Kang Daniel is set to enlist in the military early next month.

The news was announced by his agency ARA on 15 January, stating that his mandatory service will begin on 9 February.

“He will complete basic military training at the training camp, and then fulfil his national defence obligation as an active-duty soldier in the army,” the agency added.

They also stated that there will be no separate events on the day of enlistment as a respect to other families whose sons are enlisting as well on the same day.

It is noted that the singer has hinted on a future enlistment back in June last year during the press conference for his sixth EP, saying that he would like to bring his A-game before going into the military.

(Photo Source: Daniel IG)

YouTuber Sojang, who was sued by Kang Daniel’s camp following her allegations against the singer, has been sentenced to a KRW 10 million fine.

The Seoul Central District Court judge ruled that the content creator, surname Park, has defamed Kang with the video titled, “The promiscuous private life of the Korean heartthrob idol” in 2022. The video is just one of the many videos of her making false rumours against various K-pop stars.

“Park has uploaded defamatory and suggestive content on celebrities for her economic benefit,” said the judge, according to JoongAng Daily. “Strict punishment is necessary because the content can lead to irrevocable damage to the celebrities and their agencies.”

Sojang earlier argued that she believed the content to be true, but was dismissed as she failed to present sources to her allegations.

Meanwhile, Kang’s agency ARA stated that the singer will file a civil lawsuit of KRW 100 million for damaging his reputation.

“We believe that a civil lawsuit is the minimal protection against more potential victims or a similar incident from occurring in the future. We will also take the same measures against any similar attempts to defame the artist in the future,” the company stated.

It is noted that the YouTuber is also facing criminal lawsuit for defaming other artistes including IVE’s Jang Wonyoung and BTS’ V and Jungkook.

(Photo Source: Kang Daniel IG, Koreaboo)

Kang Daniel recently revealed that he will no longer be a part of KONNECT Entertainment, the same company he founded five years ago.

On 9 June, the singer took to social media to share the news, saying, “My journey with Konnect, which has been a home for me and taught me responsibility for the past five years, has come to an end.”

“I want to say thank you to all the employees and the people involved who have gone through ups and downs with me. I will never forget this. I’m sorry and feel sad to end this journey, but I’m going to try hard to get through it as I always do. Let this also be a time to think a lot for a better future,” he added.

The singer also has a message for his fandom, Danity, saying that he will always be by their side as Kang Daniel and that good news will come in a short while.

“So don’t worry too much, I’m taking care of it and eating well! Thank you!” he added.

It is noted that the news of his departure came following his decision to file a criminal complaint against a major shareholder of KONNECT Entertainment on charges including counterfeit of private document, embezzlement, breach of trust, violation of information and communications network, and fraud by use of computer.

(Photo Source: Kang Daniel IG)

After his last fan meeting “COLOR ON ME” in 2019, South Korean star Kang Daniel was recently reunited with his fans via his first concert “KANG DANIEL CONCERT FIRST PARADE IN MALAYSIA” 

With Malaysia being the first stop of his 2023 tour, Daniel was back on stage with a new look, performing a revamped setlist featuring three songs “Nirvana”, “Ghost” and “Selfish” from his follow-up album “The Story : RETOLD” – released in November last year, to showcase his love for his fans.

He even learned a greeting phrase in Bahasa Malaysia, saying, “Apa khabar Malaysia? Nama saya KANGDANIEL”, to his fans at the start of his concert, much to their delight.

The singer also expressed his elation to be returning to Malaysia after three years and expressed his gratitude to his fan club Danity for their continuous support.

When he saw the fans holding up the giant light board with the words “DANIEL, I love you” in Korean, he dropped a shy smile before responding “I love you too”, sending his fans into cheering frenzy and enthusiastic screams.

Daniel also spent some time answering questions from the fans, from whether he chooses no coffee or Hawaiian pizza for the rest of his life (no coffee instead of pineapples on pizza), to either speak all languages or the ability to communicate with animals (the latter for his cat’s sake).

The singer ended the show with the song “Movie”, and before leaving the stage, he made a heart sign with his arms and bowed with gratitude to his fans who came to show their support.

After told that that one word (boleh means ‘can’) is sufficient when it comes to conversing with his Malaysian fans (or Danities, a plural form of his official fanclub name Danity), the 22-year-old happily repeated it no matter the question thrown to him, cracking up the crowd.

Looking sleek in a grey suit, the singer opened the evening’s show with “Intro (Through the Night)”, and continued to perform “What Are You Up To”, “I Hope” and “Color”.

Of course, Daniel changed into several outfits throughout the event – grey suit, blue suit, white tee, gotta stay true to the colourful part of the event’s name.

During the Q&A session, Daniel had to randomly pick a letter from the phrase “I Hope” and the emcee would ask him a question based on the letter he picked. He started off with ‘I’, which was not a question per se but his mini album giveaway. 

Despite having to play basketball, use the force machine, do the elephant spins, thread the needle, and do squats in just 60 seconds, the singer breezily passed through the first round with plenty of seconds to spare. Fans shouted their request to see him repeat the relay and he smilingly obliged, surprising everyone when this time he finished it even faster even though he was already tired out from the first round.

The force machine is no match for Kang Daniel’s strength.

When the emcee asked fans which was their favourite part and the crowd shouted back, “Squat!”, Daniel cheekily agreed, “Me too.”

“I want No. 4,” he said after looking at the list of tasks displayed on the screen. Unlike most homegrown Korean idols, the Busan native’s English was fluent enough to enable him to understand the emcee without requiring translation and he was also able to occasionally reply in English. (His translator was mostly only there to translate his Korean replies into English).

Later, the ever thoughtful K-pop idol even took photos with the crowd from every angle so everyone could be included in his photos.

He had to go through a few other numbers before he got his wish for No. 4, which was to snap a photo with a chic pose. Among the other numbers that he picked were No. 2, recording a wake-up message, “Aku Cinta Padamu” (“I Love You”); No. 1, sexy dance; and No. 7, the speed dance – another fan request which he, again, obligingly did by aiming for the specific number on the board. 

Daniel, after performing his encore stage which included a cover of Justin Bieber’s “Sorry”, said goodbye to his Malaysian Danities.

Malaysia is just one of the stops in his “Color On Me” fan meeting tour, which was also held in Singapore, Hong Kong, Bangkok and more.