SEVENTEEN’s Hoshi Builds a School in Zambia, Overlapping Good News With New Song “SNAPBACK” During Military Service

Hoshi (real name Kwon Soon-young), a member of the group SEVENTEEN, while serving in the military, carried his warm influence across borders by also providing a learning haven for children in African Zambia, following his efforts in Laos.

Classroom Construction for Children in Zambia and Improvements to the Learning Environment According to the Sarang (Love) Fruit Social Welfare Community Chest of Korea, on the 15th the Zambia-area public school classroom construction project—run with sponsorship funds provided by Hoshi—has been completed. The effort was carried out based on Hoshi’s donation of 100 million won, which he contributed last year through Gyeonggi Bukbu Sarang (Love) Fruit. The target schools serve about 250 children from kindergarten to seventh grade. Until now, there were only two classrooms, leaving students across multiple grades in mixed classes and resulting in extremely poor educational conditions. With this support, a total of five classrooms in two building units were newly installed on site, along with hygienic bathrooms. In addition, electrical work for the child protection facility located in Kitwe, a northern city in Zambia, as well as repairs to aging facilities were carried out in parallel, significantly improving the children’s overall living conditions.

A Trail of Ongoing Good Deeds Crossing Borders and Sectors Hoshi said, "I joined with the hope that children will grow through receiving formal education in a better environment." He added, "I’m very happy when I think about the students who will build their dreams in these newly refurbished classrooms, and I will continue to pay attention by finding places where hands of kindness are needed." Having joined the Honor Society (Ahner Society), a group of high-amount individual donors for Sarang (Love) Fruit in 2021, Hoshi has been carrying out giving on multiple fronts. After donating 100 million won for the construction of a national orphanage school in Laos in 2024, he delivered the Armed Forces Patriotic Devotion Fellowships Fund last May. He also continues to support disadvantaged neighbors both at home and abroad, including contributing scholarship funds at his alma mater and volunteering briquette charcoal services.

Self-Written Song Release for His Birthday and SEVENTEEN “Starium” Fan Meeting In September last year, he entered military service as an active-duty soldier, but even in the midst of serving, Hoshi prepared a special gift for the global fandom as an artist—his main job. His new solo track “SNAPBACK,” an old-school style song in which Hoshi personally took part in both writing lyrics and composing music, will be released immediately through various music sites at 6 p.m. on the day of his birthday, the 15th. Meanwhile, the group SEVENTEEN, of which Hoshi is a member, will hold “2026 SVT 10TH FAN MEETING” at the Incheon Asiad Main Stadium on both the 20th and 21st. Having pulled off major fan meetings in the scale of domestic stadiums for two consecutive years, they recorded sellouts for all seats as soon as ticket sales began, proving their strong top-tier ripple effect.