BTS's Jin’s solo track ‘The Astronaut’ is making waves on global music charts.

Released on October 28, 2022, as a gift to fans before his enlistment, ‘The Astronaut’ reached over 450 million streams on Spotify by July 13. The song quickly hit big milestones: 50 million streams in 22 days, 60 million in 29 days, 70 million in 37 days, and 90 million in 57 days.

It reached 100 million streams in just 72 days, making it the fastest Korean male K-pop solo track to do so.

On December 6, just two days after Jin’s birthday, ‘The Astronaut’ surpassed 300 million streams. The track continued to perform well, hitting 400 million streams on May 17.

The World Music Awards congratulated Jin, saying, “Jin’s ‘The Astronaut’ has surpassed 400 million streams on Spotify, marking a major achievement for him as a solo artist.”

As of July 19, ‘The Astronaut’ has over 454.56 million streams. It also hit 17 million searches on Shazam, the world’s largest music search platform, reaching 17,077,710 searches by 6 AM on July 19.

Jin is the only K-pop solo artist to have two solo songs with over 13 million Shazam searches: ‘The Astronaut’ and his first solo OST ‘Yours.’

‘The Astronaut’ also made history by topping Shazam’s ‘Global TOP 200’ chart for 129 days, breaking the previous record of 102 days held by ‘Yours.’ This makes it the longest time a K-pop song has been number one.

Jin remains the only K-pop solo artist with two solo tracks reaching number one and showing his global impact with a record 60 consecutive days at the top.

On July 14, Jin also took part in the torch relay for the '2024 Paris Summer Olympics' in Paris, France, drawing a lot of international media attention upon his return.

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Actor Song Kang Ho shocked fans by revealing the surprising reason he initially turned down the iconic role in Joint Security Area (JSA).

On February 4, the movie JSA was celebrated as a "Visionary" work at a special GV (Guest Visit) event for CJ ENM’s 30th anniversary at CGV Yongsan I'Park Mall in Seoul. The event was attended by director Park Chan-wook and stars like Song Kang Ho, Lee Byung Hun, Lee Young Ae, Kim Tae Woo, and Ko Kyung Beom, who shared stories from the making of the film.

Joint Security Area, a groundbreaking film by director Park Chan-wook, tells the story of North and South Korean soldiers caught in a tragic incident at the border, highlighting the human side of the divided nations. The film has been widely praised for changing the perception of inter-Korean relations and is seen as a key moment in Korean cinema.

During the event, Song Kang Ho admitted that he turned down the JSA script at first, saying, "The script was just too perfect. It was so well-written and tightly woven that I couldn’t believe it. I thought, ‘Is this really Korean cinema at this level?’ I felt it was too good, and I figured the movie wouldn’t live up to the script."

He also mentioned that at the time, Park Chan-wook’s previous films hadn’t done well, which made him even more doubtful. "But after meeting the director, I started to trust him," Song Kang Ho added.

Reflecting on the film 20 years later, Song Kang Ho joked, "I was flipping through channels and watched JSA again. I thought, ‘There was a time when I wasn’t envious of Lee Byung Hun,’ but he looked so handsome and cool back then." He continued, laughing, "One thing about Park Chan-wook's films is that they have a depth and elegance that you just can’t forget. It’s probably why his new movie is called I Can’t Help It."

Song Kang Ho also spoke fondly of reuniting with his JSA co-stars after 25 years. He shared, "We didn’t watch the film together, but we had a cozy two-hour dinner. After all this time, it felt nostalgic. It was heartwarming to sit together again and reminisce about the past. It really made me realize how meaningful these moments are."

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