Japanese Writer: ‘Young Woong Jaejoong Will Become Successful Actor’

A Japanese drama writer praised Korean actor Young Woong Jaejoong, who is now acting in the Japanese TV drama "I Can't Be Honest."

According to a person at Image Factory, which is an importer of the movie “Halfway,” Kitagawa Eriko, who is a writer for the drama “I Can’t Be Honest,” sent a letter to the film company saying, “I strongly believe that Young Woong Jaejoong will establish his foundation as an actor by appearing in the drama ‘I Can’t Be Honest.’”

Kitagawa is a famous writer as she has written successful dramas including “I Can’t Be Honest” and “One Million Stars Falling from the Sky,” and she also debuted as a movie director with “Halfway,” which was released in Korea last month.

Kitagawa continued to say in the letter, “Jaejoong is transcending national boundaries by acting in the Japanese drama 'I Can’t Be Honest.' I am enjoying working with him.”

The drama “I Can’t Be Honest” began airing from April 15 on Fuji TV and it portrays stories of love and friendship between a man and a woman who became friends through Twitter. Young Woong Jaejoong is playing a Korean man who works at a medical instrument company in Tokyo and he appears in the drama together with star Japanese actors including Ueno Juri, Nagayama Eita, and Tamayama Tetsuji.

The Movie “Halfway,” which was released on April 29 in Korea, tells stories of teenagers utilizing beautiful scenes and the director, Iwai Shunji--who made “Love Letter”--produced the movie.

source: KBS Global

Yoon Eun Hye for Joinus, summer collection 2010

source: allkpop

Wondergirls Comeback

As the five-member group Wondergirls are preparing for their comeback with a new album this month, they're also planning a special event for their fans all over the world. JYP Entertainment announced on May 6th that they will be accepting video entries for this special fan event until May 22nd. Well, the question is: video entries of what?!

Video clips of small groups of fans (about 3-5 people) gathering for the Wondergirls' CD release launching event on the 16th that will be streaming live on Ustream. Or it can even be of fans gathering for live web chat sessions! Fans can use digital cameras, camcorders, their cellphones... all to catch clips of fans coming together to support Wondergirls. Each group should also submit the name of their representative member, contact information, country/city, email, etc. The winning group will receive Wondergirls memorabilia, a signed copy of their CD, polaroid pictures of the girls, signed photos, among other things.

JYP said that this event was planned to bring the girls closer with all of their fans regardless of age, gender, or nationality.

source: KBS Global

Rain says "Lim Soo-jung is my ideal woman"

Korean entertainer Rain appears on talk show "Steel Heart" [SBS]

Korean entertainer Rain has revealed that actress Lim Soo-jung is his ideal type of woman.

The 27-year-old singer and actor made the remark while appearing as a guest on popular SBS talk show "Steel Heart" which aired on April 4.

On the show, Rain was offered to take part in a segment called "Surprise Ideal Woman World Cup," selecting Lim as his ideal woman among many female celebrities including Shin Min-ah, Song Hye-kyo and Han Ye-seul, his co-stars from dramas and films he has appeared in so far.

Rain even asked out Lim, his co-star from the 2006 film "I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK," on a date in a video message saying, "Let's have dinner sometime."

When asked by hosts Kang Ho-dong and Lee Seung-gi if he has any time to date, the singer answered, "I have done everything that I need to in private. I gotta do what I gotta do."

Rain, whose real name is Jung Ji-hoon, has become one of the most successful Korean stars in the entertainment business since first starting out as a trainee and back-up dancer at agency JYP Entertainment.

He has released six studio albums to date and performed numerous concert tours throughout Asia and in the U.S. including a sold-out concert at Madison Square Garden.

The singer carried his popularity and artistic talents over to acting, appearing in several hit TV series such as "Sang Doo! Let's Go To School" (KBS, 2003) and "Full House" (KBS, 2004) and making his big screen debut in Park Chan-wook's surrealist comedy pic "I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK."

In 2008, he made an impressive crossover to Hollywood with a supporting role in "Speed Racer", which led to his star turn last year in martial arts flick "Ninja Assassin" by the Wachowski Brothers.

Rain is currently promoting his latest album "Back To The Basic" in Korea.

Reporter : Ko Jae-wan star@
Editor : Lynn Kim lynn2878@
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Actor Lee Min-ho : Most Popular Korean Celebrity On Facebook

Actor Lee Min-ho, currently starring in the drama "Personal Taste", but best known for his role as Goo Joon-pyo in the drama "Boys Over Flowers", is drawing attention for his fan base on the popular social networking site, Facebook. As of May 5th, he currently has over 544,420 fans worldwide that are subscribed to his official Facebook account. This is a new record for any Korean star! Although this may not sound like a big deal when compared to some of the big Hollywood stars, it's still quite a notable amount. To put things into perspective, US actor Leonardo Dicaprio has about 296,831 fans while Korean group Wondergirls has about 241,294 fans to their name.

When broken down, his Facebook fans are made up of 25% Americans, 3% Koreans, and the remaining 72% of fans from 16 southeast Asian countries (including Taiwan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Indonesia) plus Canada and France. Though there are obviously some language barriers, due to fans being able to translate any information or updates from Lee in real time, this has not slowed down the Lee Min-ho fever.

Lee's representative voiced that the response from fans to Lee to connecting with them through the site have been great. Also, keeping in mind that Koreans aren't as active on Facebook compared to people from other countries, Lee's reps said that they hope time would change that, thus only increasing his fan base.

source: KBS Global

Lee Joon-ki Starts His Military Training

It was a sad for fans of actor Lee Joon-ki, as he had to answer to the call of his country through serving his mandatory military sentence. Lee showed up on May 3rd, at 1 PM in South Chungcheong province to start his training period. Lee, who is 28 years old, had 500 fans show up to support him.

Fans of the star from the hit film "The King and the Clown" came from all over including Korea, Taiwan, Japan, China, and Hong Kong. Lee was so moved by the love and support that reports indicated he appeared to be teary-eyed.

Lee expressed his gratitude towards his fans and said that though it felt strange to have to say good-bye, that he'd do his best during his sentence. He talked about the project that he was signed on for until recently (due to his military sentence). He said that though he was sad about not being able to participate on it, he didn't want to push off his mandatory service any longer. He apologized to his fans for pulling out of the movie and assured them that he would return with an even greater project. He continued on to say that as a Korean male, this was something he had to do. When asked if he was planning on entering the separate military sector designated for celebrities, he replied that he didn't know and that it wasn't up to him. He added that to make up for his late entry, he would serve his term even that much harder.

Lee had also participated in a photo shoot the day before before he cut his hair short for military duty. He said it was for his fans to see him one last time with longer hair.

The military training that starts May 3rd will last for five weeks before he receives his assignment. Lee Jun-ki fans will have to look forward to February of 2012 which is when he is set to be discharged.

source: KBS Global