This week South Korean singers Lim Young-woong and Soyou suddenly found themselves swept up in dating rumors.
The rumours began after a restaurant in Jeju posted photos of its manager posing separately with both stars on the same day.
The agencies of both singers have denied rumors of their romantic involvement.
According to reports, when a fan asked the manager if the two of them had gone to the restaurant together, he deleted the photo of Soyou and replied, “They came separately, with different parties.”
Lim Young-woong’s agency Mulgogi Music stated: “It’s not true at all.”
Meanwhile, Soyou’s agency Big Planet Made explained: “Soyou recently went to Jeju Island for a shoot. Her path simply happened to overlap with Lim Young Woong’s, and she says they have no relationship whatsoever.”
Who is Lim Young-woong?
A South Korean Trot singer, Lim Young Woong might have only one full-length studio album to his name, but he is beloved by millions.
K-pop fans find him to be the only singer that can potentially top K-Pop idols. According to an article on the South Korean entertainment website Koreaboo.com, when he announced a release in June 2023, K-Pop fans began panicking for their favourite idols who had scheduled comebacks in the same month.
The 32-year-old artist made his debut in 2016 but only hit mainstream popularity in 2020 after his appearance in the South Korean reality television and talent show, Mr. Trot, in which he won over 17,000 participants to clinch first place. In his breakout year of 2020, he was the second most-streamed artist domestically, only second to BTS.
The artist who is known to be a philanthropist is also famous for a huge number of Ahjumma (Korean word for middle-aged women) fans. Apparently, women in their 40s and up love him – in 2020, for the Gallup Korea Research Institute survey for Singer of the Year, he won first place for the most loved singer among fans in the 40s and above age range.
Who is Soyou?
Kang Ji-hyun, known professionally as Soyou is best known as a former member of the South Korean girl group Sistar.
She debuted as a member of Sistar on June 4, 2010, with the group's first album ‘Push Push’.
On May 22, 2017, Starship Entertainment announced that Sistar was disbanding. Later, Soyou made her solo debut on December 13 with Part 1 of her first studio album ‘Re:Born’.
In 2021, the artist signed an exclusive contract with another agency, BPM Entertainment.
On July 26, Soyou is set to release her second mini-album titled Summer Recipe on various online music platforms.
