SEOUL, July 26 (Yonhap) -- BTS member V's message supporting self-proclaimed BTS fan and teenage ping pong sensation Shin Yu-bin has gone viral. Shin Yu-bin, the youngest member of the South Korean women's table tennis team at 17, is a fan of the South Korean supergroup. Shin, who beat Luxembourg's Xia Lian Ni, a 58-year-old veteran athlete, at the Tokyo Olympics Women's Singles Round 2 on Sunday, has often mentioned how she is a huge fan of the septet. Previous interviews showed her carrying photos of BTS members in her backpack, and she has picked the BTS song "Dope," a single from the 2015 EP "The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Pt. 1," as a track that gets her going when she feels down. In June, the teenaged athlete also shared a photo of her holding an autographed album by BTS with the hashtags "BTS" and "Bangtansonyeondan." "I'm a seongdeok," she wrote in Korean, referring to Korean slang that translates as a "successful fan." V, apparently Shin's favorite

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SEOUL, July 9 (Yonhap) -- South Korea announced Friday it will place the greater Seoul area under the toughest social distancing rules of Level 4 as concerns of a fourth wave of new COVID-19 outbreaks over the summer grow stronger. The decision to implement Level 4 guidelines in Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, 40 kilometers west of the capital, Monday for two weeks was reached in an interagency COVID-19 response meeting chaired by Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum. Under Level 4 rules, gatherings of more than two people will be banned after 6 p.m. Demonstrations will also be restricted, although the government will allow one-person protests. Weddings and funerals can only be joined by relatives. Entertainment establishments, including night clubs, will be ordered to shut down, while restaurants will be allowed to have dine-in customers until 10 p.m. The decision was made in light of a recent surge in new virus cases across the country, with a concerning number of outbre

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SEOUL, July 29 (Yonhap) -- Members of popular boy band GOT7, who left their long-time agency JYP Entertainment earlier this year, are stepping up their music activities through solo projects. The seven-piece act -- consisting of Mark, Jay B, Jackson, Jinyoung, Youngjae, BamBam and Yugyeom -- in January left JYP after seven years without renewing their exclusive contract. On Thursday, the band's Hong Kong-born member Jackson released the single "Drive You Home," which he penned and produced the music video for. Jackson has set up his own label Team Wang and has partnered with Seoul-based Sublime Artist Agency. Jinyoung, who signed with BH Entertainment that represents actors like Lee Byung-hun and Yoo Ji-tae, is set to release the self-written song "Dive" at 6 p.m. Thursday. "(I) worked on the song in between other tasks because I wanted to give a song as a gift to my fans," he said. "Thank you for waiting and I'll continue to pay back (your support) with music."

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SEOUL, July 5 (Yonhap) -- The wife of the Belgian ambassador to South Korea, who faced assault charges in Seoul earlier this year, was involved in an altercation with a street sweeper in the city Monday morning, police said. Police said Xiang Xueqiu, the spouse of Ambassador Peter Lescouhier, got into a fight with the cleaner in a park in central Seoul after the cleaner's broom touched Xiang. Police said the two apparently traded blows, but when officers arrived on the scene, neither wanted the other punished. Xiang was taken to a nearby hospital after the cleaner shoved her to the ground. The cleaner later visited a police precinct to report that Xiang had slapped the sweeper in the face, and sought help on pressing charges. Xiang had earlier been questioned by police over allegations that she slapped a clothing store employee in the face and another staff in the back of her head in early April. The assaults allegedly happened when the employees mistakenly suspected

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By Kim Seung-yeon SEOUL, July 6 (Yonhap) -- The United States was informed in advance that South Korea's military junta would deploy martial law troops to forcefully quell a 1980 pro-democracy civil uprising in the southwestern city of Gwangju, declassified U.S. documents showed Tuesday. Choi Kwang-soo, then chief of staff to interim President Choi Kyu-hah, revealed the decision when he met with U.S. Ambassador William Gleysteen on May 26, 1980, one day before the junta, led by then Gen. Chun Doo-hwan, sent troops to crack down on the uprising, according to the documents. Chun seized power in a military coup after strongman President Park Chung-hee was assassinated by his spy chief the previous year. Chun ultimately rose to become president later in 1980 after the bloody crackdown on the Gwangju uprising. His junta sent paratroopers and ruthlessly cracked down on civilians during the nine-day revolt. Official data put the death toll at over 200, with 1,800 others wounded,

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SEOUL, July 7 (Yonhap) -- Supergroup BTS rewrote its chart record on Wednesday as its upbeat summer number "Butter" retained the top spot on Billboard's main singles chart for the sixth consecutive week. ""Butter" is officially No. 1 on this week's #Hot100 chart for a sixth consecutive week," Billboard said Tuesday (U.S. time) on its Twitter account. ""Butter" drew 11 million U.S. streams and sold 153,600 downloads, cassette and vinyl combined (up 20%) in the week ending July 1. It also attracted 28.3 million radio airplay audience impressions (up 2%) in the week ending July 4," it added. At six weeks, "Butter" is the BTS song with the longest run atop the Hot 100. The seven-piece act now has 10 Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 records, with "Butter" leading the list with six times at No. 1, followed by "Dynamite" with three, and "Life Goes On" and "Savage Love (Laxed - Siren Beat)" with one each. It has also had the longest run for a song by a group, since American pop a

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TOKYO, July 31 (Yonhap) -- South Korea beat fifth-ranked Japan in five sets in Tokyo Olympic women's volleyball on Saturday and secured a berth in the quarterfinals. The 14th-ranked South Korea pulled off a 3-2 (25-29, 19-25, 25-22, 15-25, 16-14) victory over Japan at Ariake Arena in Tokyo. Consequently, South Korea now have three wins and a loss after four matches in six-country Pool A, securing third place regardless of the result of their next match against Serbia on Monday. The top four teams out of six after round-robin play progress to the quarterfinals. World No. 1 Brazil is leading the Pool A with four wins, followed by Serbia and South Korea with three each. The Dominican Republic and Japan, both of which have one win, will vie for the last ticket for the quarters. South Korean captain Kim Yeon-koung displayed her ability both on offense and defense, scoring a match-high 30 points, including three blocks. Attacker Park Jeong-ah and middle blocker Yang Hyo-

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SEOUL, July 27 (Yonhap) -- South Korean supergroup BTS sat atop the Billboard's main singles chart for a ninth consecutive week as its hit single "Butter" returned to the throne after briefly giving way to its own latest single. ""Butter" officially returns to No. 1 on this week's #Hot100 chart for an eighth total week," the Billboard said on its Twitter account on Monday (U.S. time). The song had reigned on the singles chart for seven straight weeks before giving way to the septet's latest single, "Permission to Dance," last week. "Butter" returns to No. 1 with 115,600 downloads sold, 30.7 million radio airplay audience impressions and 8.8 million U.S. streams in the week ending July 22," the Billboard added. "Permission to Dance" moved down to the seventh spot. With the latest feat, BTS now has 14 Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 records, also including three times with "Dynamite" and one each with "Life Goes On" and "Savage Love (Laxed - Siren Beat)." The group, which

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(ATTN: ADDS details in paras 9-11) By Yoo Jee-ho SEOUL, July 16 (Yonhap) -- Four players from the defending South Korean baseball champions NC Dinos were banned for the rest of the 2021 season Friday for violating social distancing rules. The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) handed down 72-game bans on Park Sok-min, Park Min-woo, Kwon Hui-dong and Lee Myung-ki after its disciplinary meeting held earlier in the day. The Dinos have 70 games left on the 144-game season, meaning the quartet will be ineligible for the remainder of this year and then two more games next year. The four players were fined 10 million won (US$8,770) each. The Dinos were ordered to pay a fine of 100 million won for their lack of oversight. The disciplinary proceedings opened two days after the four players were found to have met with two outside guests for beers in a room at their road hotel in Seoul on July 5. Their meeting started late that night and stretched into the early hours the next da

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By Yoo Jee-ho TOKYO, July 23 (Yonhap) -- Led by one of its biggest sporting stars and a promising teen athlete, the South Korean delegation to the Tokyo Olympics joined Friday's opening ceremony as the 103rd country in the parade of nations. Based on the Japanese alphabet, South Korea's official English-language name, Republic of Korea, ended up 103rd among 205 countries and the team of refugee athletes. Kim Yeon-koung, an iconic women's volleyball star, and Hwang Sun-woo, the 18-year-old freestyle swimmer and a world junior record holder, carried the national flag, "Taegeukgi," into the National Stadium. South Korea will have 232 athletes and 122 officials in 29 sports during the Olympics, which will wrap up on Aug. 8. However, because of COVID-19 concerns, the country only had 22 athletes from four sports and six officials, including the chief delegate Jang In-hwa, on hand for the opening ceremony. The first Olympic opening ceremony to be held during the COVID-

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