[ASKKPOP] Yang Hyun Suk denies that the comeback of Akdong Musician and Epik High were intended to challenge Seo Taiji

Is there competition between formerSeo Taiji and BoysmembersSeo TaijiandYang Hyun Suk?  Korean media outlets and netizens appear to think so as they raise speculation that Yang Hyun Suk may have purposely prepared for the comebacks ofYGartistsAkdong MusicianandEpik Highto overlap with Seo Taiji's long-awaited comeback on the 20th with his ninth album, 'Quiet Night.'

However, Yang Hyun Suk denied these speculations, saying, "The YG comeback lineup was already prepared months beforehand; we moved according to that schedule.  Honestly, Akdong Musician's 'Time and Fallen Leaves' was a song planned to be released in October since back in March or April.  Also, Epik High was supposed to come out on October 14, but there was a delay in the MV production, so it was postponed one week to October 21.  

I am an old colleague of Seo Taiji and a long-time friend.  We are not in contact with each other at this time, but we support each other in our hearts.  There is no reason that I would push back the date and send out YG artists in order to compete against Seo Taiji.  If I were to be even more honest, I made those plans while making the most leeway possible for the release dates of Seo Taiji's pre-release 'Sogyeokdong' and title track.  However, [the times] ended up being similar as there were problems in the preparation process.

It's the same then and now--I congratulate Seo Taiji on his comeback.  That is my true feeling.  In the past, we shared the musical genre of hip hop.  Now, we've respectively divided into hip hop and rock; I think that we're going well on our individual path."

He further elaborated that Akdong Musicians' song talked about fallen leaves, so it was planned way earlier to release the track in October as the content suited the autumn season.  In regards to Epik High, he said they had finished filming the MV, but wanted a higher level of quality, so they were redoing the shoot.  

He said, "More than anything, I am disappointed and upset about hearing bad things from Seo Taiji and Boys fans.  We are releasing albums that were already planned before, but this is being painted as a competition, which is a shame," explaining it was both a funny and sad situation.