
Singer Kim Jaejoong recently marked his 20th debut anniversary with the release of a new album.
However, fans won’t be seeing him perform on terrestrial music shows this time around.
According to Star News on the 26th, despite dropping his 20th debut anniversary regular album titled “Flower Garden,” Kim Jaejoong won’t be gracing major music ranking programs like KBS 2TV’s ‘Music Bank,’ MBC’s ‘Show! Music Core,’ or SBS’s ‘Inkigayo’ this week.

Although he’s been actively promoting his new album through various channels, music show appearances aren’t part of the plan.
While music programs have seen declining ratings, Kim Jaejoong’s potential appearance holds significant symbolic value. Since leaving SM Entertainment in 2009 after his TVXQ days, he’s been absent from music show stages.
Fans who were eagerly anticipating his comeback stage for the 20th anniversary are once again left disappointed.
After parting ways with SM Entertainment, Kim Jaejoong continued his career with JYJ—a group formed alongside fellow TVXQ members Kim Junsu and Park Yoochun. Despite settling disputes with SM through an agreement in November 2012, JYJ still faced challenges in broadcast activities.
The Fair Trade Commission even issued corrective orders in 2013, accusing SM and the Korea Entertainment Producers’ Association of hindering JYJ’s legitimate business activities. In 2015, the “JYJ Law” was proposed in the National Assembly to penalize broadcasters unreasonably blocking specific entertainers from appearing on programs.
During this period, Kim Jaejoong and other JYJ members occasionally made appearances on terrestrial dramas and cable entertainment shows, operating with less influence from SM.
Kim Junsu returned to terrestrial broadcasting after six years on EBS’s ‘Space Sympathy’ in 2015, while Kim Jaejoong took on the role of a special DJ for MBC FM4U’s ‘Kim Shin-young’s Hope Song at Noon’ last year—marking his first terrestrial radio appearance in 14 years.
Recently, Kim Junsu broke the ban on terrestrial entertainment by featuring on KBS 2TV’s ‘The Return of Superman.’
In a commemorative interview for his 20th debut anniversary on the 25th, Kim Jaejoong clarified, “My relationship with SM isn’t bad.” Last year, attention was drawn to the controversy surrounding SM’s congratulatory wreath sent to the opening ceremony of Kim Jaejoong’s Encode Entertainment.
Despite the challenges, Kim Jaejoong remains undeterred. He attributes the lack of TV appearances to “the revenue structure of terrestrial channels.” According to him, “There are people uncomfortable with me appearing. From the perspective of terrestrial broadcasters, it’s more profitable for the entire SM IP to be featured rather than just me alone.”
On the day of his album release, Kim Jaejoong made an appearance on MBC FM4U’s ‘Kim Shin-young’s Hope Song at Noon’ to actively promote his comeback.
He also has plans to appear on various YouTube entertainment shows and is gearing up for an Asia tour.
Starting in Seoul on July 20th and 21st, he’ll take his music worldwide to connect with fans.
Source [1]