A scandal that began with allegations that some of South Korea’s biggest male K-pop stars had drugged and raped women (The K-Pop sex and drugs scandal sweeping South Korea) and shared video of the acts has reignited perceived injustices in two older cases, highlighting abuses of power among the country’s elite. The Burning Sun scandal, named for the club in Gangnam associated with Seungri, of boy group Big Bang, comes a year after women began rallying in the streets in a wave of protests agains

Singer-songwriter Thanh Bui describes himself as “180 west and 180 east; together they make 360”. Bui is the son of asylum seekers who fled Communist Vietnam for Australia in the ’80s. A passion for music led him from boy band to Australian Idol finalist in 2008 to composer of No. 1 hits, before he decided to take everything he had learnt in Australia back to share with the people of his parents’ homeland. Bui now lives in Ho Chi Minh City, where he has set up a music school he is developing into an arts education and entertainment empire.

This six-track EP feels like it has been a long time in the making. Marshall Bang, who rips out the vowels for his stage name MRSHLL, has been teasing it for what seems like forever. Meanwhile, he has been a featured singer on tracks for DJFritz and Ja Mezz , among others, while he got his own tracks together for MFBTY's Feelghood label. During that time, Holland came from nowhere, proclaiming himself 'K-pop's first openly gay idol' . Bang has been talking openly about his sexuality in interview after arriving in South Korea from California to appear on MBC's The Next Big Thing.

MFBTY and Junoflo kept the crowd engaged with a combination of physical energy, chatter and a tasty mix of dark hip-hop, slow jams and EDM. There was no doubt that we were watching professionals at work but it never felt laboured: it felt natural, spontaneous, fun, inclusive.

As an idol, Jonghyun showed a real warmth and connection with the public. It’s horrifying to learn that he was being suffocated by feelings of worthlessness and despair. That he fled life because his own reality was so bleak he saw no other way out. That he did not know there was a way out. (There is a way out.) To think of a world without him is almost unbearable.

A couple snuggles together on a couch in a softly lit apartment. They skip on a beach in slow motion, holding hands. A melancholy R&B song plays, the singer croons softly, “never mind I’m in Neverland”, as they stare moodily in opposite directions. Back at home, they’re making up. Lying in bed, they reach out to each other and kiss passionately. There’s a twist to this romantic but seen-it-all- before scenario: the couple are two handsome young men, and one them is South Korea’s self-proclaimed first gay K-pop idol.

There was a fair bit happening in South Korea in 2018 (in case you missed it). For starters, Kim Jong-Un became the first North Korean leader to cross the southern border since 1953, the winter Olympics also focused the eyes of the world on the peninsula and South Korean women took to the streets in unprecedented numbers as #MeToo started to take effect in the region. K-pop had its own news-making moments. I discussed some of them with other K-pop freaks on the annual end-of-year Kultscene podcast. I've listed more below, along with some of my music highlights.