Korean news outlet Daily Sports recently approached Yang Hyun Suk at his recently-opened restaurant in Hongdae and asked him some – potentially sensitive – questions about recent goings-on, but only after they got him loose with some Johnnie Walker Blue, says the report.

Daily Sports first asks Yang Hyun Suk about the criticism he received for BIGBANG’s monthly releases, and the group’s apparent monopolization of the spotlight.

“No matter what anyone says, BIGBANG is one of Hallyu’s biggest frontrunners. And they released an album after three years. From YG’s point of view, it was an album released with difficulty. Rather than other artists, who end with just a single round of promotions, we wanted to highlight each of the songs. The scale of our world tours is getting bigger, and we wanted to film music videos for each of the songs and show the whole world,” says Yang Hyun Suk. He says that BIGBANG wasn’t able to do promotions in Korea due to the group’s world tour schedule, and asks for understanding from fans, as BIGBANG is promoting for fans worldwide.

Yang Hyun Suk answers a question about whether or not the BIGBANG promotions have delayed activities for other agency artists.

“It’s not an exaggeration to say that BIGBANG is carrying YG. And it’s true that, because of BIGBANG, more people are finding out about other groups like Winner or iKON. It’s the first album for BIGBANG in 3 years, and I think it’s right to put all we can into it. Our other agency artists are preparing albums, as well. Starting from September, a lot of our artists will be making releases. I’d appreciate it if people saw it not as a delay because of BIGBANG, but a win-win strategy for our artists.”

“YG has largely done broadcasts on SBS,” says Daily Sports, and Yang Hyun Suk says it’s a truth he cannot deny, and that his appearance on “K-Pop Star” further perpetuated that opinion.

“However, it doesn’t mean that we have bad relations with KBS or MBC,” says the YG head. “Not doing a lot of music show promotions is a decision that was made at YG a long time ago, and the one or two times a week we do go on music shows, we decided to go with SBS and Mnet, where we like the stage direction more. If we do more music shows, the singers end up spending so much of their time just doing that all week, and they have no energy left to create and prepare something new.”

Regarding BIGBANG’s upcoming contract decision, Yang Hyun Suk expresses that he’s comfortable either way it goes.

Daily Sports asks about T.O.P’s recent, less-than-positive response about re-signing with YG.

“It was probably because it was a variety show and he wanted to be funny,” says Yang Hyun Suk. “The BIGBANG members grew up in the YG system. I really like them a lot. I have a lot of plants at my house. Even plants, they say, get sick if you move them to a new place. Personality-wise, I don’t really express this often, but I’ve been with BIGBANG for over 10 years, and they’re like family. I don’t think there will be much objection [to a contract renewal].”

However, Yang Hyun Suk states, “Even if BIGBANG does decide to leave YG, I will help them. Sincerely. A long time ago an investor asked me how he would trust in YG if Wheesung, Gummy, Se7en, and Lexy left the company. It was a very old-fashioned question. We didn’t end up working with that investor. However, afterwards, we yielded great results with artists like BIGBANG, 2NE1, Psy, and Epik High. We think highly of curiosity for new things, and our goals for tomorrow, and I strongly believe that if we just do our best with what we have now, great results will always be just around the corner.”

He says, “What I want most from BIGBANG is that they stay together. They’ll be 10 years into their careers next year, and just like the Rolling Stones, I want them to promote together as BIGBANG even when they’re old. And my personal wish is to be able to help and support them along the way.”

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