DJ DOC's Lee Ha-neul Announced a Comeback His Own Bandmate Knew Nothing About

DJ DOC's Lee Ha-neul went on a YouTube live stream on the 16th and dropped what sounded like the comeback announcement of the year: a new single in November, the group's first in 15 years. Kim Chang-yeol, the other half of the duo actually required to make DJ DOC a group, told Ilgan Sports the next day he'd heard nothing about it.

The word Kim's side used was "전혀 모르는 일", something along the lines of "completely unaware." Not "we're still working it out." Not "details to follow." Just: no.

Lee made his announcement without mentioning Kim by name or specifying who exactly would be on the track. He was confident about the music, though. "DJ DOC's style is something only DJ DOC can do," he said during the livestream. "Nobody else can do it. Not current K-pop acts, not foreign artists who are big right now. We're rare." He also made a point about age: both members are in their 50s, and Lee framed the release as a direct rebuttal to anyone who thinks older artists should step aside. "I'll show you that you can still make good music past 50, nearly 60."

That's a decent message. The execution, though, is where it gets complicated.

The bad blood between Lee and Kim goes back to 2021, when Lee's younger brother Lee Hyeon-bae, a member of the group 45RPM, passed away. Lee blamed the circumstances around Kim directly. His account: Hyeon-bae had entered a joint guesthouse business venture in Jeju with Kim, who then backed out, leaving Hyeon-bae in serious financial trouble. While working a delivery job to make ends meet, Hyeon-bae was injured. Without money for an MRI, the injury went untreated and led to complications that cost him his life. Kim Chang-yeol has not publicly addressed these allegations in detail.

For over three years after that, Lee and Kim weren't talking. Then in 2024, the two reportedly reconciled, meeting up with fellow member Jung Jae-yong in what looked like a full reunion. The goodwill didn't last long. That December, Lee and Jung performed at a year-end concert without Kim, and the split was back in the news.

DJ DOC debuted in 1994 with Superman's Sorrow and spent the next decade producing some of the most recognizable records in Korean hip-hop history: Murphy's Law, Dance with DOC, Run to You, I'm That Kind of Person. The catalogue is genuinely impressive. The years since the group's peak have been less so, defined more by the members' public feuds than by music.

Fans clocked the gap between the announcement and Kim's response almost immediately. The reactions online leaned frustrated rather than celebratory. "Announcing an album via YouTube without telling your own members" was a recurring complaint. Several people questioned whether a two-member release under the DJ DOC name, without Kim, would even count. Others just said what's been obvious for a while: a group this storied deserves better than another news cycle about internal drama.

Whether a real reconciliation happens before November is the actual story now. The single announcement was supposed to be the headline. Instead it's a question mark.