[Today’s K-pop] Winner’s Mino to start serving military duty: report

Mino of Winner will start to fulfill his mandatory military service from March 24, according to a local media report on Thursday.

He is to serve as an alternative social worker, YG Entertainment confirmed following the report. He will be the third member of the quartet to enlist. Kim Jinwoo and Lee Seunghoon have completed their service and Kang Seungyoon will start his soon.

Mino hinted at the news last week while on a TV competition show as a judge. Saying that he was sad to leave the show after the first round, he told participants that he is anticipating to see who would “threaten his spot” when he returns in about two years.

He became a member of the band formed through a TV reality competition that aired in 2013. The band debuted next year with “2014 S/S” and has released a series of hit songs.

Kep1er to return next month

Girl group Kep1er will return on April 10, WakeOne and Swing Entertainment said on Thursday.

It has been about six months since the group's third EP “Troubleshooter.” That sold more than 167,000 copies on the day of release, a record for the group. That pushed the total album sales for the nonet to over 1 million as of October last year.

In the meantime, the band will appear on Japanese music show “CDTV Live! Live!” and perform “I Do! Do You?” -- the main track from its forthcoming second single in Japan -- for the first time. Single album “Fly-By” is due out on March 15. From May, they will visit three cities in the country – Tokyo, Nagoya and Kobe – for six concerts.

Seventeen brings back reality show

Seventeen’s reality show started a new season Wednesday.

In the newest episode of “Going Seventeen,” the bandmates went away on an excursion and enjoyed themselves treasure hunting. More episodes are to air weekly on the band’s YouTube channel.

Separately, the 13-member act will greet fans in Japan in May, about a year since its previous fan meeting in the country, Pledis Entertainment announced last week. The bandmates will welcome fans at Kyocera Dome in Osaka on May 7 and 8 and Tokyo Dome on May 27 and 28.

Its three-member unit BSS topped Billboard Japan’s Hot 100 with “Fighting,” the lead track from its first single “Second Wind” last month. The album landed atop Oricon’s daily single ranking while the focus track notched top spot on the iTunes top songs chart in 24 regions.

Astro’s Sanha, Moonbin expands tour to Latin America

Sanha and Moonbin of Astro will visit fans in South America, adding three cities to its “Diffusion” tour, according to agency Fantagio on Thursday.

The pair will hit Santiago, Chile on June 3 and hop over to Sao Paulo on June 5, before going live in Mexico City two days later. The two will likely add more destinations to the tour as the poster announcing the news said “And More.”

It is the first tour for the subunit, and will start in Seoul on March 18. The performers are due to tour seven more cities in Asia from Manila in the Philippines and Bangkok to Tokyo and Osaka.

Meanwhile, the band reorganized into a quintet as Rocky left the group as of Wednesday after the seven-year contract expired. All other members, except MJ who is currently enlisted, renewed their contracts in December.

By Hwang You-mee 
(glamazon@heraldcorp.com)