BIGBANG’s Taeyang used the money he made from his charity flea market and fundraising auction for a good cause!

The flea market and auction were held on January 18 at Pier59 Studios and sold items donated by Taeyang, Sandara Park, AKMU, WINNER, iKON, CL, and IONE.

Taeyang delivered 60 million won (approximately $49,504) in profits from the event to the social welfare organization Snails of Love on February 24. The donation will be used for artificial cochlear surgery and language rehabilitation for children and adolescents with hearing impairments.

Taeyang commented, “I am happy to be able to do good work with my fans. I hope it will help children and teenagers who suffer from hearing loss.

Snails of Love expressed gratitude, saying, “There are about 340,000 people across the country who have hearing impairments. More than 90 percent of children who get artificial cochlear implants before the age of three are able to attend normal schools. With this donation, we will be able to gift hearing to more children.”

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The Korean Business Research Institute has revealed this month’s brand reputation rankings for individual idols!

The rankings were determined through an analysis of the consumer participation, media coverage, interaction, and community awareness indexes of 1,135 idols, using big data collected from January 22 to February 23.

BTS’s Jimin held onto his spot at the top of the list this month, scoring a brand reputation index of 9,742,834 for February. High-ranking phrases in his keyword analysis included “comeback,” “YouTube,” and “ARMY,” while his highest-ranking related terms included “cool,” “love,” and “captivate.” Jimin’s positivity-negativity analysis also revealed a score of 88.60 percent positive reactions.

Kang Daniel took second place in the rankings with a brand reputation index of 5,175,632, while BTS’s V came in at a close third with a total index of 5,149,473 for February.

Check out this month’s top 30 below!

1. BTS’s Jimin
2. Kang Daniel
3. BTS’s V
4. BTS’s Jungkook
5. Girls’ Generation’s Taeyeon
6. BTS’s Jin
7. Ong Seong Wu
8. BTS’s RM
9. HOTSHOT’s Ha Sung Woon
10. BTS’s J-Hope
11. BIGBANG’s G-Dragon
12. Kim Jae Hwan
13. GFRIEND’s Sowon
14. BTS’ Suga
15. GFRIEND’s SinB
16. GFRIEND’s Umji
17. Park Ji Hoon
18. GFRIEND’s Eunha
19. AOA’s Seolhyun
20. EXO’s Baekhyun
21. Super Junior’s Kim Heechul
22. ASTRO’s Cha Eun Woo
23. GFRIEND’s Yerin
24. BLACKPINK’s Jennie
25. GFRIEND’s Yuju
26. Red Velvet’s Joy
27. APRIL’s Naeun
28. MAMAMOO’s Moonbyul
29. LOONA’s Chuu
30. EVERGLOW’s Yiren

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The Korean Business Research Institute has revealed this month’s brand reputation rankings for idol groups!

The rankings were determined through an analysis of the consumer participation, media coverage, interaction, and community awareness indexes of 100 idol groups, using big data collected from January 20 to February 21.

BTS maintained their position at the top of the list this month with a brand reputation index of 18,056,586, marking a 31.86 percent increase in their score since January.

High-ranking phrases in the group’s keyword analysis included “comeback,” “album,” and “ARMY,” while their highest-ranking related terms included “love,” “special,” and “donate.” BTS’s positivity-negativity analysis also revealed a score of 67.75 percent positive reactions.

GFRIEND rose to second place in the rankings after seeing a 50.14 percent rise in their brand reputation index since last month. The girl group’s total index for February came out to 5,811,904.

Finally, Red Velvet took third place for the month with a brand reputation index of 5,632,442 for February.

Check out this month’s top 30 below!

1. BTS
2. GFRIEND
3. Red Velvet
4. BLACKPINK
5. (G)I-DLE
6. IZ*ONE
7. TWICE
8. MAMAMOO
9. EXO
10. LOONA
11. SECHSKIES
12. EVERGLOW
13. Girls’ Generation
14. ITZY
15. Super Junior
16. SEVENTEEN
17. Apink
18. The Boyz
19. BIGBANG
20. SHINee
21. Rocket Punch
22. NCT
23. WINNER
24. APRIL
25. Oh My Girl
26. VERIVERY
27. ANS
28. PENTAGON
29. cignature
30. Cherry Bullet

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Seungri is reportedly enlisting in the military.

On February 21, Sports Seoul reported that Seungri is quietly preparing to enlist to the 6th Infantry Recruit Training Center on March 6. According to the source, Seungri has chosen to enlist in the military rather than defer his enlistment again following the draft notice issued by the Military Manpower Administration (hereafter MMA) to Seungri on February 4.

Following reports, a source from the MMA responded, “We cannot confirm the status of Seungri’s enlistment. We cannot reveal personal matters regarding military service.”

Recently, the MMA announced that they sent Seungri a military draft notice “for the purpose of fair imposition of the duty of military service following the conclusion of his investigations.” Seungri was previously scheduled to enlist as an active duty soldier on March 25, 2019, but his enlistment was postponed in order for him to participate in the ongoing police investigations.

If Seungri enlists in March, his trials will be held in the military courts.

On January 30, Seungri was indicted without detention for mediating prostitution services, habitual gambling, and violation of the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act.

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Top Photo Credit: Xportsnews

The Korean Business Research Institute has revealed this month’s brand reputation rankings for individual boy group members!

The rankings were determined through an analysis of the consumer participation, media coverage, communication, and community awareness indexes of 598 boy group members, using big data collected from January 13 to February 14.

BTS’s Jimin topped the rankings for the 14th consecutive month with a brand reputation index of 8,633,706 for February. High-ranking phrases in his keyword analysis included “Busan High School of Arts,” “Black Swan,” and “ARMY,” while his highest-ranking related terms included “cool,” “fever,” and “donate.” Jimin’s positivity-negativity analysis also revealed a score of 89.54 percent positive reactions.

ASTRO’s Cha Eun Woo rose to second place on the list this month with a brand reputation index of 6,837,239, marking a 18.28 percent increase in his score since January.

BIGBANG’s G-Dragon took third place for February, enjoying a 26.49 percent rise in his brand reputation index for a total score of 5,305,890.

BTS’s V came in at a close fourth with a brand reputation index of 5,187,288, while SF9’s Rowoon rounded out the top five with a score of 4,711,274.

Check out this month’s top 30 below!

1. BTS’s Jimin
2. ASTRO’s Cha Eun Woo
3. BIGBANG’s G-Dragon
4. BTS’s V
5. SF9’s Rowoon
6. BTS’s Jungkook
7. BTS’s RM
8. PENTAGON’S Hui
9. BTS’s J-Hope
10. SECHSKIES’s Eun Ji Won
11. PENTAGON’s Hongseok
12. PENTAGON’s Wooseok
13. BTS’s Jin
14. SECHSKIES’s Lee Jae Jin
15. BTS’ Suga
16. EXO’s Chen
17. EXO’s Baekhyun
18. SECHSKIES’s Jang Su Won
19. SECHSKIES’s Kang Sung Hoon (former)
20. PENTAGON’s Kino
21. PENTAGON’s Jinho
22. SECHSKIES’s Kim Jae Duk
23. PENTAGON’s Shinwon
24. The Boyz’s Hyunjae
25. PENTAGON’s Yeo One
26. PENTAGON’s Yuto
27. Super Junior’s Shindong
28. Super Junior’s Leeteuk
29. Super Junior’s Kyuhyun
30. EXO’s Suho

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The Korean Business Research Institute has revealed this month’s brand reputation rankings for male idol groups!

The rankings were determined through an analysis of the consumer participation, media coverage, interaction, and community indexes of various boy groups, using big data collected from January 6 to February 7.

BTS topped the list for the 21st consecutive month with a brand reputation index of 12,787,271. High-ranking phrases in the group’s keyword analysis included “performance,” “ARMY,” and “Starbucks,” while their highest-ranking related terms included “cool,” “kind,” and “different.” BTS’s positivity-negativity analysis also revealed a score of 70.58 percent positive reactions.

EXO maintained their position at second place with a brand reputation index of 3,911,595, while Super Junior rose to third place with a total index of 2,289,821 for February, marking a 25.52 percent increase in their score since last month.

Check out this month’s top 30 below!

1. BTS
2. EXO
3. Super Junior
4. SF9
5. SEVENTEEN
6. BIGBANG
7. NCT
8. SECHSKIES
9. NU’EST
10. SHINee
11. ASTRO
12. MONSTA X
13. TXT
14. VIXX
15. Golden Child
16. INFINITE
17. 2PM
18. HOTSHOT
19. WINNER
20. The Boyz
21. ATEEZ
22. TVXQ
23. AB6IX
24. VERIVERY
25. BTOB
26. Stray Kids
27. VICTON
28. Romeo
29. ENOi
30. GOT7

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The Military Manpower Administration (hereafter MMA) has sent Seungri a military draft notice.

Last March, Seungri’s military enlistment had been postponed so that he could participate in the ongoing police investigations.

Almost a year later, on February 4, the MMA announced, “We have sent Seungri a draft notice for the purpose of fair imposition of the duty of military service following the conclusion of his investigations. We have continuously stated that we would ‘order his enlistment in the same procedure as per usual when the investigations end.’ This is because there is concern that prolonged trials in civilian courts will lead to complications in imposing the duty of military service on him. When Seungri enlists, jurisdiction over his trials will be transferred to the military courts in accordance with the related laws. We will actively cooperate with the prosecution to ensure a consistent and fair judgement, and we will make sure that the trials consider the rulings made by civilian courts regarding the related cases.”

The MMA states that Seungri’s enlistment date and army unit will not be revealed as they pertain to his personal information.

On January 30, Seungri was indicted without detention for mediating prostitution services, habitual gambling, and violation of the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act.

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Top Photo Credit: Xportsnews