In a big development, an appellate court in South Korea recently ruled in favour of BTS members V and Jungkook in a civil defamation case against the YouTube channel Taldeoksooyongso. The YouTube channel was
accused of repeatedly publishing false rumours and misleading content targeting celebrities, including members of the globally popular K-pop group.
As reported by Times Now, the court said that the channel’s videos caused significant reputational damage to the artists by spreading unverified and defamatory claims. Taking note of the scale and impact of the content, the court revised the compensation amount upward and has now ordered the channel operator to pay a total of 86 million won (around Rs 55 lakh) in damages to the BTS members.
This marked an increase from earlier rulings, with the court awarding an additional 5 million won each in damages specifically for V and Jungkook. The bench noted that the previous compensation did not fully reflect the extent of harm caused by the videos, and stated that the increased damages were intended to more accurately account for the emotional distress and reputational loss experienced by the artists.
For the unversed, the original civil judgment had already directed the YouTube channel to pay smaller individual sums to V, Jungkook, and their agency. However, the appellate court’s ruling strengthened that decision.
BTS Prepares For A Mega World Tour
BTS, one of the world’s most successful music acts, is preparing to embark on a global tour in April.
The K-pop stars will travel to many parts of the world as part of their Arirang world tour. The tour will open in Goyang on April 9, followed by Tokyo on April 17 and 18. The group will then head to the United States, with shows in Tampa, El Paso, Mexico City, Stanford and Las Vegas between April and May. In June, BTS will perform in Busan and Madrid, before moving to Brussels, London, Munich and Paris in July. August will see concerts in East Rutherford, Foxborough, Baltimore, Arlington, Toronto, Chicago and Los Angeles.
The tour will continue in South America with stops in Bogota, Lima, Santiago, Buenos Aires and Sao Paulo from October. Asia dates include Kaohsiung, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Jakarta, Hong Kong and Manila, while Australia will host shows in Melbourne and Sydney. More cities are yet to be announced, including Japan and the Middle East.
Ahead of the world tour, BTS will drop their fifth album, Arirang, on March 20. The album has 14 tracks and comes nearly three years after their last release, Proof, which came out in June 2022.
