Bao Nguyen, director of Netflix's upcoming documentary BTS: The Return, compared BTS's military hiatus and reunion to Homer's The Odyssey and said RM's reflections on Chronos and Kairos shaped the film; the doc includes member-approved everyday scenes to show their individuality
BTS brings its "BTS The City Arirang" fan festival to London, featuring the London Eye lit red on July 6, a 32-meter floating Arirang logo on the Thames, an Outernet media art exhibition (July 8–10), interactive exhibits and two concerts at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on July 6–7
BTS member V asked fans on Weverse to stop visiting tour hotels during the ARIRANG world tour, saying crowding harms his privacy and performance; he shared a sleep-tracker showing just 2 hours 27 minutes of rest. BigHit Music says it will pursue legal action against trespassing and stalking
aespa will release their first Japanese EP, Kiss N Tell, on July 24 via SM Entertainment; the six-track record includes the title song and five original Japanese tracks. The group will hold a three-day Tokyo meet-and-greet July 18–20, and their album Lemonade has sold over 1M copies
Le Sserafim will become the first K-pop girl group to perform at the 2026 iHeartRadio Music Festival on Sept. 18 in Las Vegas, joining artists like BTS; the group will also begin the North American leg of its Pureflow world tour Sept. 16
BTS member V asked fans on Weverse to stop visiting the hotels where BTS is staying during the Arirang world tour, saying he values private time in cities and that hotel visits could affect his rest and performances
Boy group Close Your Eyes was chosen as the sixth artist in Billboard Korea’s project, with beach-shot photos released and additional short-form videos and a pop-up store planned. The seven-member act (debuted April 2025) will resume its Beyond Your Eyes North American tour in October
TWICE opened a summer-themed pop-up at Plat1399 Studio in Seoul through July 12 to celebrate the Seoul finale of their sixth world tour THIS IS FOR, offering exclusive merchandise, interactive exhibits and fan events ahead of three sold-out KSPO DOME concerts July 10–12
SM Entertainment announced Jaehee of NCT Wish and Yuha of Hearts2Hearts recorded the duet "Open Your Eyes" for the film Teenieping: Legend of the Whale Heartstone (opens Aug. 5). NCT Wish will drop a Japan single July 15 and Hearts2Hearts are running a Seoul pop-up for their EP
Stray Kids' sixth EP Oddinary and ninth EP Ate each surpassed one billion Spotify streams, giving the group six albums to hit the milestone—the second-most among K-pop acts after BTS. The octet has five Seoul shows planned and will roll out their tenth EP, This & That, in August
Hearts2Hearts earned their first music show win with “Lemon Tang” on the July 2 episode of M Countdown, beating LE SSERAFIM, ILLIT, and KATSEYE. The episode also featured stages from SEVENTEEN’s V8, RIIZE, EVAN (Heeseung), MEOVV, and more
2PM member and actor Taecyeon will make a special appearance as Park Young Gwang in Episode 3 of the drama Agent Kim Reactivated, joining So Ji Sub; his cameo airs July 3 at 9:50 p.m. KST
GroovyRoom producer Park Gyu Jeong confirmed he is preparing to marry a non-celebrity this autumn, agency AT AREA said; his groupmate Lil Moshpit was also revealed to have gotten engaged earlier
Soompi's recap of Love Class 3 episodes 9–10 highlights the harsh realities of the K-pop trainee world—public reprimands and scapegoating, relentless practice and unnoticed labor, fan shipping pressure, and a contestant confronting a difficult past
T.O.P is launching his first solo Asia fan meeting tour, 'T.O.P PRE-STUDIO 2026,' with announced stops in Hong Kong, Taipei, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Tokyo, and Kaohsiung; the poster suggests additional dates and a participatory 'PRE-STUDIO' format. He also has a free Japan fan meeting on July 9
INFINITE’s Kim Myung Soo and actress/former girl group member Kang Min Ah lead romcom Love in Sync, in which their characters begin sharing emotions via a supernatural phenomenon and each faces a career crisis; the series premieres July 4 at 10:50 p.m. KST
Circle Chart’s June 14–20 rankings saw RIIZE earn a double crown with mini album II and title track “Do your dance,” I.O.I and CORTIS place high on digital charts, BTS top the global K-pop chart with “SWIM,” and ILLIT lead the social chart
NouerA announced the Taipei stop of their 2026 "CATCH THE WAVE" world tour, originally set for July 5, has been unavoidably postponed due to administrative procedures; the agency says refund and ticket details will be announced via the official ticketing platform
KARD announced their first full-length album, Where To Now? (Part.2) : NOWHERE, will be released on July 28 at 6 p.m. KST; the group revealed the comeback with a teaser posted at midnight KST on July 2
Sunmi confirmed a July comeback, announcing she will release a new digital single later this month and sharing the first teasers for "Summer Comes Again," though an exact release date has not been revealed
