. Secondly, I would have made the decision regardless of the September incident. Wooyoung, Taecyeon, Nichkhun, Chansung, Junho and Junsu, if any of them did the same thing, I would have made the same decision. Third, whatever pressure we get or whatever happened, we won’t reveal what happened.
New Q: You just said that you and Mr. JYP know English. So you must know that the MySpace incident was based on misinterpretation. In order to correct the wrong translation, all you needed to do was ask the experts. I’m not really an expert in English but I’m majoring in English so my professors are. I asked my professor about this, asked them, is this insulting Korea? They said they doubt intelligence level of those that interpret this as insulting. We wanted you or Mr. JYP, those that know English, to go ask an expert and make a public statement about this. Why didn’t you and why didn’t you shield him, that is my question. You also said that it was not something a leader of an idol group needed to drop out over or not be able to work in Korea for or get demanded to commit suicide over… why didn’t you defend him? Company might not be controlling the entertainers but it should be protecting them at least.
Rep: I remember those three days very correctly. Why didn’t the fans shield him back then?
(Sound of fans talking)
Rep: I’m not questioning you. Over those three days, things happened much faster than you all think it did. You will find consistency in what Mr. JYP said on TV show and what is being said in our statements. He didn’t make such large mistake but some people can misinterpret it and it is not like we can choose our level of intelligence. Even people in English-speaking countries can misinterpret things. About those three days, you’ve only seen things from the outside but as we said in the statement, we tried to defend him. To the company, and to 2PM members as well, to us Jaebeom is more important than you think. What hurts us even more is that this week was supposed to be the week that we would hold a conference about his comeback.
New Q: I don’t know what others were thinking back then and I’m sure we all had our ideas, but I thought staying silent was the best way to help. Unless you’re an idiot… I don’t know. I’m not sure what others thought but when I read the MySpace thing, you said you know English. It isn’t like you didn’t learn. Those that went to school would know that he was insulting JYPE instead of Korea. So we thought that the company would take care of it. Also talking about the situation back then, there wasn’t any major statement at the beginning. The company said, well, we all have our relationships; everyone knows what could have stopped the situation from worsening. Did Jaebeom contact us? No. Only JYPE staff could contact him. The Koreans Jaebeom mentioned were the JYPE staff members. All I can say is that the company made mistakes there… I want to know your thoughts on it.
Rep: To answer that, you can ask any member but we did it all together. Secondly, yes, correct. Jaebeom is included. You’re asking about the September incident, right? The solution we came up with was made by everyone. And I’m not saying what we did was right. Like, I don’t want to say the situation got better after 3 to 4 days because we did the right thing. But thankfully it did get better.
New Q: A MySpace comment [by Jaebeom] said that the company asked Jaebeom for a 10-year contract, but he declined that, so you signed an 8-year contract with him. Could you explain that?
Rep: Sure thing. I’ve been searching the Internet for that and it says contracts with unfair lengths will be renewed or something. If you search the Internet it will say, the length of the contract does not determine fairness of the contract. We thought about a 10-year one and tried to go ahead with that, but at the end decided on a 7-year contract.
Q: So the part about 10-year contract is correct?
Rep: It is correct.
Q: What about Jaebeom saying 8 years? Because you just said 7 years?
Rep: We’ve been shortening it, going from 8 to 7.
Q: The point is that Jaebeom’s contract was 8 years long, right?
Rep: 7. Everyone had the same contract.
Q: So everyone got offered 10 years at the beginning.
Rep: Yes. We told them all about 10 years at the beginning.
New Q: You asked the fans why couldn’t you shield Jaebeom, but let me give you an example. There is a Japanese celebrity named Sakai Noriko. She is a drug addict. The representative from her company went on a TV show and kneeled and cried and begged to the Japanese people so that she could continue working. You are the company, Jaebeom came here from the US without knowing anyone and just trusting the company, but the company can’t even defend him. How can we trust the company, and when there are cases like the example I just told you about, how can the company just ignore him and say whatever, just get out. Do you think it is right to just let him go like that?
Rep: You mentioned two things, but the second thing is a bit of a different story. You mentioned the story from Japan but every country is different. I mean, if the same thing were to happen in the US, the celebrity would get sued by the company. The celebrity would get sued and his/her entire family would go bankrupt if it was in the US. Every country is different. The thing I told the fans about shielding was, for example, if someone asked the fans, “Why didn’t you defend him?” then you’d remember what it felt like, right? I would like you to ask the members if the company was really just sitting there ignoring the situation, or was doing something.
New Q: There is a rumour saying that Jaebeom received money for penalty and in return agreed not to work in Korean entertainment industry for next 5 years. If that was not true, then if Jaebeom wanted, although there is some unspeakable problem at the moment, so despite that if Jaebeom decided to come back to Korea but since JYPE couldn’t accept him back so he went to some other entertainment company, would JYPE just watch that happen?
Rep: I’m not sure what penalty you’re mentioning. Jaebeom wouldn’t pay any penalty… because other members are endorsing many companies right now so as someone was asking, what if this happened to another member? Then that member would go bankrupt from paying penalties to the companies that he was endorsing. But since Jaebeom isn’t endorsing any companies there wouldn’t be any…
Q: With the company.
Rep: Jaebeom doesn’t have to pay any penalty to the company. People think that you have to pay millions of dollars when you breach a contract with the entertainment companies but that is not true, and secondly, the contract has been terminated. Whatever he does with others is none of our business.
Q: Speaking of the penalty, you were saying that the contract was 7 years long? And the contract with Jaebeom is over because of his fault, right? Then from our perspective we might think that it is Jaebeom who is to pay penalty to the company.
Rep: No penalty, and we even paid him a share of the profit from when he wasn’t performing with 2PM.
New Q: I would like to ask few more questions about the termination. I want to know when exactly the contract was terminated, and also please tell us about legal rights held by JYPE regarding Jaebeom and the length. I would also like to know profit of up to when was shared with him and when the last of it was paid to him. Lastly, please tell us if there are any dual contracts.
Rep: The contract was terminated yesterday. It was done after yesterday when everything was announced. There is no dual contract and we hold no legal rights of him.
Q: Please tell us about when he was paid.
Rep: We pay out every 3 months. The profit from last October, November and December were paid in January and that is what Jaebeom got.
Q: Could you tell us about the content of contract termination?
Rep: It says, “the contract between two parties is now void.” No other clauses exist.
New Q: (in English) Do you guys have any plans to go to the US and would you be introduced as a 6 member group and do you have plan for new leader?
Taecyeon: There are no plans at the moment. (In English) We don’t have any plans right now so I don’t think we’re gonna have like oh, we’re gonna pick a new member, pick us a new leader or we don’t have anything like that. I don’t think we’re gonna pick a new leader or go to US… we were a 7 member group but now we’re 6, we’re not gonna say that. It’s always been decided. We are 6 now.
New Q: (in English) I was wondering if that whole MySpace comment, if that didn’t happen at all, would Jay be kicked out of 2PM?
Rep: (in English) By this matter?
Q: (in English) Yeah. Well, if the MySpace didn’t happen, then this whole controversy wouldn’t have happened either?
Rep: (in English) Yeah, sure, sure.
Q: (in English) So he wouldn’t have been kicked out.
Rep: (in English) Yeah.
(Note: The English speaking fans have an accent and the JYP rep does not appear to be fluent in English so both parties may not have meant what they said.)
New Q: Can’t there be conflicts between members and the company? Sometimes the opinions of the seven members and the company are not the same, right? What do you do when that happens?
Taecyeon: Regarding what?
Q: Everything. The Jaebeom situation or the conference, opinions can be conflicting. I think some might say oh, I don’t want to do that. What do you do in that case?
Taecyeon: There haven’t really been any serious disagreements, and even if they do happen, the [idea of the] company forcing their opinion [on us] is just ridiculous and we’re not the kind of people who would just obey them. If a disagreement exists then we talk it out.
New Q: Members agreed on the termination on January 6th, but you officially terminated him yesterday. You must remember how you requested the fans on January 14th to not sell any Jaebeom-related merchandises. So since the contract is over, can we be selling anything related to Jaebeom now? Or can members of AOM make merchandises related to Jaebeom and sell them?
Rep: About the story about January 14th, I heard about that afterwards as well. Only very few people within the company were involved in that and only very few people know about that exactly since it is related to his privacy. About the contract thing, because Jaebeom is part of the AOM crew, the company has no right to control that.
Q: So you don’t care about merchandise?
Rep: We don’t care.
Taecyeon: About the merchandise, it belongs to Jaebeom. You need permission from Jaebeom himself. Why are you already coming up with ideas about selling them?
Q: No, I didn’t say I was selling…
Taecyeon: You just said selling.
Q: Selling is not the point, I was just asking whether I could do it or not.
Taecyeon: Yeah, ask Jaebeom.
(Sound of fans talking)
New Q: I have a little more to ask about contract termination. Although Jaebeom is not a part of 2PM right now, he was with them in 1st and 2nd single. The six members will continue as 2PM, right? So when 2PM sings songs from the first and second singles in like yearend award ceremony or something, there are parts of Jaebeom in those songs, right? Does Jaebeom have copyright for that, and if so, does he get a share of income from those?
Rep: When an artist sings, they automatically gain this right called ‘performance right.’ Artists are members of the performers association. The rights associated with the performance of their songs are something that the artist must seek from that association. For us, having to revise the song because we’re missing a member and things like that, we need to start working on those now.
New Q: The members said it too, saying they think Jaebeom as a family member and such, and you said the decision was made in this case in order to defend Jaebeom. But nobody knew of that issue with his personal life. Nobody knew of it until he called you on December 22nd. Was it possible to ignore the problem since nobody knew of it? And did you mentioned the word “personal life” because of your guilty conscience and because of the company’s policy? You used the word to make the fans understand of the situation, you said. Then why did you put such emphasis on his personal life when it is impossible to ask the fans for a solution and when you weren’t communicating with the fans at all? And you always use to word family; shouldn’t family be defending and ignoring the issue even though the fans tell you to do otherwise?
Rep: The same questions are being asked over and over I think…
Q: (interrupts) I think it’s different. He said it out of his conscience, there are so many rumours out there and why the personal life? Were there other pressures?
(Sound of fans saying let’s stop asking the same question)
New Q: According to the official statement, Jaebeom who confessed about his big mistake on December 22nd still came out to b-boying events after that. Also, before that day, he would hide his face or wear a mask or something, but now he shows his face, gives autographs to people who ask for it, talks to people and wears clothes that fans sent him from Korea. It isn’t hard to tell that footage of the b-boying tournaments will go on YouTube and be viewed by the entire world, so someone who did such great wrong that they quit the team themselves… I mean, everyone knows of his personality, right? He bowed to the fans from the stage when the September incident happened, he left the country on the 8th, and so isn’t his current attitude a bit too proud for someone who did such great wrong? What I’m curious is that if he made such great mistake, how can he be going around like that.
Rep: You probably need to ask that to himself.
Chansung: We want to ask him that as well. Why is he acting that way?
(Sound of fans talking)
New Q: (in English) Hi, can I ask this to Nichkhun and Taecyeon. The comments he made on MySpace issue, that comment wasn’t to belittle Korea but he was just venting out, right, because there were cultural differences. So, when this happened, he didn’t talk to you and Nichkhun about it, and if you knew, you should’ve known that the comment wasn’t something so bad. So why did Jay feel the need to leave?
Taecyeon: (in English) The point is that, when all the Koreans found out about MySpace, no one cared. Everyone was like, ‘just go kill yourself’; it wasn’t like he must have some kind of reason to write that. No one cared about him, not even one single reply wrote, “We still love you Jay.” No one wrote that. What was he supposed to feel? I mean, Jay probably felt the pressure more than anyone could feel.
Q: (in English) So you couldn’t persuade him to stay?
Nichkhun: (in English) We thought that if he were to stay, he might have gotten hurt, by people around him, because people hated him. We didn’t want him to go, of course, but we felt that it was the best way to save him and save everyone without getting hurt.
Taecyeon: (in English) Think about it, I mean, luckily the fact that he left made a lot of people say, ‘oh, we were witch hunting,’ but the fact that it wasn’t like that so, by leaving it was the best thing that he could’ve done for us and for himself.
Q: (in English) And when he left, did you kind of think that maybe he might come back later?
Nichkhun: (in English) Of course. From the day that he left, we knew that he was gonna come back. We had that belief.
Q: (in English): Thank you.
New Q: The statement said that Mr. JYP went to Seattle on September 23rd and met up with Jaebeom’s parents. But according to our research, the parents never met JYP and never had dinner together. So why does the statement say so? Also, what was JYPE doing for Jaebeom to prepare for his comeback? Like vocal training and lessons and such, we want to know about that.
Rep: As the statement says, on the second statement it said that JYP went to Seattle, found some tutors and did mock-lessons and such, but stories about having dinner together is just made up by reporters. I don’t know how you did your research but on September 29th, we met up with Jaebeom’s parents. We met both his mother and father, and we met up with tutors and did a mock-lesson and talked about how this tutor is good because he teaches like this, and that is nice also, and such. That happened in late September, and as you know, the lessons with those tutors continued. But what we were preparing failed because of what was in the statement… what a lot of people are saying is that Jaebeom might not be coming back because of business reasons, financial threats. I can’t say which company but there was a major corporation that sought to use Jaebeom as a model, only Jaebeom. Up until January. We were discussing that too. We were thinking about having him come back through that advertisement.

Major Hottest fancafe asks for international fans’ understanding

2010-03-08T21:44:00.001-08:00

It’s been seven days since JYP Entertainment announced that Jaebeom would not be returning to 2PM, but the dust has yet to clear.

In the aftermath of JYPE’s conference with Hottests regarding the entire matter, we saw not only a rift between “6PM” and many Hottests, but tension between Korean and international fans as well. Due to the linguistic and cultural barriers, a lack of communication & understanding has evolved into (mutual) frustration between both parties. Earlier today, 2PM/AM’s largest international fan forum 2ONEDAY revealed that they had invited various Korean fancafes to write a message to international fans in an effort to allow numerous Korean Hottests to explain their stance.

A representative from Hengdong Cafe, which is reportedly one of the biggest fancafes around for 2PM with over 111,000 members, promptly responded to 2ONEDAY’s request with a message.

Regardless of what kind of opinion you have on this whole situation, it’s important to at least consider all perspectives to avoid misunderstandings. Likewise, the purpose of the message “is not to impose their views on to international fans, but rather to ask for a simple understanding and to see the situation from their point of view,” as 2ONEDAY reminds.

The following message was written by a Hengdong rep who attended the February 27 conference.

I have heard that the international fans are bashing the Korean fans. I tried to ignore it at first but I think as time goes on, the severity is getting grave.

What I’m writing… Please help us in making them understand. I know it must be hard but please help. I am sorry.

I think that they are going too far. The rage amongst the Korean fans are so great that it is hard to even control it, but to think that we have to even help the international fans understand now?…

I told you that I attended the conference. I did not ever think that anyone would look upon the fans as the attackers. However, I have listened to the voice recordings and I do think I can understand somewhat why the international fans are reacting this way.

Now, let’s think about it. The 2PM boys spoke through a mic. The fans did not have a mic except when given one to ask a question. So for example, when Chansung compared Jaebum to a thief and the fans spoke amongst themselves saying, “Jaebum is a thief?” there is no way that Chansung could have heard them, given the location and volume of voice. We would have had to spoken loudly and clearly in order for that to be heard because the fans did not have any mics. Through the recording, the international fans might have thought that we raised our voices. However, the fans have never treated the 2PM members with disrespect.

Another thing is that the 2PM members are all in their early 20’s. The people that attended the conference were all older than them. Especially the bigger community admins, they were all in their mid to late 30’s. Even if we were to meet them as human to human, those in their 20’s should have definitely kept their respect. That is Korean culture. However, what the 2PM members stated at the conference does not fall in line with the norm of Korean society. But did the fans treat 2PM with disrespect because of their age? No… where did you ever see that?

And are these fans Jaebum’s personal fans? The people that attended the conference are people that JYPE has chosen themselves. You can think of it as only the people that JYPE thought fit to be in the conference were present. Why are international fans accusing us of ‘going for a fan meeting,’ or ‘Why are Jaebum’s personal fans making it harder for the rest of our 2PM oppas?’

Then are the international representatives also in the same league as us?

I’m having a hard time understanding why the fans must be the bad boys here. I understand that you would want to reject reality. You must realize, though, that Jaebum and JYPE are now two separate entities. Please, let’s not rip at each other anymore.

Those in Korea will calm down the fans filled with rage and anger in Korea. But for those in the international, please don’t do that. I don’t understand why fans must fight amongst each other. This is not going to help any of the 7 members. It’s not nice to see such images for fans in Korea or for international fans.

Let’s just calm ourselves down.

I will apologize for what I have to say next but I feel that it must be said.

Koreans are the only people that best understand the Korean language. The message is sent more clearly to those that sit in front of one another while seeing their faces than just through the ears or through words.

Please, stop looking at the situation as only how you want to.

Please, don’t bash the translators. They are volunteering their time to help you better understand. And as Koreans, they are the ones that know best the meaning behind 2PM’s words. Even if you study the same word, the translated meaning between a foreigner that studies Korean and a Korean is vastly different.

Just trust the translators. They know what the intentions are and they know what the situation is. They understand everything in their translations.

If you really love the 6 members of 2PM, please express that when they release their next album in April.

I hope that all of this ends – yesterday’s friend becoming today’s enemy.

Whenever and wherever, let’s uphold LOVE & RESPECT.

Thank you.

( My opinion is not representative of the Korean fans. But as a person living in Korea, I could not just pass this by. )

Although people obviously have distinctive opinions on the whole controversy and may react differently to this message from Hengdong Cafe, I think most would agree that the bickering and mess of emotions swirling around this controversy are getting exhausting. To quote Ghandi, “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.”

Many thanks to ___ @ 2OD as well as hazyfiasco @ 2OD for the translation! 2ONEDAY is expecting more messages from various fancafes as well; hopefully this future communication will help ease the tension around this situation.

2PM, 2AM, Brown Eyed Girls, Kara, T-ara & more for Thailand concert in April!

2010-03-08T21:43:00.001-08:00

Heads up Thailand, you’ve got a big storm of idols coming your way! Mnet is bringing kpop to Bangkok with the Show King M Bangkok concert sponsored by Adamas. The line-up includes huge hits like OneDay (2AM & 2PM), 8Eight, the Brown Eyed Girls, CNBLUE, Kara, Kim Tae Woo, MBLAQ, T-ara, D-NA (“THE BOSS” is one of their alternative names) and many more. With such a star-studded schedule, this event is guaranteed to be a huge success!

As the official poster reveals, the concert will be held at Bangkok’s Rajamangala National Stadium next month on April 6, leaving just over a month for fans to freak out and make plans to get to this concert. But that’s not all – admission is free!

With at least seventeen artists & idol groups headlining this event (there are seventy-four idols mentioned on the above poster alone), Mnet is definitely bringing out the big guns with this event. Although it may be disappointing for some that no SM Entertainment or YG Entertainment artists have been mentioned, I’m sure this huge line-up will do more than satisfy Thai kpop fans’ needs on April 6!

Taecyeon and Wooyoung will not quit Inkigayo

2010-03-08T21:40:00.000-08:00

After much controversy stemming from the fallout of Jaebeom’s contract termination, there was speculation once again about 2PM’s Taecyeon and Wooyoung hosting duties on Inkigayo.

A call was made to the Inkigayo team on the 4th who expressed, “Taecyeon and Wooyoung will continue with their hosting duties on Inkigayo. It might be a taxing period for them at this point, but we felt that it would generate more controversy if they were to leave now. So we will stand by them.”

2PM’s Nichkhun is not appearing on We Got Married

2010-03-08T21:39:00.000-08:00

There were rumors today that 2PM’s “small faced” Nichkhun might be appearing on popular variety MBC We Got Married! But that has been quickly denied by JYP Entertainment and the We Got Married production team.

Team leader Lee Joo Sup, who is in charge of 2PM management activities, revealed that Nichkhun did indeed receive an offer to appear on the show. But they did not follow through with the offer and there are no plans for him to appear on the show.

There were also rumors that Nichkhun will be on the show as a couple with 2NE1’s Sandara Park or T-ara’s Eunjung but it was later revealed that both female idols decided not to take up on the offer. Eunjung’s management company Core Contents Media stated, “It is true that Eunjung received an invitation to join We Got Married but we decided to reject the offer because of her hectic schedule. Eunjung will greet fans again next time when she gets such an opportunity.”

Although both Nichkhun and Eunjung both received offers, the show’s PD Kang Goong has denied that a decision had been made. He earnestly said, “We did send offers but nothing is definite yet. So far, including the Yonghwa [& Seohyun] couple, there are three couples on the show already and I’m not sure if that is too much already.”

More rumors have gone around that JYPE has turned down this offer. But if Nichkhun does go on the show, it would be so exciting having another idol group member be part of a couple! Who do you want to see this prince paired up with?

2PM’s Follow Your Soul MV teaser

2010-03-03T21:52:00.000-08:00

Last week, 2PM released their track for yet another CF, this time for OPPO Mobile. The song is called Follow Your Soul and the music video teaser has just been released!

The teaser is about 40 seconds long and looks like there’s going to be a cute love story line. But it seems they’ll also be dancing in a dark background with neon lights in the background, kind of like their old Again & Again music video.

2PM cheers on students going back to school at Paris Baguette event

2010-03-03T21:51:00.002-08:00

2PM is still going through a lot of drama because of the fans that turned their back on their favorite group after finding out about Jaebeom’s contract termination.

On March 2nd in Seoul SangSungDong Bailey House, 2PM and fans held an event called “First Love.” The event was organized by Paris Baguette to cheer on students who were starting a new year of school.

Fans were probably surprised to see all six boys smiling brightly where they showed up on schedule to meet with fans and had a good time. This was also the first time that 2PM appeared as a group in public after what happened in the last few days.

The event was split up into two parts. The first part featured a baker’s lesson on none other than baking. The second part featured the members of 2PM where all six of them started to make their own cake. After making their cakes, they then took pictures with fans who still seemed to be loyal to end the event.

JYPE seeks police help on fan attacks against 2PM

2010-03-03T21:51:00.001-08:00

JYP Entertainment released an official statement today, saying that they are going to legal authorities concerning the attacks against the six members of 2PM.

After JYPE released a statement announcing that Jaebeom was officially no longer part of 2PM and held a fan conference to build on the fact, many Hottests turned their backs against the group. Some have gone so far as to find the members’ citizen registration numbers, which is equivalent of the social security number in the US, and using it illegally to exploit these young men. Due to these serious attacks on the members by ex-Hottests, JYPE has announced that they have no choice but to contact the police concerning this matter.

Using another person’s citizen registration number is a serious criminal offense in Korea, and those caught could serve up to three years of jailtime or a 10 million won (~$10,000 USD) fine.

Below is is the statement that JYPE made on 2PM’s official fancafe.

“After announcing on February 25th that Jaebeom would be no longer a part of 2PM, a few netizens started to attack the six members by saying inappropriate things and spreading rumours about them. We have talked to the six members to figure out how to deal with the problem, but decided that we need to understand the fans who have been notified of something that they cannot easily accept. The members said that they will handle their personal feelings better in future and be warmer in their approaches to the fans.

Some have however illegally obtained personal information about the six members including their citizen registration number and have been distribution and misusing those information. In order to protect the members, we had no choice but to approach the police for the six members on this matter.”

We would like to thank the fans who are supporting the six members in a time like this.”

It’s shocking how far these people will go to hurt people they don’t personally know. Do you think these people’s actions are justified or have they gone too far?

Transcript of JYPE’s conference about 2PM & Jaebeom – Pt 1

2010-03-03T21:50:00.000-08:00

Regarding JYPE’s fan conference about 2PM and Jaebeom’s termination, we at allkpop previously reported what was said during the conference by translating Oneday Room (a Korean fan community)’s summary of the event. However, it appears that this summary neglected some important points, so we decided to listen to the entire four-hour conference ourselves, transcribe then translate it into English with absolutely everything included.

Because our transcript is extremely long, we’ve divided it into segments; here is part one, which covers the first 58 minutes.

Host: Everyone’s faces or identity will not be filmed. It will be filmed from where 2PM members will be sitting, and voices will obviously get recorded, but nobody will be filmed. The conference will start in 3-4 minutes when the members enter.
Fan: I have a question. Is JYPE going to distribute filmed material for media to use?
Host: As you know, this event is not open to media…
Fan: (interrupts) What I want to ask is, since this event is not open to media, is the video filmed by JYPE going to be distributed to media for use and if JYPE’s video is going to be distributed then…
Host: (interrupts) You’re talking about editing and…
Fan: (finishes off what she was saying) …distributed like that.
Host: I will let you know after clarifying this with others. Please wait.
(Sound of fans sneering)
Fan: Would you not film this if we refused filming?
Host: To answer the first question, you were talking about us editing this or distributing it to media; we’re not filming this to give it to the media.
(Sound of fans talking)
Fan: Can you take responsibility to what you just said?
Fan: Are you sending this to Jaebeom?
Fan: I heard you say you’re filming this to prevent accidents? What accidents are you talking about?
Host: All questions right now are about JYPE filming this event so if you give me bit of time then I will prepare answers for your questions. Please wait.
Fan: So you’re hosting this event without even knowing anything about filming?
Multiple fans: What is the point of filming?
Host: (tries to calm fans down) Ok. The filming was to take place for next two or three or four hours depending on how things go (sound of fans sneering); the video was for both parties to use as a reference, not for us to distribute to media, or to edit and make it say what we want, but there seems to be confusion about the matter so we will decide to not film the event as we were originally planning to.
Multiple Fans: Ok.
Host: To enforce this, please wrap up your cameras. Since guests [conference attendees / Hottests] are concerned we will start without it.
(Sound of fans talking)
(Sound of fan asking questions, hard to make it out)
Host: Because our guests are here today, thinking many similar things…
Fan: (interrupts) What we want to ask is if the company is going to film this, we want the right to freely film this event as well.
Host: Again, because we have you, our guests here today; many of you have similar ideas but regarding filming, as I said there may be parts where people might become concerned about later, so we were going to use video as reference. We weren’t going to film the video for media to use but some of our guests have different ideas and are talking about filming themselves, but since it’s hard to unify the voices of everyone here today so…
Fan: (interrupts) Since we do not have many fans here today, why don’t we just vote…
Host: (interrupts) So you would like to vote? But you’re a guest with an idea slightly different from others…
Fan (interrupts): If we unified our idea then would you let us film?
Host: For us to film the event for reference, then we need everyone to say that we can, but guests seem to have different ideas here today, saying if the company was to film then fans want to film as well. What I said before (sound of fans talking) excuse me, the fans seem to have different ideas but what we could all use is as we agreed on, not to film anything and we agreed on that so we decided to go that way (sound of fans talking) if that is the opinion of the majority then (sound of fan asking a question, hard to make out) as I said before, our guests seem to have disagreements but the majority opinion seems to not want the company to film for reference so we will pack up our camera and not do any filming. We were planning on filming because some words could be interpreted wrongly and such, but since our guests are concerned about the matter and since our concern was not a big deal, we will exclude filming of the event, and, when talking about this event later or reading about it, we will consider our 80, 90 guests here as witnesses and each one of you as a camera.
Fan: So is that confirmation saying there is no limitation to us recording this event for references? That is what we want. We want to make something for references as well; can’t just trust everyone here as being a camera and we need to leave a reference so…
Host: (interrupts) What you are saying right now is as I was saying before; this is where our guests seem to have disagreement, asking if it is okay to film, then (sound of fans talking) (rep sighs) our fans seem to be having a disagreement.
Multiple fans: What about both parties do it?
Fan: (angry voice) If JYPE films, we’ll film. If JYPE audio-records, we’ll audio-record. Both sides should have equal rights…
Multiple fans: (frustrated voice) He said he won’t do it.
Host: To summarize, we are sorry but for filming, we have a camera to film for references. As you notice, we have no media in here; our guests thought that was one-sided of us so we will not film and since we have 80, 90 guests here and every one of you…
Fan: (interrupts) What we demand is not to film or not film, is JYPE going to film and send it to media…
Host: (interrupts) Because of such concerns we decided not to film this.
Multiple fans: Do it if you want.
Multiple fans: Why don’t both parties film?
Host: Our guests have come to conference today, and we need some basic rules in order to host this, and to say this again we have 80-90 people here and every one of your opinions matter to us, but if we somewhat reach an agreement then that will be the path we take in terms of hosting. Filming on our side, which was your concern, will not be done and we will only use communication for hosting without any filming done by both parties.
Multiple fans: Ok.
Host: I apologize but hosting is a bit tough and it is important to host communication between our fans, 2PM members and those that represent the company. So I know a couple guests have brought cameras, but due to multiple concerns, when we are hosting something within the company, such as the Wonder Girls conference we just had where we had fans send representatives we…
Fan: (interrupts and asks a question but cannot make out)
Host: Again, there will not be any filming.
Multiple Fans: Ok.
Host: Many are here but I will consider that all of you are agreed on this and will continue on.
Multiple Fans: Yes.
Fan: Please clearly tell us in detail how you picked fans who are here today.
Host: It was notified but since 2PM debuted there were many communities. In our standards we picked communities who could be said to represent the fandom, from the fans’ perspective, and picked from those. We did not give a quota per community or hand-pick communities. We took recommendations from those that can be said to represent the community and brought about one hundred, and I believe about 90 are here today. We did not hand pick people or community. So in order to move on…
Fan: (interrupts, something about 12 communities)
(Sound of fans talking)
Fan: We want to know more about this “representation”.
Fan: Let me tell you something I don’t know. First you said you notified about picking one hundred, but you didn’t. Also, one community was told to submit list of people they wanted to bring to JYPE but they didn’t, but they ended up getting in anyways and was told to just bring officers. How do you explain that?
(Sound of fans sneering)
Host: Guests are asking questions, but what is it that you are concerned the most about 90 people who are present today? Are you concerned that the company handpicked communities or individuals or…
Fan: (interrupts) You need to reveal the names of communities that are present.
(Multiple fans agreeing to that)
Host: So could I move on after that?
Multiple fans: Yes.
Host: Please hold on a moment.
(Sound of fans talking)
Host: Due to unified concerns of our guests we will talk about the 12 communities then start the conference right after that.
(Sound of fans talking)
Female voice: I will announce communities that are here today. I accepted these communities, even if the communities had very few people. I will announce the names. (Announces names of communities that are present)
Host: I will consider that to answer your questions and go ahead with the conference.
(Sound of fans talking)
Fan: (asks a question but hard to make it out)
Host: We are not thinking of limiting this to an hour or two. Since we have many guests here we’re taking questions freely but try to keep them from being repetitive. There won’t be time limit so no limiting length or questions or answers, or prohibition of people to ask questions. Again, there are many guests here today so please refrain from asking repetitive questions or from one guest asking multiple questions.
Fan: Why are only 2PM members here?
Host: (interrupts) We will move on with only the members for now, and I will explain that later. Since members are here now they’ll say hello and move on.
2PM: Hello, we’re 2PM.
(Sound of fans sneering)
Fan asking question (Q): According to a statement by JYPE, six members of 2PM agreed upon Jaebeom’s termination on January 6th. Any disagreement or concerns with the statement? I would like an answer from all members.
Host: I apologize, but as I mentioned before there is no filming so if you have a…
Q: (interrupts, irritated voice) Do not give them time to think, please answer right away…
Host: (interrupts) Then I will say it after answering these questions. Here is the last announcement for those that are audio-recording. This was agreed by both parties before…
Multiple fans: (irritated voice) We won’t do it.
Q: Please answer.
Junsu: I will go first. Yes, it is correct.
(Sound of fans talking)
Q: Nichkhun, please answer.
Nichkhun: Yes, it is correct.
Chansung: Yes.
Taecyeon: Yes, it is correct.
Junho: Yes, it is correct.
Wooyoung: Yes.
New Q: I want the six members to talk about their honest feelings. I want to know if you all consider Jaebeom to be unfit for leader or member of group 2PM. An official statement says that Jaebeom was considered unfit to be the leader due to personal wrongdoing and you all agreed upon his termination because he needs to be morally responsible for his actions. Members agreed on that matter on January 6th. But after that, a member called Jaebeom a good brother and said he missed him on February 14th. Also, someone said Jaebeom was a jewel on a TV show, not to mention the “us seven” remarks. All those things were said after you all decided that Jaebeom was unfit. Then can we consider these statements to be saying that you are not concerned about Jaebeom’s morality and are only concerned about his abilities? Also, such comments about Jaebeom after a decision has been made appear to be telling lies to and deceiving fans. Then aren’t moral levels of the six members questionable also? I will ask again. When reflecting on moral levels of each member, do you really think Jaebeom is unfit to be a member of 2PM?
Taecyeon: Yes.
(Sound of fans sneering)
Q: All members must answer.
Junsu: Yes. I think he is unfit.
Multiple fans: Go on.
Q: I want answers from all members.
(Sound of irritated fans)
Q: (raises voice) Answer!
Nichkhun: Yes.
(Sound of fans demanding that the member explain his answer)
Q: Let me summarize the question for you, since you don’t seem to understand such difficult words. You all agreed on Jaebeom quitting and being terminated from 2PM on January 6th. But after that, you continued to deceive fans by commenting on him. What was the reason behind that? Aren’t you just using fans to make money, and if so, do you all really have rights to ask for love from the fans, and if so, then don’t you ever question your own morality? No yes or no, explain your thoughts.
Taecyeon: Not deceiving but more of not being able to make a decision ourselves. We made an agreement but Jaebeom was still our member and we still think of him as a good friend.
(Sound of fans sneering)
Q: (interrupting a member trying to speak) He is unfit but he is a good friend? Are you all saying that Jaebeom has moral problems but since he can rap and sing and do something he is good in terms of his abilities?
Taecyeon: I didn’t say he is a good friend in terms of his abilities, we really think Jaebeom is a good friend but since he did something wrong we cannot accept him.
(A fan tries to ask a question but host interrupts her)
Q: I want answers from all members. Taecyeon seems to be speaking for the team…
(The fan tries to ask a question again but the host keeps interrupting her)
Junsu: I will answer. Our fans must be wondering what Jaebeom did to cause such problems…
Q: (interrupts) No. I don’t want to know about his personal life, I want to talk about marketing that uses him.
Junsu: We were with Jaebeom during Again and Again and I Hate You, and even before that. So we said we thank Jaebeom when we got awards but really, when we heard of the news we thought it would be hard for Jaebeom to be 2PM’s leader anymore so that is why we made a decision.
Fan: Are you joking? Really, do you think you’re telling a joke?
Multiple fans: We want to hear from other members.
Nichkhun: What I said during the fan meeting was because I really missed Jaebeom so I said that but as we said Jaebeom couldn’t come because of what happened.
(Sound of fans sneering)
Q: Got to tell us about him not being able to come.
Nichkhun: (mumbles)
Multiple fans: Speak in English.
Host: This is a tough question and as you know, his Korean isn’t 100% so he could speak in English if you could excuse him since his Korean isn’t 100% and bad choice of vocabulary could end up not well so regarding that we will do what you want. Chansung, please speak.
Chansung: I think, a friend who is really close and is like a family member made a mistake and, I’m just saying for example here, did something bad but I don’t think it is right to talk badly about his morality or anything. I mean, even thieves have really close friends.
(Sound of fans sneering)
Fan: Is Jaebeom a thief?
Chansung: I was saying…
Fan: What a dumbass.
Chansung: So what I think is that you must be asking why did we say those things after what happened to Jaebeom, but we could say those things because he is still a good friend, and… (pause) what we’ve been saying, we could say we’re 7 and we miss him because what happened did not get announced yet and I think we can still say those. Like I miss him, he is a good friend.
(Fans laugh)
Fan: Wow, I’m getting a really good laugh out of this.
Junho: We know of course how hurt you all are. But what’s important is that I don’t think we used Jaebeom for marketing. When we were planning Heartbeat we did it wanting Jaebeom to come back and thinking he is coming back. Before January 6th, no, January 3rd, whatever program we were on or award show we were at we sang thinking about Jaebeom and him only. Really, that is not a lie. We have no reason to intentionally hurt you. I’m sure many of us miss the days when we were 7. We do too, by a lot. For us to come back like this we prepared a lot and Jaebeom practiced a lot in States and while watching videos of him dance we were thinking when he comes back, we’re going to be on the top. That is why we were giving you guys little hints, for example what I wrote in “thanks to” in our album.
Fan: Thanks to is thanks to.
Junho: But after we learned of what happened on January 3rd, even we hated him for a little while. We had made the path for him to come back…
Fan: Who made that path? We f*cking made that path.
(Sound of fans talking)
Junho: You all made the path. You made that with us. Isn’t that right?
(Sound of fans talking)
Host: Please wait until the answers are over to…
Fan: (interrupts) We cannot communicate if we keep on making reactions while a member is speaking.
(Sound of fans talking)
Fan: (continues on) We can’t hear the answers clearly and ask questions, so please do not react like this when members are answering questions.
Host: Junho, please continue.
Junho: Anyways, we all made the path. Not just the six of us but with the help from all of you. Thanks to all of you who love Jaebeom. Because we were making that path, we hated him when we heard that story and we were so sorry to you. We felt so sorry for fans who had faith in us. I was going crazy. We were together and couldn’t say anything. When we heard of what happened, all I could do is just think of the path we were making and was literally stunned for a while. If someone learns of what happened or you learn about what happened, you’d feel the same. We cannot talk about what happened because we respect Jaebeom. Those of you that are laughing, I know you think this is absurd. How do you think we felt when we heard the story? We thought you were our strength and Jaebeom’s strength so we valued you so much. I am so sad about what’s going on. You all spent about 2 years with Jaebeom. We spent from 3 to 5 years. That is why we were so sad. You might laugh at us but we are over that level, we are just plain going insane, because we can’t be with Jaebeom. The awards we received, we felt that we needed to really thank Jaebeom and all of you so we think we could mention him, at Seoul music awards that you are all concerned about.
Q: Wooyoung, please speak.
Wooyoung: I’m sorry but may I ask a question to guest who asked a question? Not only to you but everyone who are here today. Do you want us to answer just the questions you have prepared today, or do you want to just hear us talk seriously?
Multiple fans: Both.
Wooyoung: Serious talk should be answers to questions. Honestly, my heart is breaking down… (sighs) we came here today willing to invest the entire day and talk seriously with all of you. Please understand that our answers may get dragged on and we think this conference is valuable in that we can tell you our serious stories. We are really sad and heartbroken about what happened. In my case, I wasn’t good enough to be a member of 2PM, as you all know I lacked acrobatic skills or singing skills and thanks to Junho, Chansung, Taecyeon, Khun, Junsu and our leader Jaebeom I could be in 2PM. I was thankful of and felt sorry to our members each and every day because I was not good enough. We could do this together thanks to our trusty members. Even when we were hurt because of little things we tried to talk those out. Although we didn’t have any fans in the beginning but we tried and one by one we started getting those that would cheer us on. I felt really thankful and realized what it feels like to be proud. Every album we tried out best. Jaebeom can make mistakes but really, we might be able to forgive him since we trust him and you all might forgive him… yes, we forgive him. You heard it, right? We forgive Jaebeom. But we made such decision because… (pause) we are not the only ones in this world. Other countries and other nationalities. Living things. We are not the only ones in this world so we couldn’t just think about ourselves. Because we thought about others we started thinking into the future. Thought about we might feel really hurt now, but will we regret out decision in future? Those were our concerns. This decision left a crack between our fans and us. We do not want that, nor do we want a crack between Jaebeom and us. We prepared with all our heart and because of that the crack feels so wide. I spoke with all my heart but if you still feel the need to point fingers at us, please understand the feelings of us 7 of 2PM, that way we can be over this crack and together again. Those are my thoughts.
Junsu: It is obvious for you all to be angry and hate us. You all loved us so much but those kids made an absurd decision, so the words we say must be hateful and hurting. But as Junho said, think about how we would feel, and we did not give up on 2PM. We came to that decision regarding Jaebeom because we had no choice and it makes us sad. I dare say it is really sad. (raises voice) we made that decision because we had no choice but to. The reason we keep calling him a good friend is because he really is. It is above the level of something social or humane; even we can’t protect him from it. (sigh) Please understand us.
Nichkhun: It breaks my heart.
Junsu: The situation where you are angry and misunderstandings are being built, having to hold a conference is really tough. Things happen during lives. We will try our best in answering you today. Thank you.
New Q: Two questions. I would like to ask the members, when was the last time you contacted Jaebeom? What did you talk about? Does he know about this conference? Also, there are many rumours out there right now. This is really a question to the company, but to members, I heard one member was all for letting Jaebeom go and one was against it until the end. I also heard the company abandoned him because 2PM was fine without him, and admins of large fan communities are being bribed by the company. Such unspeakable rumors are out there. Members, are there any rumors you wish to explain? Company, do you plan on doing anything about these rumors/ When rumors spread they become reality and become accepted, so do you plan on doing anything about that? If the members have anything to talk about regarding the rumors, please speak up.
Taecyeon: On contacting Jaebeom, Khun texted him yesterday, to see if anything was up. They talked about the situation andon what happened online when the statement went out. Jaebeom knows of the conference. Regarding the rumours, there are lots of absurd rumors out there. Not even ones like who agreed and who disagreed, there are ones that shocked us and as Wooyoung said, we had no choice but to make such decision and there are many rumors out there but most them are made up. As statement revealed, we were waiting for him to come back starting in October and our album name was changed from “Heartbeat” to “1:59PM” because he was coming back. (sigh) It was all planned like that so abandoning him because the six of us were doing well is pretty absurd. If you have questions regarding other rumours then please ask again.
Host: You asked a question to JYPE too, but we will first let the fans and 2PM members have sufficient time to talk and later talk about questions you have for the company.
New Q: You said Jaebeom knows about the conference. Did he say anything about this?
Nichkhun: Jaebeom said he wanted to shoot some video with you, and said he is really sorry… and that’s it.
New Q: (angry voice) I would like to ask a question that is not on the questionnaire sheet. I believe I am the oldest fan here today. I am a mother with a son who is as old as the members. What I want to know is the rumor that everyone here knows of but cannot talk about. I’m sure all members know of it. Jaebeom is being talked of like a trash. You all know, right? You just can’t say it. He is like a human trash. Apparently what happened will have bigger social impact than the mistranslation that happened last year. It is already on the news. Personal problem with big social impact means termination? Reading the statement by the company, the problem is something everyone can gossip about. The members said we cannot accept him when considering not only us but what is being viewed to the society. We are fans who knew him for 2 years but you knew him for 4, 5 or 3 years and you just let go of his hand. I don’t know how big of a personal issue it is but he is a human trash on the Internet because of it. Members must know; you use the Internet daily. My son goes to the army next month. I am here today because this issue really doesn’t sound like someone else’s. I want to ask this. Jaebeom has to live his entire life with that issue haunting him unless a proper explanation is made. Wooyoung, did you say you didn’t abandon 2PM? You didn’t abandon 2PM, but the fans are about to. When a person’s heart meets with another’s then they can even accept enemies who killed their children. What kind of socially wrong thing did he do? Murder? Drugs? It was a moral slip not a criminal one. Why would he mention it to the company? I don’t know what kind of mistake he made but I don’t think this is right. On the Internet, Jaebeom is international trash. He is below human. That is all.
Taecyeon: Thank you. Who wants to answer?
Multiple fans: Everyone should.
Taecyeon: Everyone? I’m sorry; I couldn’t really hear the question.
Fan: Let me reiterate it for you.
Taecyeon: Yes, please.
Fan: (continuing on) So you don’t need to mention what Jaebeom did. But from your perspective, is Jaebeom’s wrongdoing something that is a problem because he is a celebrity or would it be a social problem even if he was not a celebrity.
Multiple fans: That’s not it…
Wooyoung: We are sorry to have made a decision when you were watching, and honestly, we are really hurt but we are still trying to make a smile. The reality hurts but, if we were to cry, we would look irresponsible. We think this is the way we can protect Jaebeom until the end. We think this is a social problem to the point where we can’t mention it or answer to your question. We can’t answer even in a conference like this where we are taking time to be hurt and question and answer. Heart and heart, that is important, faith. We think in a situation like this we can’t answer as a human and us 2PM, even in far future, until the end, until we die, we will try our best to not forget about us. Even when we get married and have kids, we won’t forget that we were 2PM, we are one. We don’t think this is the only way to defend Jaebeom. We’re not letting Jaebeom go. We are protecting him. But this is really social… (sigh) we can’t speak it with our own mouth. We are really sorry. We can say sorry because we are one and we didn’t abandon him from our heart. Please don’t misunderstand. Let’s make a promise. Not us six but us seven, and with everyone here, let us make a promise. (fans sneer) Whatever people say, we will defend him until the end. I thought that was the best we could do.
Host: So the questions are answered…
Multiple fans: (demands that the question be answered properly)
Wooyoung: Being a celebrity or not doesn’t matter. If you’re a human, if you’re a human… we can’t do much, really.
Multiple fans: (demands that the question be answered properly)
Fan: He is clueless.
Fan: Let me summarize the question for you. So you think he is a good friend but you don’t think he can be in 2PM and work with you. That was the question but you answer very vaguely.
Wooyoung: It is not vague but I can’t help it. There have been many questions and answers but there is only one answer. We made the decision because we really had no choice but to do so. I won’t ask you to understand us. We are heartbroken and it feels like facing the cold winter naked. This is tough, really.
New Q: Wooyoung mentioned that the decision was made for all 7 members of 2PM. The decision was made to protect Jaebeom but the words “personal life” were mentioned in the statement. That word is spawning many rumours so I want to know what you felt after reading the statement.
Wooyoung: The statement from our company?
Q: I’m not done yet. Also, you said it is a secret that you can take to the grave, but about criminal law…
(The fan mumbles and another fan takes over the questioning)
You said that what happened was a big problem and should not have happened. Criminal law exists to control such problems. If the problem is so large and socially wrong then it is a criminal matter, not social. Talk of morality was not even on the statement. Rumors popped up when the statement said “personal life,” and when few rumours became well-known you said that was not right, but I am really curious. What kind of problem is not criminal and only moral, but is large enough to cause this?
Taecyeon: I don’t believe we mentioned morality.
Wooyoung: Let’s say Jaebeom came back after committing a legal wrong. Would he be able to perform as 2PM? We might be able to forgive him, but the society might not. (fans yell out, he can take punishment) I said it is something that I can’t speak about. (fans yell out, he needs to receive punishment) Punish? (fans yell, yes) Punishment is for a court. We won’t punish him.
(Fans keep pointing things out and Wooyoung mumbles)
Junsu: You all are keep asking questions regarding what Jaebeom did. We’ve known Jaebeom for a long time, and we were questioning did Jaebeom really do that? It was that shocking. If you are here today because you love Jaebeom who used to be the leader of 2PM, please refrain from asking such questions. If you really love him.

That concludes the first 58 minutes of the conference. Stay tuned to allkpop for the second part.

Jaebeom’s mother speaks up about controversy

2010-03-03T21:16:00.000-08:00

A fan site that is currently protesting against leader Jaebeom’s departure from beast idol group 2PM, Underground, stated on March 1st, “We will do good things for Jaebeom while being his ‘right and left wings.’”

The site wrote,

“On February 25th when JYPE irresponsibly and unfairly declared Jaebeom’s permanent absence as a member of 2PM we said we would go against the company. By any means possible we wanted to return Jaebeom his repuatation that had become tarnished. However, for 6 months Jaebeom and his family members went through a hard time handling various hurtful rumors that had spread around. They no longer want Jaebeom to become an issue now, and are hoping that time will heal.”

In response to how Jaebeom’s family members felt, Underground has decided to respect their wishes. Fansite members feel frustrated and unfair towards the situation but believe that supporting what Jaebeom and his family wants is a part of a fan’s last act of love towards the ex-idol.

In addition, Jaebeom’s mother also spoke up about the issue and addressed fans,

“I want to send my thanks to all the fans. Please continue to keep an interest and watch Jaebeom once in a while. Despite all kinds of rumors that could more than cause a person to despair, our Jaebeom has shown us his normal self and allowed us to not despair but have hope. I thank all the fans again and pray that their hurt feelings caused from this issue will heal quickly. They have done so much.”

Meanwhile, the rest of the six 2PM members Taecyeon, Junsu, Junho, Nichkhun, Wooyoung and Chansung held an official meeting with fans on February 27th regarding Jaebeom’s permanent leave from 2PM. The fans where only able to exchange their thoughts on the issue but not have much impact on any of the decisions, which caused many to become angry and hold a protest in front of the JYPE office located at Seoul Chung Dam Dong.

Hitler infuriated with Jaebeom’s departure from 2PM!

2010-03-03T21:14:00.000-08:00

So I’ve been telling my hardcore Hottest friends to relax since the recent Jaebeom news doesn’t mark the apocalypse, but I guess I was wrong after all – it looks like Hitler (you know, that one guy who tried to take over the world) himself has quite a few words to say about the whole 2PM matter.

And with that, this controversy has fulfilled Godwin’s Law…

Obviously, this isn’t an actual clip of Hitler, but rather a scene from the 2004 movie Der Untergang that has been parodized many times now for a variety of topics, from Blu-Ray vs HD-DVD to the iPad; one kpop fan even made a version for SNSD.

The whole controversy has become quite serious and is undoubtedly a sensitive topic for many, but it’s nice to see a little comic relief amidst the mess. Be honest – did this video lift your spirits, or at least make you quirk a smile?

Hottests reveal incriminating photos of 2PM members

2010-03-03T21:12:00.000-08:00

And you thought it couldn’t get any worse – photos of 2PM have been pulled out by Hottests, revealing unexpected sides of the 2PM members that we didn’t know of beforehand.

As fans and readers know, 2PM’s Junsu made headlines last year when Thai performer Waii claimed to have been in a relationship then with the hottie, then broken up with him because of the public. This rumor was unofficially denied by a JYPE rep via Twitter (with hints of a lawsuit), but unearthed photos linking Waii to megastar Rain (an ex-JYPE artist) and CUBE Entertainment have cast a shadow of doubt on the whole matter. Junsu himself denied even knowing Waii, but this recently unveiled photo indicates otherwise:

Now, defenders can argue that we obviously don’t know for sure that this guy is Junsu, but this is pretty incriminating evidence.

Furthermore, a photo of what looks like a possibly intoxicated Taecyeon Seulong (2AM) and Wooyoung with some girls has been revealed:

Another photo has been unearthed, revealing 2PM’s (underaged) maknae Chansung allegedly drinking alcohol. These photos were supposedly taken in September 2006, making him sixteen at the time:

So why the sudden surge of unfortunate photos being released by 2PM fans of all people? It’s been said that many Korean Hottests kept these photos from being released to the public in order to protect 2PM; however, after the now-infamous Jaebeom conference (in which a rep unwisely asked fans why they hadn’t protected their idols), many damaging photos and quotes have been revealed.

It took four days for Jaebeom to go from one of Korea’s top idols to an exiled young man; it’s taken only three for 2PM (or 1:59PM, depending on your stance) to reach this low point in their careers. We can only imagine what will happen next and hope for the best.

Fans split over Taecyeon and Wooyoung’s smiling faces on Inkigayo

2010-03-03T21:08:00.000-08:00

This was coming, frankly.

Coming soon after all the controversy revolving around Jaebeom’s contract termination and the ensuing drama, 2PM’s Taecyeon and Wooyoung made their first public appearance on February 28th, hosting Inkigayo with f(x)’s Sulli.

All eyes were on them this afternoon and the duo did not appear too perturbed by events that has happened in the last 72 hours as they hosted the show with their usual bubbly selves, especially during interviews with Heechul, T-ara and Kara.

Straight after the show though, two camps of opinions surfaced on the bulletin boards of the Inkigayo website, over Taecyeon and Wooyoung’s appearance.

Some felt uncomfortable watching them hosting like nothing has happened at all and were behaving like normal. Others felt disappointment and betrayed and that it was uncomfortable to watch them. Those who were for them said that they can’t be looking sad for a live broadcast and some expressed that life must go on.

2PM to continue with all activities, album still set for April

2010-03-03T21:07:00.000-08:00

So what’s next for 2PM?

It’s a question that plagued us all last September when Jaebeom left Korea, and with the shocking conclusion to this entire mess six months later, it feels like we’re back to where it started.

Last fall, JYP Entertainment ceased all activities and kept the remaining six members out of the limelight for a while, but it’s been announced that 2PM will continue with all individual & group activities as planned. This includes appearances on Family Outing, Win Win, music shows and more.

It was earlier reported at the beginning of January that 2PM would be dropping an album in April, and it looks like they will continue preparing for this as scheduled. Because the World Cup begins in May, the album was set for April to optimize success. Although many fans believed that the recent Jaebeom contract announcement would disrupt the production process, JYPE & 2PM won’t be delaying activities at all, according to Hankook News.

Unlike in September, it looks like the support behind “6PM” is much weaker, and just might affect the group’s activities in the future.

A mix of emotions has arisen from Hottests due to the conference, an influx of reports (many of which are misleading & inaccurate) and the wonders of mob mentality. Ultimately, none of us really know what’s going on behind doors, so it’s best to step back & take a breather before jumping to conclusions about anything.

Nearly thirty fansites close after Jaebeom conference

2010-03-03T21:06:00.000-08:00

I don’t think anyone was expecting the aftermath of JYP Entertainment’s Jaebeom contract termination & conference to be mild in any regards, and it looks like the widespread impact is shaping up to be quite the movement.

It’s been revealed on Daum that twenty-six 2PM fansites have shut down in response to the recent happenings.

Take a look at the list yourself:

Manchan (Chansung) http://www.man-chan.com/
I like you (Wooyoung & Chansung) http://www.joahae.net/
Samdeudbo (Junso, Junho & Chansung) http://samdb.mireene.com/
Lee Junho Mansae (Junho) http://www.jh-bravo.net/
Deadline (Junho) http://www.dead-line.net/
To the K (Junsu) http://tothek.ivyro.net/
Tibet Wolf Wooyoung (우영) http://tibetfox.lovepc.net/
Busan Man (Wooyoung) http://www.jangwooyoung.xo.st/
Bitter Sweet (Wooyoung) http://jangwooyoung.ivyro.net/
WRbar (Wooyoung & Junho) http://www.junhology.com/
OK Taecyeon (Taecyeon) http://www.ok-taecyeon.com/
Catch You (Taecyeon) http://www.okcat.net/
Taecbum dot home (Taecyeon & Jay) http://taecbum.dothome.co.kr/
Curiousity (Taecyeon) http://www.2pmtaecyeon.com/
Above 5% (Taecyeon) http://notice.ivyro.net/etc/info4.ht★m
Sweet Taec (Taecyeon) http://sweetaec.mireene.com/
Ok K 1988 (Taecyeon & Junsu) http://www.1988.er.ro/
3 Musketeers (Jay, Wooyoung & Junho) http://www.2pm-3j.com/
Know (Nichkhun & Wooyoung) http://know.zoa.to/
Becoming Jay (Jay) http://www.parkjaebeom.net/

http://viyott.ivyro.net/
http://nuneosu.dothome.co.kr/
http://omnivore.er.ro/
http://www.itis2pm.com/
http://www.20080904.com/
http://taecbeom.net/

On the day of the contract termination announcement, the official fanclub lost 14% of its members, dropping from 329,000 to 283,000. Currently, the official cafe has 222,186, making a 106,814 loss, or a 32% drop – yes, a third of the official fancafe in the matter of two days.

It’s heartbreaking to see the 2PM fanbase breaking apart like this en masse. Do you think JYPE & 2PM had it coming?

Taecyeon and Wooyoung will not be hosting Inkigayo this Sunday

2010-03-03T21:03:00.000-08:00

After what seemed to be a calamitous weekend following the shock announcement of Jaebeom’s contract termination, you could have seen it coming.

Just like what happened last year following Jaebeom’s MySpace controversy, it was revealed that 2PM’s Taecyeon and Wooyoung will once again be relieved of their hosting duties on Inkigayo for the February 28th episode.

JYPE announced this through their website, in a short statement saying that they will not be fulfiling their MC duties this Sunday. Who could blame them, considering what has happened in the last 48 hours? For the time being, it’s only been confirmed that they will be missing for this Sunday.

There’s no announcement from the Inkigayo production team and at this moment, we can only assume that f(x)’s Sulli will be hosting the show alone.

Details of JYPE’s conference with Hottests regarding Jaebeom & 2PM

2010-03-03T21:01:00.000-08:00

We have previously reported various fan rumors regarding the content of fan conference that JYP Entertainment held to discuss departure of Jaebeom. As more details are released and previous rumors are confirmed or refuted, this is the second edition to our report on this matter.

The conference lasted four hours, and the content was not released to the press by JYPE as they insisted that they cannot reveal what was said during the conference. This lead to many fan-created rumours about the conference. Oneday Room, a Korean fan page of 2AM and 2PM, released a summary of questions and answers.

I’ve personally translated this transcript into English for our readers:

Q: Underground (fanclub) submitted a new question sheet according to your request for a new one but you still have not answered to it.
A (Representative): We could not give any false answers to the questions as we were planning on announcing Jaebeom’s departure in late February, due to Jaebeom’s request. We wanted to talk truthfully in this conference.

Q: Fans seek to communicate with JYPE. In an event like this where you are to communicate the company’s position, why did you bring 2PM members who are not a part of decision making process within the company?
A (Representative): We believe that a conference like this could take place if the members spoke truthfully. If only the company representatives came, the fans wouldn’t believe us.

Q: We fans who are present right now will consider members who are here as representatives of JYPE and not a part of group 2PM, and consider the words that come out of your mouths as the words of the company. JYPE’s official statement says that the 6 members agreed on what was decided regarding Jaebeom on January 6th. Do any of you disagree with any of the said statements?
A (Members): We agree to the statement.

Q: Assuming the statement is true, why did you torture the fans and bring sympathy to yourselves by mentioning Jaebeom’s name even after January 6th?
A (Members): Jaebeom being a good friend is a different matter from him leaving the group. We don’t think it’s a problem for us to say that we miss him. We think even in future that we can say that we miss him if we miss him, and we don’t think that is a problem at all.

Q: We request that following details on termination of contract between Jaebeom and JYPE be answered and also request that you show us supporting documents as proof. When was the contract officially terminated?
A: February 26th.

Q: After the termination, what legal rights does JYPE hold regarding Jaebeom and how long do you hold those rights for?
A: We do not hold any legal rights.

Q: When does Jaebeom get paid indemnity and his share of profit?
A: There is no indemnity. His share of profit up to December was paid in full during January.

Q: Promise that there aren’t any clauses that limit him from returning to the entertainment industry in future.
A: There are no such clauses.

Q: We request JYPE be responsible this situation as they were not looking after their entertainer Jaebeom with utmost care. JYPE released statement filled with unclear words and thus made rumours surrounding Jaebeom and 2PM spread. Please tell us what you plan on doing about the rumours and what you plan on doing about damage done to Jaebeom, his family and the rest of 2PM.
A (Representative): JYPE is not responsible for personal matters of its entertainers and thus we believe that Jaebeom should be responsible for everything that he has caused. In a logical sense, Jaebeom is the wrongdoer and the company and the 6 members are the victims.

Q: Has JYPE done anything to protect Jaebeom from related news articles and TV programs since last September 5th? Requesting news articles and comments to be deleted aren’t hard, so why did you just watch the fire spread?
A (Representative): We have never requested news articles and comments to be deleted before the September incident. But we had tried our best. After the September incident, we have tried to delete comments and such, but the number of news articles regarding the incident was so large that we could not handle it all. Plus, the media is uncontrollable by us. I hope you understand our situation.

Q: According to JYPE’s statement, JYPE made final decision on Jaebeom on January 6th, but delayed announcing this fact for a month and 20 days, continuously using Jaebeom for marketing throughout the period. Even if the company did not directly and intentionally use Jaebeom for marketing, why did you just watch media sources use Jaebeom’s name?
A (Representative): It is true that final decision was made on January 6th. However, we agreed with Jaebeom to announce this matter in late February so we could not request anything to the media. Again, the media cannot be controlled by JYPE.

Q: Isn’t JYPE responsible for announcing the reason of Jaebeom’s termination as, of all things, “serious personal wrongdoing”?
A (Representative): We had reasons for that. We did not want the 6 members to be traitors. The 6 is more important than the one. We also could not lie in a statement written to be viewed by the entire nation. In practical sense, the 6 members are the victims and if we did not reveal the reason truthfully, then it would have created more rumors. That is why we revealed the reason truthfully, as “serious personal wrongdoing.”

Q: We are told that only the members and few within the company know what wrong Jaebeom has done. If it is indeed a serious matter then we as fans do not want it to be released to the public either. However, since only few within the company and the members know of the incident, can we assume that if the details do slip out into the public then it had been released by JYPE?
A: We hope that the details do not get released to the public; however, there are people who are not within the company that are part of the incident. There are possibilities of them releasing the matters so we cannot take any responsibilities.

Q: Does Jaebeom know that there is a conference happening at the moment? Does he know that JYPE’s official statement says that the reason for his termination is due to personal wrongdoings?
A (Nichkhun): We have texted each other up until recently and he knows that the conference is taking place. He even wanted to send a video message.
(Representative): He is aware of the statement as well.

Q: Is 2PM planning on selecting in a new member or electing a new leader?
A (Representative & Members): No.

Q: Is there no possibility of Jaebeom returning? What if he was to return as a member of a different management company?
A (Representative & Members): There is no possibility of him returning as a part of 2PM.
(Chansung): If Jaebeom was to return despite all that has happened, I’m all for him. However, I’m not positive about his return to 2PM.

Q: Couldn’t JYPE and the members ignore the issues? If the members did not agree to termination of Jaebeom, would the situation have come to this?
A (Members): It was something that could not be ignored.
(Representative): It was a matter that they could not disagree on, thus we believed that they would all agree. Even if they didn’t, the result would have been the same.

Q: The result would have been the same even if the MySpace incident did not happen?
A (Members): Yes.

Q: Do members take care of their Cyworld themselves? Are messages that were on the members’ Cyworld after September 8th really written by the members themselves?
A (Wooyoung): Yes. I felt anxious so I said I’m anxious.
(Chansung): Yes. I wrote “confused” about a personal matter. It was not related to this situation.
(Representative): We were asked why we do not manage our entertainers in previous conferences. Our contract does not limit entertainers’ personal lives. It is something that the entertainers themselves should take care of.

Q: How do the members feel about the boycott?
A (Junho): We thought that Jaebeom would return so we did not care. We merely thought of it as a problem that would get solved when he came back. But I would be lying if I said we didn’t feel hurt by it. If fans continue to boycott us after this, I think I’ll feel that they just don’t want to see us anymore. However, we will continue trying our best in singing and performing.

Q: Do you realize that “serious personal wrong doing” part you wrote on the statement can be considered defamation if it was revealed to be not true?
A (Representative): We wrote what is true.

Q: What do you plan on doing about Jaebeom’s part when performing the first and second single from now on? Also, can he receive additional profits earned by those albums in future?
A (Representative): Jaebeom’s part in performances is something we have to discuss among ourselves. Additional profit would be a matter that copyrights association will deal with, not JYPE.

Q: Would 2PM fan club continue using the title “HOTTEST”?
A (Representative): Yes. Are the 6 members not a part of 2PM? No. The 6 members are still 2PM, so we will continue to use the title HOTTEST.

Q: Members made final decision on Jaebeom on January 6th. The members were currently away on vacation and were spotted with smiles on.
A (Wooyoung): It was our first vacation.
(Taecyeon): We are celebrities. We cannot frown in public.
(Chansung): I cannot make sad faces when meeting up with relatives over holidays. What do you want? Do you want us to cause a scene during live performances, asking for Jaebeom to come back?

Q: Do you know of rumors that are spreading on the Internet? Aren’t you going to protect Jaebeom?
A (Wooyoung): We are not abandoning him, we are protecting him. I thought that if the details were released in future, I might regret my decisions.
(Chansung): Please do not question our friendship.
(Junho): After being told about what he had done, I honestly hated Jaebeom. We tried our best for his return, but right now, I think that staying silent is the best I can do for him.
(Taecyeon): Rumors will go away.

Q: JYPE revealed that contract with Jaebeom was terminated due to personal problems. Why was he not forced to pay any indemnity although he was the one responsible?
A (Representative): Other members of 2PM are promoting various products so indemnity might occur regarding that, but Jaebeom currently is not promoting any products. Thus he does not have to pay any indemnity to advertisers and although he is responsible for the termination, we decided not to charge him for anything.

2PM will continue all of their activities

2010-03-03T21:00:00.000-08:00

It was earlier reported that Wooyoung and Taecyeon will not be hosting Inkigayo this Sunday. However, it seems like there was a change of events, because Newsen has instead reported that 2PM is planning on continuing all their previous activities.

As you all know, JYPE held a conference for 87 Hottests to clear up rumors and answer various questions on February 27.

When asked to cancel all 2PM members’ activities on programs, a representative from JYPE said, “The members will continue to appear on all programs and the schedule will not be changed.”

A representative of SBS Inkigayo said, “Nothing has changed. [Taecyeon and Wooyoung] will appear as MCs just like any other week.”

According to a JYPE source who was at the conference said, “We openly discussed various rumors. The conference was longer than we expected because we tried to answer all questions. The members answered to the best of their ability.”

He also added, “We tried answering all questions related to the rumors roaming around on the internet from the company’s point of view. We tried to reveal what we could about Jaebeom’s personal life.”

It seems like 2PM will continue like nothing happened. But only they know the truth, right?

Jaebeom has plans for AOM album feature and ABDC audition?

2010-03-03T20:59:00.000-08:00

Looks like Jaebeom may be switching gears and moving on after all.

It’s been revealed that Jaebeom might be singing for his friend ChaCha’s upcoming album. ChaCha, a fellow member of Art of Movement (the bboy crew that Jaebeom is a part of) and R&B artist, has been revealing information regarding an upcoming album. The following message was recently posted on Daum’s Tellzone, attracting the attention of many 2PM fans:

Thank you all for subscribing or befriending me on youtube! I’ll try and make time soon to skim through all of your questions, so I can answer them with genuine consideration! If you were wondering, I plan to release a solo album in June 2010 ‘CHA CHA MALONE – TWENTY TEN’ as an unsigned artist and \Jay will be featured on the album with his new and improved voice! He can sing even better now!

So be on the lookout for some fresh new music!!! I love telling stories of experiences in my life, through songs and usually choose not to sing about the pointless things. If you enjoy music that references real life situations, please support the album when it comes out :D You won’t be sorry! –CHACHA

Considering the first sentence of this note, this message was presumably posted on ChaCha’s official Youtube site. However, a quick check on his personal sites as well as Art of Movement’s pages indicates no evidence of this message, so it’s not completely clear whether this message really came from ChaCha or not. Regardless, ChaCha’s upcoming album has been confirmed and has generated much interest already.

Furthermore, rumors have been circulating that Art of Movement may try out for America’s Best Dance Crew (ABDC), a widely popular show featuring dance crews from across the States in a reality-show-like format. These rumors were further confirmed by Nichkhun, who reportedly said at the Feb 27 conference, “I texted Jay … He said he might appear on ABDC, but I told him to just go to school.”

Either way, I’m sure many fans will consider these updates to be quite bittersweet. We’ll sum up this article with a message that AOM has posted on their Facebook page:

It’s great that Jaebeom is getting his act together, but do you think he should be doing that with 2PM instead? Tell us your thoughts!

JYP Entertainment holds conference with Hottests regarding 2PM & Jaebeom

2010-03-03T20:58:00.000-08:00

As allkpop reported earlier, JYP Entertainment announced that staff representatives and the six current members of 2PM would be holding a conference with Hottest representatives from various fan communities (including 2ONEDAY) on February 27. The conference took place at 3PM and is still going on as I type these words; bits and pieces of the conference have already begun to leak out via text message and phone calls from the attendees.

As we are drawing all details of this article from various Korean fan sources, all notes should be treated as rumors and taken with a grain of salt until confirmed. This article is to serve those that would like a live update on the entire event, and shouldn’t be considered as fact.

The conference took place at Songpagoo Moonjungdong shopping mall in Seoul. It’s been confirmed that four all six 2PM members and Park Jin Young himself were in attendance.

Before the conference started, the attendees were reportedly served tonkatsu for lunch and received tangerines as dessert. Despite the gesture however, the atmosphere was tense, and the room was filled with many angry and crying people; one 30-year-old woman was even kicked out for yelling. Furthermore, people were asked to leave because they were secretly caught texting or recording excerpts from the conference. However, over the course of the conference, people began to calm down.

Although this event was expected to be more of a fanmeeting than a Q&A discussion, attendees did receive the opportunity to speak and ask questions. 2PM Underground, one of the fan clubs in attendance, reportedly even brought a lawyer in order to put the situation in a legal perspective at the event.

The 2PM members reportedly confirmed that they had all agreed to let Jaebeom go; furthermore, Park Jin Young stated that he would help Jaebeom if he tried to make a return by himself in the future.

We’re anticipating more factual details to be released in the next few hours, so expect a full update from allkpop soon as we follow this highly controversial matter. Again, until our official report, please keep in mind that the statements in this article are based off information we have gathered from multiple Korean fan sources, and should be considered as rumors until they are confirmed.

70 fans outside JYPE building in protest

2010-03-03T20:51:00.000-08:00

This recent Jaebeom controversy seems to be keeping everyone on their toes, Hottest or not!

Within less than 24 hours, 2PM has lost thousands of fans, JYPE has been mobbed with angry Hottests, and 2PM members are even being blamed for Jaebeom’s withdrawal.

It has just been reported that seventy Hottests are protesting in front of the JYPE building. However, rather than raiding the building, these fans have quietly been gathered around the building entrance, watching JYPE’s moves.

One fan stated, “We are not standing here to ask JYP for his position. I just came here because I felt like I had to do something after hearing the news.”

On the 25th, 100 Hottests have been gathered around the JYPE building after hearing the news of the official termination of Jaebeom’s contract. Today, the 26th, fans have started to gather around the premises early in the morning, bringing the count to 70 fans as of now.

One particular fan had brought a chrysanthemum with her and explained, “I prepared this chrysanthemum to symbolize that 2PM fans died along with Jaebeom’s withdrawal.”

Aside from the mobbed JYPE building, netizens have been criticizing certain 2PM members, and as of now, Wooyoung and Taecyeon seem to be the main targets. It was reported earlier that Taecyeon had shut down his minihompy, which may have been a smart choice.

Although there are some positive comments left for the other 2PM members, there seem to be more netizens trying to bring down the 6-member 2PM. One of the comments left by netizens stated, “Ok Taecyeon, are you happy now?” and others demanded both Wooyoung and Taecyeon to step down from their variety shows and MC positions. These two are most likely being attacked by netizens because they are the most active members from 2PM.

The aftermath of Jaebeom’s contract termination

2010-03-03T20:49:00.000-08:00

Following JYP Entertainment’s official statement on the 25th that 2PM’s Jaebeom would, in fact, not be returning his rightful position as the leader of the 7-member group, an ominous cloud was cast over the nation.

In September 2009, Jaebeom stepped down from his position as 2PM’s leader after his “offensive” MySpace comments about Korea were publicized. Due to the sensitive issue of Jaebeom’s departure, all 2PM activities were suspended temporarily. After the brief hiatus, 2PM returned to the music scene with their first full-length album, without their leader. Since then, the beastly idols reaped various year-end music awards–including “Song of the Year” for Again and Again–and enjoyed skyrocketing growth in new endorsement deals.

The small hope, which Hottests have been desperately clinging onto, that Jaebeom would one day unite with 2PM once again, vanished as quickly as his departure to Seattle. Needless to say, Korean and international fans from all over the world have not taken the recent news lightly. In fact, the overall reaction to Jaebeom’s contract termination are already taking a devastating toll on JYP Entertainment.

After the company’s announcement on their official website, 2PM’s fancafes and fansites have been in complete disarray. In just five hours, 2PM’s official fan cafe on Daum lost 46,000 members (and counting) from the original 329,000, a hefty 14% chunk of the community.

Taecyeon shut down his Cyworld while Junsu closed his photo and comment sections off from the public.

It has been reported that there are even bodyguards stationed at the JYP building in Cheongdam at the moment. Perhaps it is to ensure the safety of 2PM and the staff members, but to my recollection, the managers themselves are the ones to watch out for.

Despite JYP Entertainment’s lengthy letter posted online, Hottests speculate that they are lying and are currently in the process of collecting evidence to thwart what they allege to be false statements.

Full letter from JYP Entertainment regarding Jaebeom

2010-03-03T20:48:00.000-08:00

As previously reported, Park Jaebeom is now confirmed to have permanently left 2PM. We released a small excerpt from the full message earlier, and now have an uncut translation of the entire letter for our readers.

In the past few hours, the kpop world has simply exploded with not only grief but confusion due to many theories and news reports that point in all directions. allkpop works around the clock to provide you with the fastest news, but we also value quality and accuracy as well, and hope this full statement will help our readers understand the convoluted matter at hand.

We at allkpop have translated the whole letter, which was posted on JYP Entertainment’s official website, into English here:

Hello, this is JYP Entertainment.

Last September, 2PM’s member Park Jaebeom announced his withdrawal from the group and returned to Seattle after a message he wrote on the internet during his trainee days caused backlash. We will now reveal what course of action will be taken.

Although the message that became an issue last September upset many people, it was written during Jaebeom’s tough trainee days on his personal page. At the time, the company agreed with Jaebeom when he asked to take some time for self-reflection. We did not think that this meant that he would stop all activities in the entertainment industry or that he would leave 2PM.

The company had the option of forcing Park Jaebeom to stay and continue promoting with a 7 member 2PM. However, although netizens exaggerated Jaebeom’s words through mistranslations, his words still had the potential to hurt many people. Because of this, we did not want to endorse Jaebeom and force him to continue promotions because it might have damaged his image permanently in the public eye, and so we agreed with his decision to return to the States.

When a celebrity makes a mistake and does not apologize for his / her mistake or if the company endorses that celebrity, the public view of that celebrity becomes more negative and it was in the company’s thoughts that letting Jaebeom withdraw from the group for self-discipline would be good.

Thankfully, after Park Jaebeom left the country, an outpour of support gave him another chance.

After Jaebeom’s leave, we did not release any additional information because we did not want the public to be influenced by malicious sources. Since Park Jaebeom’s return to Seattle, the company has searched for vocal, dance, and acrobatics teachers, and the company producer JYP went personally to Seattle to talk to these teachers and formulate a program.

All recent CF’s, performances, promotions and contracts that have involved 2PM have been made with the mindset that the group would eventually have all 7 members present after Park Jaebeom’s return and so we waited for his comeback.

In November, 2009, the company proposed that Park Jaebeom make his comeback through an album that would have been released this year in April, and Park Jaebeom had agreed to these plans. The plans called for Jaebeom’s return to Korea on the third week of February and a press conference would have been held before promotions as a 7 member 2PM began.

Because of the support he received from the public after his withdrawal from 2PM, Park Jaebeom’s return would have improved 2PM’s efforts and most importantly we would have been able to receive the complete support of the fans once again. The company and the group had high hopes.

However, if the news of Jaebeom’s comeback were revealed too quickly, we felt that the public would once again be negative. Although the fans criticized the lack of information from us, we did not reveal any plans for the comeback.

On December 22nd, 2009, Jaebeom confessed to Jung Wook, a representative, that he had done something wrong during the Again and Again promotions. Apparently, it was far more serious than his MySpace controversy.

The six other members were not notified then as they were busy with year-end activities. On January 3rd, 2010, we all sat down for a discussion and came to an agreement 3 days later that it was no longer possible for Park Jaebeom to continue activities along with 2PM.

We thus decided to terminate our exclusive contract with Jaebeom.

Although we wanted to release this information as soon as possible, Park Jaebeom’s personal situation prevented us from revealing this information until now and we hope you understand.

We would like to emphasize that all the information above is true in its entirety.

We are revealing these details through this message now because if we had lied and gave false information, we would have lost any trust that we held with the fans.

To 2PM and all the people who waited for Park Jaebeom’s return, we apologize deeply and are sorry to have to reveal this sad news to everyone.

The company and the remaining 6 members will prepare even harder and greet you with a better image.

Thank you.

2PM supports a good cause, Happy Bean: Happy Energy!

2010-03-03T20:41:00.000-08:00

In the midst of a large pile of CFs and endorsements, boy group 2PM is also showing their support for a fund-raising program operated by Korean Internet search giant Naver. The campaign is called Happy Bean: Happy Energy!

2PM has been delegated to represent a Child Care program called Busrugy as their saving box. The total amount of beans they raise will be used to purchase backpacks filled with pens, pencils, erasers, notebooks, and other necessary school supplies.

They also released a promotional video, wherein they revealed their hopes for the donation program, and educated the public about the use of the beans.

Whenever a Naver user writers a post or sends an e-mail, the user user earns a bean worth 100 won. The beans can later be given to a charitable organization and Naver provides the money for the contribution.

“We receive our strength from love,” Junsu said. “We receive love from our Hottest fans. Whenever we hear fan chants while performing on stage, we gain a lot of strength. We hope to relay the support we receive from our fans to children in need.”

They even drew amateur self-portraits of themselves and, as expected, Taecyeon did not forget to include his signature Ok-cat drawing.

Jaebeom is not returning to 2PM

2010-03-03T20:40:00.000-08:00

Yes. The worst has happened.

2PM’s ~~leader~~ Park Jaebeom has quit for good, after it was announced on JYPE’s website on February 25th, Hottests in Korea and from all over the world are in shock.

Excerpts from JYP Entertainment’s online letter:

“On December 22nd, 2009, Jaebeom confessed to Jung Wook representative that he had done something wrong during Again and Again promotions. Apparently, it was far more serious than his MySpace controversy.

The six other members were not notified then as they were busy with year-end activities. On January 3rd, 2010, everyone of us (along with the members) sat down for a discussion and came to an agreement 3 days later that it was no longer possible for Park Jaebeom to continue activities along with 2PM.

We thus decided to terminate our exclusive contract with Jaebeom.”

JYPE stated that Jaebeom’s social impulses were a private matter and will not be revealed. They expressed that it was difficult to reveal the details of Park Jaebeom’s offenders who had intruded into his privacy and posted the comments.

JYPE had planned for Jaebeom’s comeback back in November 2009, with the idea of a return in April 2010, to which Jaebeom himself agreed. The plan was for Jaebeom to return to Korea in the 3rd week of February 2010 and have a press conference before resuming activities with 2PM in April. This comeback news were all kept secret, with the aim of protecting Jaebeom and 2PM. But it has now all become void.

We can only hope that the JYP conference planned for the 27th along with the 2PM fan communities will proceed smoothly. Currently, 100 Hottests have gathered at the JYPE building in Seoul to protest at the point of writing

Yoo Seung Jun talks about Jaebeom

2010-03-03T20:39:00.000-08:00

Yoo Seung Jun (Steve Yoo) recently filmed a movie for a Jackie Chan movie titled “Little Big Soldier (aka Junior Soldiers)”, he spent some time off from his busy schedule in Hong Kong for a brief sit down interview.

Not many of you may be familiar with this man and only know him through our articles so here’s just a memory refresher: Yoo Seung Jun grew up in Los Angeles as a teenager and came to Korea in his late teens to become a singer. He was one of the top K-Pop singers in the 90’s and hit his peak in the late 90s with hits like Passion, Scissors, NaNaNa, I Will Be Back and more.

Things were going good until he hit the mandatory military controversy. Yoo Seung Jun was exiled from Korea when he acquired an American citizenship to avoid doing his mandatory military service. Previous to getting his American Citizenship, Yoo Seung Jun stated many times that he would fulfill his obligation and duty to serve as a Korean male in the military. There was much backlash after this and he was kicked out of the country as this move was seen as a betrayal and he was viewed as unpatriotic. There’s been much controversy about whether he was in the right or wrong and if he even deserved the punishment he got. Recently, people have been comparing this controversy to 2PM’s Jaebeom, but in the latter scenario he left on his own whim instead of being forced out.

Yoo Seung Jun got emotional when he talked about his deportation. He stated that he never really had time to properly explain himself. He hopes that one day Korea can forgive him but for the time being he isn’t expecting forgiveness.

Yoo Seung Jun also shared his thoughts on the Jaebeom situation stating, “My heart goes out to him. I wondered how he could continue on after such an incident. As a young man he made a mistake but if people make mistakes, if given the opportunity of a second chance, don’t you think he could grow and blossom into something much larger?”

If anyone knows how Jaebeom feels, it should be this guy. Hopefully it’s a better outcome for Jaebeom though, Yoo Seung Jun is a touchy subject but I wish him the best of luck and hopefully things will work out for him.

2PM & 2AM revive Dirty Eyed Girls, Jo Kwon dances with Taeyeon to Gee

2010-02-23T22:30:00.002-08:00

If you thought last week’s episode of Win Win (Seung Seung Jang Goo) was hilarious then you’ll love this week’s episode.

First up we have 2PM and 2AM reviving the Dirty Eyed Girls and performing Abracadabra. Then we have Taecyeon and Jo Kwon joining SNSD / Girls’ Generation leader Taeyeon to perform SNSD’s hit single Gee. Of course, the diva Jo Kwon steals the show with his dirty antics. Every segment that’s been on the show the past few weeks have been nothing short of…

2AM’s Jo Kwon was upset about comparisons to 2PM

2010-02-23T22:30:00.001-08:00

On the February 23rd episode of KBS 2TV’s Win Win, Jo Kwon and the rest of his 2AM members spoke about their feelings with being compared to 2PM’s success during their debut days.

Jo Kwon admitted, since both groups were from the same JYP Entertainment family and because they were like brothers, 2AM was happy for 2PM’s success. However, Jo Kwon also stated that it’s human nature to be upset about the comparisons, as 2AM was not as successful, albeit debuting two months ahead of 2PM.

On a brighter note, 2AM is now extremely successful and the other members stated, that when 2AM members were down, 2PM was always there to cheer them on and sympathize for them. 2AM added, that is also the reason why they are such a close family now.

2PM sings Won’t Let You Go Even if I Die while 2AM sings Again & Again

2010-02-23T22:27:00.000-08:00

The latest episode of Seung Seung Jang Goo (Win Win) was filled with many great moments and here’s another one to add to the list.

This segment features the boys of 2PM singing 2AM’s hit single Won’t Let You Go Even if I Die. The 2PM boys did a fine job but 2AM took over and showed them how it’s done. 2AM also sang 2PM’s hit single Again & Again in a beautiful harmonious voice, those 2AM boys know how to sing!

2PM’s Junho loves to shop in the women’s section

2010-02-23T22:26:00.000-08:00

As we’ve reported earlier, members of idol group 2AM recently revealed secrets about the beastly members of their brother group, 2PM during a recent filming for KBS 2TV’s Win Win. The members of 2AM appeared as surprise guests to show their support for 2PM’s Wooyoung, who is an assistant MC on the show.

On top of revealing 2PM’s desires to have girlfriends and talking about comparisons that have been made about the two groups, 2AM also had something to say about 2PM’s Junho.

When the MC asked, “Of all the members in 2PM, who spends the most time obsessing over his looks?”, 2AM answered, “Three years ago, Junho became really obsessed with buying discount clothes online. He was constantly buying cheap clothes online everyday… But the problem was that he was buying girl’s clothes,” causing everyone in the audience to break out in laughter.

Make sure to tune in to Win Win catch all the gossip about the boys of 2AM and 2PM. I imagine Junho must be feeling pretty embarrassed now that his obsession with clothing for ladies is out of the bag.

2PM & JYP send messages to their fans through YouTube

2010-02-23T22:18:00.000-08:00

Earlier today, we saw YG Entertainment’s Big Bang and 2NE1 give a video message in English for international fans on YouTube, and now we’ve got 2PM and Park Jin Young revealing messages of their own as well!

Each of their videos lasted around a minute, and both 2PM members and Park Jin Young sent their Lunar New Year’s greetings. The boys of 2PM thanked their fans for all the love they have given them so far and informed them to subscribe to 2PM’s channel. Park Jin Young also told the viewers to subscribe to JYP’s channel and encouraged the fans to comment on their page for improvements and supports.

As you can see from the videos, Taecyeon and Nichkhun, who both lived in America for a long period of time, spoke very fluently in English for 2PM’s video message while Park Jin Young spoke Korean. Without further ado, check it out!

Taecyeon in Cinderella’s Sister promo photos

2010-02-23T08:45:00.001-08:00

We’re only around a month away from the pilot episode of the upcoming drama Cinderella’s Sister. This new drama will star many top actors but a newbie is also included in the cast and that is 2PM’s Taecyeon.

Many fans are excited to see his acting skills and after seeing these pictures, I’m sure they’ll be at the edge of their seats. Some still shots of him filming for the drama have been released and people are pointing out how serious he looks. He definitely is getting into the acting the way he gets into ripping off his shirt.

He has received many compliments from the staff of the drama. His character, Jung-woo, loves Moon Geun Young’s character Eun-jo.

Maybe a kiss scene in the future?

The staff said they saw fans waiting around for more than four hours in the freezing cold and they got to see how popular Taecyeon really is.

The members of 2PM are definitely showing their support as well.

While Taecyeon was filming in Gyeonggi-do, the members visited him. They were there to cheer him on during filming.

An associate said that the fans were caught off guard to see all the members show up. I’m sure they were more happy than shocked though.

The drama will premiere on March 31st in place of Chuno.

2PM’s Junsu was supposed to debut as a member of 2AM?

2010-02-23T08:44:00.003-08:00

As you all remember, 2PM were last week’s guests on KBS 2TV’s talk show, Win Win (Seung Seung Jang Goo), hosted by Kim Seung Woo. On the latest episode of Win Win, which will be broadcasted on the 23rd, 2AM “visited secretly” to make a surprise appearance on the show, during wich they revealed an interesting information about a member of 2PM.

If some of you don’t know (shame on you), the members of 2PM and 2AM once trained together before their debut, and not as the two separate groups that they are distinguished as today. They were called “One Day” (PM+AM=Day, you get it?). The boys trained for three years, while a few were eliminated along the way. At the end though, those remaining were divided into what we now know as 2PM and 2AM.

What 2AM revealed on the show was that 2PM’s Junsu was actually grouped with the members of 2AM and practiced 2AM’s debut song This Song for six months. But at the end, there were more changes made within the members and Junsu was eventually grouped with 2PM.

Can you guys imagine Junsu in 2AM? His singing is definitely up-to-par with the rest of the 2AM members, but on the other hand, he plays a significant role as the main vocalist of 2PM in carrying the vocals of the group.

Wooyoung’s father didn’t support his son’s dreams for two years

2010-02-23T08:44:00.001-08:00

On the latest episode of KBS Win Win (Seung Seung Jang Gu), 2PM’s Wooyoung revealed that his father had been against his dreams.

As fans know, Wooyoung’s always had a dream of becoming a singer; however, his father initially opposed it because he wanted his son to have an easier, normal life. However, Wooyoung did not give up on his dream, like his father had hoped, and persistantly attended dance practices. Even while taking dance lessons and pursuing his dream, Wooyoung did not give up on studying and studied as hard as he danced in order to receive his father’s acknowledgement.

In order to receive his father’s approval, Wooyoung wrote three letters a month for two years, and his father eventually gave in. Now, ever since he became a singer, his father has become the one sending him letters of encouragement.

Every 2PM member wants a girlfriend?

2010-02-23T08:43:00.000-08:00

As we reported earlier, the latest episode of KBS 2TV’s Win Win (Seung Seung Jang Goo), which is set to air on the 23rd, featured 2AM as guests. During the show, Jo Kwon was asked, “Do any 2PM members want girlfriends?” to which he replied, “All the members of 2PM want girlfriends.”

Jo Kwon also revealed an interesting information about 2PM members. He commented, “Taecyeon is really lonely. He always says, ‘I want a girlfriend.’ … Junho says, ‘Why don’t I have a girl…’ and always puts himself down.”

Jo Kwon continued, “I always tell him not to worry and brighten up. Yet all Junho does is laugh, and he never listens to what I say sincerely,” to which the cast bursted into laughter.

I’m sure there are billions of girls who want to be Taecyeon or Junho’s girlfriend… any volunteers here?

Stay tuned for this episode on February 23rd!

Nichkhun and Doojoon land in Manila for Danbi

2010-02-21T20:13:00.000-08:00

Several days ago, we reported that 2PM’s Nichkhun and actress Song Ji Hyo would be flying to the Philippines to participate in charity work for MBC Danbi. Thanks to our readers doschh and Jullia, it has been confirmed that Nichkhun has landed in Manila, Philippines along with BEAST’s leader Doojoon. Check out this fancam of the Danbi team landing in Manila!

Amidst all the screaming fangirls (and fanboys, possibly), you can make out Nichkhun smiling under his cap. And although Doojoon had previously volunteered in Africa, it looks like he came back to contribute more of his time to the less fortunate. As we are still left to wonder what this episode will be about, be sure to check back at allkpop as we bring you more developing news!

2PM’s full rehearsal clip disclosed

2010-02-21T20:11:00.000-08:00

If you are still replaying the 17-second footage of 2PM’s rehearsal video for MBC Star Dance Battle, there is a now a more convenient alternative to meet your fangirl needs.

A full clip of 2PM practicing Chris Brown’s Take You Down and Pit Bull’s Bojangles has been made available for the Hottests’ public’s viewing.

Even in baggy sweats and casual shirts, 2PM sure knows how to make the ladies’ heartbeat skyrocket through the roof. The beastly idols may have lost the round to Super Junior, but in my panties’ point of view, it has declared a different winner.

2PM’s “Follow Your Soul” for OPPO Mobile

2010-02-21T20:06:00.000-08:00

The boys of 2PM have yet another song to add to their CF tracks collection! This time, the group will be promoting the OPPO Mobile Phone. So far only the song titled Follow Your Soul has been released. There has been no word about 2PM filming CFs or taking promotional pictures for the product. For now, just sit back and enjoy this upbeat track!

JYPE to hold conference for 2PM to hold discussion with fans

2010-02-21T20:04:00.000-08:00

On February 21, JYP Entertainment released an announcement on 2PM’s official fancafe revealing upcoming plans to hold a conference allowing members of 2PM and JYPE staff to meet and hold a discussion with fans next week on Saturday, February 27.

This conference will allow a maximum of ten members from a number of fan communities to sit down and talk to JYPE/2PM face-to-face. Each fan community is required to fill out a participation application including information regarding their community and the participating representatives.

After many false hopes and disappointments, this is expected to be the first time that JYPE & 2PM will finally open up with Hottests to discuss the matter regarding Jaebeom, leading many to believe that JYPE has reached some kind of resolution to the entire matter. Stay tuned as allkpop follows this anticipated event.

2NE1, 2PM, SNSD and SHINee go back to their debut days on Music Core!

2010-02-20T09:52:00.000-08:00

Music Core went AWOL last week but they didn’t return empty handed. MBC comes bearing gifts as they bring out our favorite idol groups and take them back to their debut days in this special segment called “Back to the Debut.”

The nine girls of SNSD gave the fans a dose of nostalgia as they performed their debut song Into The New World. It’s almost hard to believe that it’s been 3 years since their debut and that these cute and magical girls have now become one of the hottest and sexiest female idol groups on the k-pop scene!

Even though they said goodbye last month, 2PM just can’t seem to stay off the stage. The boys worked it on stage as they performed their 2008 debut song 10 out of 10. And they topped it off with a little bit of Again & Again, again

To celebrate their special 200th episode, MBC patched things up with YG Entertainment and got 2NE1 to appear for the first time ever on Music Core. The girls performed their debut song Fire and their follow up hit I Don’t Care. There’s nothing like reminiscing about the past than with vertigo and carpal tunnel as you bob your head and swag your finger along with the fire as you work it like you just don’t care

Another group that’s gone on break is SHINee as they spent most of their time filming for Hello Baby season 2 . As much as we love the little tiger, fans can’t help but be a bit selfish and steal the boys for awhile to watch them perform their 2008 hit debut Noona is so pretty (Replay). SHINee then topped it off with some Ring, Dinging and Donging.

Taecyeon, Jo Kwon & more perform for couple stages on Music Core!

2010-02-20T09:51:00.002-08:00

To celebrate MBC Music Core’s 200th anniversary episode, there were lots of special stages performed by various artists. Unlike the debut and MC special stages and what now, there were a trio of “couple” stages as well!

First off was Kim Jong Kook and 2PM’s Taecyeon, who performed old school legend Turbo’s Hwesang and Kim Jong Kook’s This is the Person:

2PM’s ‘Star Dance Battle’ rehearsal

2010-02-20T09:51:00.001-08:00

Nearly a week ago, beastly idol group 2PM (minus Nichkhun and ~~Jaebeom~~) duked it out with Super Junior on MBC’s ‘Star Dance Battle.’ Now I don’t know about the rest of you girls but I nearly fainted from their more-than-awesome performance (and don’t lie, I know you drooled over their body waves and pelvic thrusts).

Well lucky for you girls, a rehearsal video has recently been released of 2PM dancing to Chris Brown’s ‘Take You Down.’

2PM and SHINee provide a k-pop dance history lesson!

2010-02-20T09:50:00.001-08:00

On MBC’s Music Core, 2PM and SHINee joined forces to perform the greatest dances of kpop history, ranging from dances by Seo Taiji & The Boys, Deux, H.O.T., Rain, and more!

Six beastly members of 2PM plus five luxurious members of SHINee equals pure hotness!

Wonder Girls, 2PM, Haha & Choi Sung Soo confirmed for Korean Music Festival! [updated]

2010-02-20T09:49:00.000-08:00

It’s that time of the year again – the 8th Annual Korean Music Festival is officially back, and the first batch of performing artists has been announced! Through both Twitter and an official article on its website, KoreaTimes has announced that the following artists will be flying to Los Angeles this May for this concert:

MC: Haha

New Generation:
2PM
2AM *
Wonder Girls
Leessang *
Kim Jong Gook *

Old Generation:
Joo Hyun Mi *
Choi Sung Soo
Kim Yeon Jah *

Keep in mind that this is only the first set of artists, so more announcements are to come!

The Korean Music Festival, which takes place at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on May 1 this year, is a rare opportunity for kpop fans to come together and enjoy live performances from some of their favorite Korean artists in the States. In past years, we’ve seen the likes of TVXQ, Big Bang, SNSD, Super Junior, SS501 and many more perform, and this year’s list is already promising a festival that will live up to the hype.

The ticket frenzy kicked off back in January, but you can still purchase a seat on KMF’s official website. Stay tuned for more on this music festival, or, better yet, grab a ticket and experience it in person – we’ll see you there!

* UPDATE:

KoreaTimes’ official KMF Facebook page has been updated with a disclaimer about a few of the artists originally on the list.

A few other artists were mistakenly listed on a koreatimes.com article. They are UNCONFIRMED. New artists will ONLY be released through the official Korea Times music festival Facebook page and twitter account.

Why was 2PM’s Junsu absent on Music Core?

2010-02-20T09:48:00.000-08:00

Although many fans were sorely missing a certain leader during 2PM’s performance on the 200th episode special of Music Core this evening, he wasn’t the only one missing from the stage – heartthrob Junsu was nowhere to be seen, much to the confusion of many viewers.

In a phone interview with Star News, JYPE Entertainment revealed that Junsu was absent from the stage because he was in the middle of a surgery for rhinitis, aka internal inflammation of the nose. Although the idea of having a runny nose seems pretty trivial, symptoms can get pretty serious, as was the case for Junsu. Last August, there were rumors floating around that Junsu had already gotten a surgery, but it looks like those rumors were false, or that the August surgery wasn’t enough.

During the phone interview, the JYPE rep said,

“Junsu received surgery on February 16 for rhinitis. He is recovering and is currently in stable condition. He received surgery because album promotions were over. However, since 2PM was scheduled to perform the 200th episode special for Music Core, 2PM had to perform with only five members.”

Good to see that Junsu’s recovering well and will be able to return to the stage soon; now let’s hope that another 2PM member can do the same soon as well.

Dance version of 2PM’s Crazy4S MV released

2010-02-18T20:25:00.000-08:00

Hot male group 2PM recently teamed up with Spris to bring forth a music video for their digital single Crazy4S, which was unveiled to the public two weeks ago. Since then, it looks like this project has been pretty popular – Spris is even releasing a special magazine titled 2PM Style Propose for its customers.

Today, the dance version of the MV also surfaced the net, leading to a resurgence of interest in 2PM’s Spris endorsement. This clip is basically the same as the MV sans the individual shots and slow-mo scenes, so take a look!

2PM’s Nichkhun & Song Ji Hyo to hit up the Philippines

2010-02-18T20:24:00.000-08:00

As many fans undoubtedly know, 2PM’s Nichkhun went back to his roots and visited Thailand for a vacation with his fans. Well, it looks like this won’t be the only international trip for Nichkhun this month, because he’s been scheduled to travel to the Philippines in a few days with actress Song Ji Hyo (Goong, The Book of Three Han)!

It’s been confirmed that Nichkhun & Song Ji Hyo will be completing charity work in the Philippines for MBC Danbi, a television program that features celebrities’ charitable sides with domestic & international acts of community service.

MBC Danbi, which kicked off last November, has featured a number of idols in the midst of community service in Asia and beyond. For example, BEAST’s leader Doojoon garnered much attention for his volunteer work in Africa, 2NE1 shed the spotlight on some of Korea’s everyday heroes, actress Lee Ji Ah completed charity work in Cambodia, and actress Kim Jo Soo will be joining the relief effort in Haiti soon as well.

The duo will leave for the Philippines on February 21 to begin the project; the episode is expected to air some time in early March. The exact details of the specific charity work haven’t been revealed to the public yet, but hey, that’s what makes watching the episode fun, right?

YoonA & Taecyeon confront each other about couple ring scandal

2010-02-17T22:22:00.001-08:00

Although the couple ring situation between SNSD’s YoonA and 2PM’s Taecyeon was promptly clarified by Taecyeon via Cyworld back in January, it looks like the duo in question didn’t speak to each other about the issue until recently. It’s been revealed that YoonA and Taecyeon tied up loose ends during the filming for the first episode of SBS Family Outing.

For the first episode, the cast traveled to Misari Regatta, a park & boat racing track about twelve miles from Seoul. To get to the shooting location that early morning, YoonA and Taecyeon got on the same car.

The car ride was reportedly awkward at first, until YoonA brought up the topic of the couple ring matter. YoonA showed Taecyeon her ring, explaining that it was an SNSD member ring. In response, Taecyeon explained that his parents had gotten him his ring. With that, the atmosphere brightened and the duo enjoyed the rest of the drive.

This episode is set to air on February 21. The anticipation has been building for a few weeks now, so stay tuned for the broadcast!

2PM to be featured in a special magazine for Spris

2010-02-17T22:21:00.000-08:00

Clothing brand Spris has released a special magazine, 2PM Style Propose, featuring their brand’s main models, 2PM.

This magazine will be given to all customers of Spris and it will contain clothing from their spring season.

The concept of this endorsement is said to be relatively simple and cute, totally opposite from the beastly image the boys are known for.

Previously, Spris had teamed up with 2PM to film the Crazy4S music video, and it is said that Spris will upload a new dance version of the music video onto their homepage on the 19th.

Jaebeom’s subliminal message to 2PM?

2010-02-17T22:20:00.000-08:00

While 6-member 2PM performed at the MBC Star Dance Battle alongside other Korean artists on the 14th, Jaebeom has been battling it out on the dance floor long before the Lunar New Year celebration. Fans have been able to follow his activities through a handful of videos circulating on YouTube that captured him b-boying with his dance crew Art of Movement in various competitions. They even came out on top to win first place in one of them.

At University of Washington, Jaebeom participated in a recent gathering of “Wild ‘N Out,” held by the Hip Hop Student Association (HHSA). Unlike the other videos we have seen of him online, Jaebeom battled by himself, allowing his individual talent to be showcased. As expected, he breezed past the first two rounds, wowing the audience with his powerful yet fluid dancing. Although he may not have initially had the crowd’s support, Jaebeom eventually gained it, as demonstrated by the progressively loud cheering throughout the video.

Additionally, Jaebeom spiced things up with a bit of Chris Brown’s signature body wave on the floor, a choreography from the latter’s song Take You Down. Coincidentally, 2PM used the same song and dance during their performance on MBC Star Dance Battle. His front flip (seen @5:35) has also been used as part of the choreography for 2PM’s 10 out of 10. Doesn’t it just bring back fond memories?

Whether Jaebeom really intended to reach out to 2PM or not, the very possibility of it is getting me all giddy. Jaebeom needs to come back soon so 2PM (and not 1:59PM) can kick butt at next year’s MBC Star Dance Battle. After all, no one stands a chance in a dance battle when 7 beastly idols come to tear up the stage.

2PM’s Taecyeon is banned from taking acting lessons

2010-02-17T22:19:00.000-08:00

Looks like Taecyeon of 2PM will be beastly as usual in his debut drama – he is now banned from having any acting lessons that might change his angry persona, even a bit.

After news was revealed regarding Taecyeon’s participation in KBS 2TV’s upcoming drama, Cinderella’s Sister, many fans were worried about Taecyeon’s performance, considering the fact that he has no acting experience. Taecyeon is undoubtedly a fresh rookie in the acting industry, especially when compared to his co-stars, including veteran Moon Geung Young.

Well, worry no more! It turns out the production team of the drama actually wanted Taecyeon to be himself and nothing more! “We want Taecyeon to show his stage image directly in front of camera,” the director said.

In response, JYPE revealed, “We were deeply concerned about Taecyeon’s new challenge on his new acting role at first, since he had never taken any proper acting lessons. However, we have decided to accept the production team’s request.”

Taecyeon will officially begin his filming session at the end of this month. His first appearance will be broadcast on April 14th, so stay tuned!

2PM’s Coca Cola CF

2010-02-17T22:18:00.000-08:00

2PM and Coca Cola released a BTS for the CF just a few days ago and now the 30 second spot is finally out!

Did you ever want 2PM in the palm of your hands? Well, in this CF, the members magically transform into mini Coke bottles – ladies, talk about “opening happiness” huh?

2PM on Win Win, Jaebeom still out of sight

2010-02-17T22:17:00.000-08:00

As many already know, KBS 2TV’s talk show, Win Win (Seung Seung Jang Goo) featured 2PM as their weekly guest on the 16th. The episode consisted of each member sharing their own story on various topics. However, no words on their missing leader, Jaebeom were ever spoken throughout the whole show.

This isn’t the first time Jaebeom-related topics were avoided by the host and the stars on variety shows where 2PM attended. However, Seung Seung Jang Goo was a different case, since the show followed a format where the viewers were given a chance to submit their own personal questions to the guests. When the words of 2PM’s appearance on the show circulated over the web, more than 400 questions were submitted online regarding the 2PM members’ feelings toward Jaebeom. Nonetheless, all 400 were eliminated.

For the disappointed viewers who had been highly anticipating the show, the host, Kim Seung Woo stated his words of apology at the end of the segment.

“The topic the viewers inquired about the most was on “Jaebeom.” The 2PM members have explained in prior to the filming that they are not quite ready to give a clear answer towards Jaebeom. We are very sorry for our ignorance on all Jaebeom-related questions.”

Meanwhile, the netizens were able to catch Taecyeon’s subtle way of expressing his thoughts toward the leader, as he clearly stated “Because we have 7 members…” during the show. Although the meaning of the concept, “talk show where viewers can participate” was clearly lost in this episode, the fans were still able to verify that Jaebeom will never be forgotten among the members.

Nichkhun’s two sisters are out of luck for some 2PM love!

2010-02-17T22:16:00.000-08:00

On the most recent episode of KBS 2TV’s Win Win, Nichkhun revealed a very protective side of himself.

When asked which member in 2PM seemed like the best match for their sisters, Junsu replied, “I would like to have Wooyoung as my brother-in-law.” He explained that the reason was that, “He is from the same hometown as me, Kyungsangdo.” Replying to Junsu, Wooyoung made everyone laugh by saying, “Boys like me are the best.”

While Junsu easily made a decision, Nichkhun’s answer was quite different. Many may know that Nichkhun has two very pretty sisters. He said, “I have two sisters. I will never let them date any of the members.”

Hmm…I wonder why? Sorry Nichkhun’s sisters! You guys are out of luck!

2AM and 2PM at the amusement park

2010-02-17T22:15:00.000-08:00

Two very hot groups on the k-pop scene right now are brother groups 2AM and 2PM. Although there’s been a lot of controversy surrounding JYP Entertainment, the boys show that the family still keeps it tight knit as photos of their trip to the amusement park was released.

In the photos are 2PM’s Taecyeon and Chansung, 2AM’s Seulong and JYP dance choreographer Park Nam Yong. They went to Korea’s famous amusement park Lotte World and rode the viking ride, the gyro drop tower, the French Revolution and many others. You can check out the photos below!

2AM’s leader Jo Kwon joins in on the last two pictures of how 2AM spent the New Years at a ski resort with some good ole’ fashion game of billiards.

The release of the pictures finished with a final caption saying, “2pm + 2am = one day, looks like quite a family!“

Taecyeon’s aegyo and acting on Strong Heart, nice dance moves with Junho

2010-02-17T22:14:00.000-08:00

2PM’s Taecyeon is known to be a beast, but he showed off a more tender side as he did an aegyo (acting cute) performance on Strong Heart.

After his aegyo performance, he performed Heartbeat along with comedian Jung Joo Ri… who is known to be a horny old lady. At least she didn’t mount him like she did Big Bang’s Taeyang, a few weeks ago.

2PM’s Nichkhun is envious of…

2010-02-17T22:13:00.002-08:00

Amazing looks, sparkling skin, hot body and legally exempt from military service. 2PM’s Nichkhun is what all men dream of. How could he possibly be envious of another man?

When asked the question during a fanmeeting which was a part of Let’s Take a Break Phuket trip on the 14th, Nichkhun chose ex-2PM leader Jaebeom as the person he has been the most envious of. Why? Because Jaebeom has a “body that is appealing even to men as well as great rapping and dancing skills.” He also said simply, “I miss him.”

Nichkhun also picked his father and his older brother as men who are better looking then him, then proceeded to bring them up to the stage. His brother, Nichan, has appeared in a Thai music videos Dream On and Want to Buy Time.

Stay tuned to allkpop for more news on 2PM.

2PM’s Junho & Taecyeon’s pre-debut X-files revealed!

2010-02-17T22:13:00.001-08:00

On the 15th, some of 2PM’s Junho and Taecyeon’s pre-debut pictures were revealed on KBS’ Big Star X-File.

On this episode, Junho surprised the audience with an adorable picture of himself as a 17 year old. For Junho, the comments about his physical similarities to Rain were nothing new; the idol did however say, “I feel good when [people tell me] that I look like a star as big as Rain.”

Taecyeon surprised the audience as well with his good looks which was evident even as a 19 year old. It was revealed that after Taecyeon’s auditions, he stated, “I guess I’m going to have to push through as a celebrity with my height and face,” and stayed confident.

2PM’s Wooyoung shed tears as a trainee

2010-02-17T22:12:00.001-08:00

On a recent recording of KBS2 TV’s Win Win, 2PM’s Wooyoung confessed that he often cried during his trainee days.

This was 2PM’s first appearance on a talk show since their debut. They explained their group story, from the very beginning to today, in which they are respected as one of the most popular idol bands in Korea.

What brought most interest was a story about their pre-debut days. When the members received the song Only You from JYP, all of them had troubles, especially Wooyoung. He said, “I practiced very hard with little sleep, but even with all that work, I was lacking in Park Jin Young’s eyes. I was getting scolded every day. One time, I was on the piano by myself to work on my pitch, and suddenly, I burst into tears.”

The other members then said, “To make Wooyoung feel better, we bought him ice cream. After we gave it to him, he quickly returned to his normal self.”

Although JYP’s treatment may seem harsh, this was likely done to bring out their hidden potential. After all, it’s commonly known that idol life isn’t all about glamour, and is instead a product of blood, sweat and tears. It’s good to see that all of that hard work paid off!

2PM’s hearts beat for SNSD

2010-02-17T22:11:00.002-08:00

2PM’s Junsu and Junho have revealed that there are SNSD members who make their hearts beat.

On the 16th, 2PM had starred as guests for KBS2 TV’s Win Win. During the ‘Speedy Questions’ corner, 2PM was asked which girl group they liked better, Wonder Girls or SNSD. To this question, both Junsu and Junho chose SNSD. I wonder how Taeyeon, who is an assistant MC on this show, reacted to that!

It has been reported that Junsu had answered the question right away without hesitation. The other 2PM members were supposedly unsurprised by Junsu’s answer, because they were already aware that a certain SNSD member was making Junsu’s heart flutter.

Junho has also betrayed his fellow JYPE family members and stated, “I chose SNSD because there is a member I thought was cute while watching a show.”

The other four members, Taecyeon, Nichkhun, Wooyoung and Chansung presumably chose the Wonder Girls.

So, which SNSD members do you think stole our 2PM boys’ hearts?

Why is 2PM’s Taecyeon so angry all the time?

2010-02-17T22:11:00.001-08:00

2PM’s hottie Taecyeon talked about his beast idol image on a recent episode of SBS’s Strong Heart (Kang Shim Jang).

This beast idol revealed, “Every time we record a song, our boss Park Jin Young emphasizes that we should sing very emotionally. During those times, there are specific emotions that he assigns to each of us 2PM members. To me he said, ‘Taecyeon, you show anger. You show anger no matter what.’”

Taecyeon complained that, ever since then, he has had to use an angered expression for anything, including rapping and the jacket album pictures, provoking laughter in the audience when he began to explain and show some of his different angered expressions on the set.

Be sure to catch this episode on the 16th!

2PM fans outraged after wrestling injuries

2010-02-17T22:10:00.001-08:00

In celebration of the Lunar New Year, MBC aired a special program, “God of Wrestling.”

The show was great entertainment and it definitely raised the holiday spirit – for most fans. Unfortunately, 2PM fans are outraged at the program and a contestant, Jo Young Goo, who went up against 2PM’s Chansung and Junho.

During the wrestling matches, there were incidents where Jo Young Goo crushed Junho’s face, grabbed his neck, scratched his neck and arms, and put a knee into Chansung’s face as well as scratches on his neck. Well that wasn’t smart, as fans have gone on a rampage, attacking Jo Young Goo on various message boards (including MBC’s official board), blogs, and social networks – pretty much everywhere on the internet.

The complaints and angry fans are growing by the hour and they all demand an apology from Jo Young Goo. I’m sure an official apology will be released shortly, if not, well, Jo Young Goo is sure to have a rough road ahead of him.

On a side note, it’s a wrestling match, sure it was a bit rough, but shouldn’t that be expected? Besides, we all know 2PM members are beastly, surely this didn’t faze them at all.

2PM’s Taecyeon is a beast at eating

2010-02-17T22:09:00.001-08:00

As you may know, 2PM’s Taecyeon will star in a drama called Cinderalla’s Sister which will air on March after KBS Chuno. Well, it’s been revealed that his character, Jungwoo, is very similar to to Taecyeon in reality!

Jungwoo is an intelligent young adult who falls in love with Eunjo (played by Moon Geun Young). Because Jungwoo grew up in a divorced household, it wasn’t easy for him to find a woman to fall in love with. Turns out that the reason he ended up falling for Eunjo was… food. A representative of the producers of the drama stated, “Jungwoo is someone who didn’t get to eat meals prepared by his mom. The first woman who prepares a meal for him is Eunjo. After that event, Jungwoo decides to love her forever.”

This happens to be sort of the same in real life for Taecyeon; a JYPE rep stated, “Taecyeon is known for his fast eating. Even in his group [2PM], he is a beast at eating. … Although it’s his first time acting, there are a lot of similarities between the character and himself, so we are confident that he will do well.”

The filming for Cinderalla’s Sister is set to begin this week. Stay tuned for this drama on March!