50 Fun Facts About TVXQ

TVXQ made their debut in December 2003 at a showcase for a labelmate and which American pop star?

Britney Spears shared the bill on December 26, 2003, when the five teenagers sang their first single and a carol a cappella. The group still treats that date as its debut anniversary.

TVXQ's 2005 signature song Rising Sun is heard early in which 2009 Hollywood action film?

Fast & Furious uses the track in Paul Walker's opening scene, four years after its release. In South Korea the album it came from was the fourth best-selling record of 2005.

In October 2006 an anti-fan handed TVXQ leader Yunho a drink laced with which household substance?

Super glue in the drink sent Yunho to hospital in the middle of a variety show shoot. He asked police not to press charges against the fan, who was the same age as his younger sister.

A talent scout spotted TVXQ's Changmin at fourteen while he sang and played which sport in gym class?

Badminton was the game, and he had no interest in becoming a singer. His mother, who hoped to meet the label's biggest star, urged him to go to the audition anyway.

The title track of TVXQ's 2004 debut album Tri-Angle samples a famous symphony by which classical composer?

Mozart wrote the Symphony No. 40 in G minor that the song borrows. The track also features the rock band TRAX, yet it was never sold as a physical single.

In January 2010 TVXQ broke which British singer's Japanese record for first-week single sales by a foreign artist?

Elton John had held the mark for twelve years. TVXQ's single Break Out! passed it and was among the last releases by the five-member lineup, whose Japanese activities were suspended that April.

TVXQ's Japanese singles Asu wa Kuru Kara and Share the World were both theme songs for which long-running anime?

One Piece used the first song as its seventeenth ending theme in 2006. Share the World followed in 2009 as an opening theme for the same series.

TVXQ's 2006 album 'O'-Jung.Ban.Hap. takes its title from a theory credited to which German philosopher?

Hegel is the thinker behind the thesis, antithesis and synthesis idea that the three Korean words in the title stand for. The album became South Korea's best-selling record of 2006.

What do the members of TVXQ wear in the video for Balloons, their 2006 remake of a Five Fingers song?

Animal costumes were picked to charm younger listeners, a sharp contrast with the album's dark lead single. The bubbly single was also aimed at older listeners who remembered the original.

TVXQ's Yunho was the only Asian performer invited to appear at a tribute concert for which late American pop star?

Michael Jackson's tribute show, This Is It, booked Yunho for its Korean leg. He has also trained in the United States with people who once worked closely with the singer.

The official South Korean fan club of TVXQ, which once claimed 800,000 members, is named after which constellation?

Cassiopeia members showed their numbers after three singers sued the agency in 2009, when 120,000 fans petitioned a Seoul court against long-term contracts. Fans in Japan join a separate club, Bigeast.

Which 2004 debut single gave TVXQ a first music show win and stayed on the Korean chart for ten months?

Hug sold fewer than 5,000 copies in its first month, then took off once the group began appearing on television. An English version was later released for the Japanese market.

Which producer assembled TVXQ in 2003 from five teenage trainees in four different training teams?

Lee Soo-man wanted a successor after his boy band H.O.T. split up in 2001. When three members left in 2010, he was also the one who suggested the remaining pair carry on as a duo.

The Korean name Dong Bang Shin Ki, shortened by fans to DBSK, gives TVXQ a name with which meaning?

Rising Gods of the East is the usual translation of the four characters. An earlier choice, borrowed from a martial arts hero known as Invincible East, was dropped because its characters looked unattractive.

TVXQ were re-introduced to the Japanese market in 2005 under which name?

Tohoshinki is the Japanese reading of the group's four-character name. Their first Japanese single only reached number thirty-seven, yet by 2014 they had sold more CD singles in Japan than any other foreign act.

After leaving TVXQ in 2010, the three departing members formed a trio under which name made from their initials?

JYJ takes one letter from each member's given name. The trio's legal fight with their old agency ended in November 2012, when both sides agreed not to interfere with each other's work.

In July 2009 TVXQ became the first Korean group to perform at which landmark Japanese concert venue?

Tokyo Dome hosted the last two nights of the Secret Code tour, which drew 279,500 people over 21 shows. The concert DVD then topped Japan's rankings, a first for a foreign artist in twenty years.

TVXQ's 2014 Japanese album Tree took a record for big opening weeks from which American rock band?

Bon Jovi had held the record for thirteen years. Tree made TVXQ the first foreign band in Japan with three studio albums in a row that each sold more than 200,000 copies in a week.

TVXQ's 2019 album XV passed which SM labelmate's record for number-one albums by a foreign artist in Japan?

BoA was the singer whose success in Japan had inspired TVXQ to sign with a Japanese label back in 2004. XV gave the duo an eighth chart-topping album there.

Which colour, seen on the light sticks waved at TVXQ concerts, represents the group's fandom?

Red is so tied to the group that a colour in the words of their 2006 remake Balloons was switched to match it. The original band's leader later said nobody had asked his permission.

Which 2011 TVXQ comeback album, whose title track is called Why in Korean, was the first made by just two members?

Keep Your Head Down ended a year-long hiatus and topped charts across Asia. Some listeners heard a message to the three who had left, but the duo said the song was about a man whose lover had gone.

Which original TVXQ member went to school in Fairfax, Virginia, and was the last of the five to join?

Micky Yoochun began training only a few months before the group's first showcase. He later turned to acting and won a best newcomer award for the 2011 drama Miss Ripley.

Xiah Junsu, the first member picked for TVXQ, had trained in a trio with two boys who later joined which group?

Super Junior later took in both boys, Sungmin and Eunhyuk. Junsu had joined SM at eleven and was first trained as a solo singer, and the three appeared together on a 2002 audition show.

TVXQ sang on Kumi Koda's 2007 single Last Angel, the Japanese theme song for a film in which horror series?

Resident Evil: Extinction used the track for its Japanese release. The single reached number three and won Best Collaboration Video at Japan's MTV Video Music Awards.

After the TVXQ lawsuit, which South Korean regulator capped entertainment contracts at seven years?

Fair Trade Commission reforms also cut the penalties for stars who end a deal early. The three singers had challenged a thirteen-year term, the kind of deal the press came to call a slave contract.

SM Entertainment claimed that three TVXQ members sued in 2009 so they could freely pursue which side business?

A cosmetics company called CreBeau was at the centre of the agency's claim. Its complaint against the firm never reached court, because prosecutors found too little evidence.

TVXQ's 2008 hit Mirotic drew controversy for sounding nearly identical to Under My Skin by which German singer?

Sarah Connor had been sold the very same composition. SM explained that the team who wrote the song sold its copyright to both acts in January 2008.

Why did a South Korean youth protection commission rule TVXQ's hit Mirotic harmful to minors in November 2008?

Overly sexual lyrics were the charge, so the album got a sticker barring under-19s and the song could air only after 10 PM. SM made a clean version, then won a court ruling against the decision in March 2009.

Which January 2008 release became TVXQ's first single to debut at number one on Japan's weekly chart?

Purple Line made TVXQ the first foreign boy band, and only the second Korean act, to top the Japanese singles chart. Its video was shot in South Korea, a first for one of their Japanese singles.

In 2008 TVXQ became the first Korean group invited to which prestigious Japanese New Year's Eve music show?

Kōhaku Uta Gassen is broadcast by NHK every December 31. TVXQ's 2009 appearance on the show turned out to be the last time all five original members performed together in public.

In 2013 TVXQ became the first foreign act to headline which Yokohama venue, Japan's largest seated ground?

Nissan Stadium closed a tour that had already visited all five of Japan's major domes, something no K-pop act had done before. About 850,000 people saw the shows.

TVXQ's 2014 single Something, lead track of the anniversary album Tense, moved into which musical style?

Swing jazz with big band arrangements made the song a major departure from the duo's earlier title tracks. The single gave them their highest debut yet on South Korea's singles charts.

Which long-time collaborator wrote or co-wrote TVXQ title tracks including Rising Sun, Mirotic and Something?

Yoo Young-jin also wrote the duo's 2011 comeback single, working with his brother Yoo Han-jin. The group label lead singles of this kind SMP, short for SM Music Performance.

Which 2012 TVXQ album, later repackaged as Humanoids, launched the duo on their first world tour?

Catch Me opened its tour with two nights at Seoul's Olympic Gymnastics Arena in November 2012. Two days after the Humanoids reissue, the agency and the three former members settled their lawsuits.

Which TVXQ tour of Japan, their first after military service, made them the first foreign act to draw a million fans?

Begin Again opened at the Sapporo Dome in November 2017. It closed in June 2018 with three nights in one Yokohama stadium, a run no music group had held at that venue before.

TVXQ signed in late 2004 with which Japanese entertainment company, organiser of the A-Nation summer concerts?

Avex Group first tried an English version of the group's debut single in Japan, which went nowhere. The members then learned Japanese and moved there to start again from the bottom.

In 2011 TVXQ became the first foreign act to close A-Nation, ending which Japanese pop star's eight-year run?

Ayumi Hamasaki had closed the concert eight years in a row. The duo took the slot at the Tokyo stop, only months after returning from a year-long hiatus.

During the 2006 Rising Sun tour, TVXQ became the first Korean artist to hold a concert in which country?

Malaysia hosted the show in Kuala Lumpur on July 14, 2006, and the group played Bangkok the very next night. The whole tour ran to just six concerts.

Wax figures of TVXQ were unveiled in December 2014, on the duo's debut anniversary, at Madame Tussauds in which city?

Shanghai got the figures on December 26, eleven years to the day after the group's first showcase. The duo were then in the middle of a tour marking a decade in K-pop.

News reports in 2008 said TVXQ's fan club was the largest ever listed by which organisation, which later denied it?

Guinness World Records said it had a category for the largest fan club but that no record had been set. It also refuted a 2009 report that the group were the world's most photographed celebrities.

TVXQ leader Yunho, whose relatives worked in the legal industry, dreamed as a child of which career?

Prosecutor was his childhood ambition, and his family at first opposed a singing career. While training in Seoul he paid his way by clearing snow in the mornings and waiting tables at night.

In the 2013 melodrama King of Ambition, TVXQ's Yunho played a wealthy heir skilled at which sport?

Ice hockey was the character's talent, and the part won Yunho a People's Choice award at the 2013 Seoul International Drama Awards. His acting debut had come in 2009 as the lead of a romantic comedy.

In which 2012 Japanese film did TVXQ's Changmin make his big-screen debut, playing a North Korean spy called Momo?

Fly with the Gold won him Newcomer of the Year at the Japan Academy awards, and its director praised his fluent Osaka dialect. He was also the first Korean artist nominated at the Hochi Film Awards.

Which 2011 romantic comedy drama gave TVXQ's Changmin his first lead role, opposite Lee Yeon-hee?

Paradise Ranch later reached Japan with Changmin dubbing his own lines, a sign of how fluent he had become. Both members of the duo speak Japanese as well as Korean.

One name proposed for TVXQ before their 2003 debut translates as which animal 'That Eats Legends'?

Whale completes the phrase, a translation of the Korean name Jeon Meok Go. Other candidates included SM5, Dream Team and a name meaning the five viscera and six entrails.

On which weekly South Korean music programme did TVXQ win their first music show award in March 2004?

Inkigayo, which airs on SBS, handed over the trophy on March 28, 2004, about seven weeks after the group's first television performance. Two more music show wins followed that April.

Which April 2005 release was TVXQ's first official Japanese single, peaking at number thirty-seven?

Stay with Me Tonight came out on the label Rhythm Zone after the members had moved to Japan and learned the language. The group later said those first months there were difficult.

At the 2023 MAMA Awards, TVXQ followed a new single by performing Rising Sun with which younger boy band?

Riize joined the duo on stage on November 28, right after TVXQ had given the first performance of Down, the single that led into their twentieth-anniversary album.

In March 2008 which theme park named TVXQ its Goodwill Ambassador for Asia to promote its attractions?

Universal Studios Japan made the appointment on March 28, 2008, the year the group scored their first Japanese number-one singles. They had hosted a weekly radio show on the Japan FM Network since 2007.

TVXQ were the first Korean artists to appear on the cover of the Japanese edition of which American magazine?

Rolling Stone gave TVXQ its Japanese cover. The chart company Oricon has credited the group with opening Japan to later K-pop girl groups such as Girls' Generation and Kara.