Asia: Seungri Arrested Again, Blackpink’s BTS-esque Mission, Diplomatic Country

K-pop’s ongoing legal controversies continue. Former Bigbang member Seungri, who has already been arrested for soliciting prostitutes for a nightclub where he entertained investors, has been rearrested for embezzling funds from a different club, one he has an interest in. 

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency announced that during its investigation of the singer, it found that Seungri and a partner “misappropriated funds” from their club, according to Korea Portal. The police are currently trying to determine just how much money was embezzled and for what purpose. 

The club, called Monkey Museum, is also being investigated for suspicion of bribing police. Seungri reportedly has admitted to giving a police superintendent three tickets to a Bigbang concert. 

Seungri is also caught up in another scandal involving two other celebrities, TV personality Jung Joon-young and Choi Jong-hoon, a former member of the rock band FTISLAND, who are accused of sharing sex videos of women whom Choi and Jung had sex with without the women’s knowledge.

According to Forbes, Blackpink aims to become the female version of BTS, meaning the next big K-pop act to break big in the West. The quartet has already been included in the magazine’s Asia’s 30 Under 30 2018 list, and this month they embark on their debut world tour.

The group debuted in South Korea in 2016 under the auspices of YG Entertainment, which also manages Bigbang and the former girl group 2NE1. Blackpink has already broken records on YouTube and has seen two singles rank high on international charts in the last year. 

Their biggest fan base is in Japan and Southeast Asia, but according to YouTube data there is “significant interest” in the band in the U.S., Brazil and Mexico. The global tour will take them to eight countries outside of Asia. In interviews, the members have attributed their success to their international composition, since they hail from South Korea, New Zealand, Austraila and Thailand. Lisa, the youngest member, who was recruited in Thailand, speaks four languages: Thai, English, Korean and Japanese.

The tour starts in Los Angeles and covers North America, Europe and Australia. Blackpink is signed to Interscope for global representation. They will also be the first female K-pop group to perform at Coachella.

U.S. Ambassador to Japan William Hagerty hosted a country music concert in his Tokyo residence for an audience of about 100 people on March 28 featuring Nashville stars Lindsay Ell, Brandy Clark, Devin Dawson and Frankie Ballard. In the audience was Japan’s most famous country singer Charlie Nagatani, who entertained American servicemen stationed in Japan in the 1950s. 

As a member of the Tennessee Film, Entertainment and Music Commission, Hagerty was responsible for bringing the TV series “Nashville” to his state for production, according to the Stars and Stripes. During the performance he said that country music can be a “bridge between the U.S. and the world.”

Ballard has been touring military bases in Japan recently, but the other three artists were in Japan to perform at a special showcase at the Blue Note Tokyo nightclub.