NH Media dropped comeback info for U-Kiss this weekend, but other news concerning the group has sparked mixed feelings from their fans. On one hand, the group will make a comeback as early as mid-September. On the other, member AJ will be attending college in the US and will be on hiatus from U-Kiss for the rest of the year.U-Kiss member AJ was accepted into the prestigious Ivy league Colombia University and will be attending this fall, but to be clear, he will not be permanently leaving the group. He is just taking a five-month break to focus on his studies before he returns to K-pop early next year. His last performance with the group was on July 29 in Japan, the final concert on U-Kiss’ A Shared Dream tour. Word is though, that he may also perform at the A-Nation Stadium Fes. in Osaka, Japan on August 26, but it’ll be a long shot so close to move-in day at the university.
Officials at NH disclosed that U-Kiss’ new album is in progress, but no further details regarding the concept or format (studio or min-album) have been revealed. We’ll have to get closer to the actual comeback date for teasers and hints to start appearing for more information. Until then, U-Kiss is currently in Japan promoting their latest single “Dear My Friend.” As previously mentioned, they just concluded their 25-day concert series A Shared Dream, which began on July 5.
As many of you know, U-KISS‘s AJ was previously accepted into the prestigious Columbia Universityin New York. Well it seems he will be putting his music career on hold and will pursue his education for the time being.
The announcement was made by AJ himself at the “U-KISS 1st JAPAN LIVE TOUR 2012” on July 29th. In addition, U-KISS’ agency NH Media left an official notice on their website: “We previously stated that AJ was admitted into Columbia University in the United States. AJ will be temporarily leaving the group to study in the United States and the concert in Japan this month will be his last activity with the group.”
NH Media also added, “The withdrawal doesn’t mean he will be permanently leaving the group. He will be in the United States for five months to pursue his education and he plans to rejoin the group some time early next year. He cannot finish up his activities in Korea but he must enroll in school after the groups promotions in Japan ends. We are sorry to say that parting greetings won’t be made in Korea. Though it is expected that parting greetings should be made during Korean promotions, his enrollment period has overlapped with the end of Japanese promotions. AJ will not be with the U-KISS members for the time being but please continue to cheer for him until he returns after he completes his studies early next year.”
AJ had previously prepared for college entrance by taking the SATs and achieved a perfect score on the Subject Tests and a high score on the Reasoning Test. With the help of these scores, AJ was able to gain admission into Columbia University, which is famous for having many U.S. Presidents among its alumni. ‘I Am A Singer’ star Park Jung Hyun has also graduated from Columbia in the past.