YG Entertainment mum on Rosé, Gang Dong-won dating rumors

Rosé of Blackpink, left, and actor Gang Dong-won [YG ENTERTAINMENT, NEW]

YG Entertainment refused to respond to recent rumors that Rosé of Blackpink and actor Gang Dong-won are dating.

“There’s nothing we can comment on because it is our artist’s privacy,” the agency told local press on Monday.

A plethora of posts on online community sites have been claiming that Rosé and Gang are dating, based on the pair having been seen wearing matching accessories or outfits and that they were seen together at a private fashion event.

Some online users claimed to have seen the pair at an art fair last year.

Over the years, YG Entertainment has shown a certain pattern when responding to its artists' dating rumors.

Last year, when gossip got around that Blackpink's Jennie and BTS's V were in a relationship, YG did not comment on the issue. Instead, the agency said it would file a lawsuit against those who had leaked photos of the two together.

The same went for Big Bang's G-Dragon and Japanese model Kiko Mizuhara's rumored romance in 2015 — YG kept its mouth shut, saying that it "knew nothing" about its "artists' privacy."

It was likewise for AKMU's Lee Chan-hyuk and fromis_9's Lee Sae-rom last year.

But in instances when the rumor was false, YG has been resolute in denying them.

These cases count for Blackpink's Jisoo and football star Son Heung-min in 2021, Jennie and producer Teddy in 2017 and 2NE1's CL and Winner's Mino in 2015.

Fans have been interpreting YG's evasive speech as an indirect way of basically confirming the relationship.

Gang was signed under YG Entertainment until last December, and has since established a one-man agency. Blackpink's contract with YG expires this summer.

BY SHIN MIN-HEE [shin.minhee@joongang.co.kr]