News bites: January 4, 2013

122 January 4, 2013January 4, 2013

by javabeans

This could practically be News Bites: The ♥Romance♥ Edition, with all the star hooking up and breaking up we’ve had lately. Seriously, is something in the water over there in Yeoeuido? Or did all the celebs decide to out themselves while people’s attentions were diverted with all the other star romances, thinking they could avoid a bigger hullaballoo down the line? Quick, bury the lede! Preferably while they’re still preoccupied with Rain!

Let’s take a look at all the love in the air from the past week:

First, gossip leaked over the weekend about a possible dating relationship between Park Ha-sun (High Kick 3) and Ryu Deok-hwan (King Gongmin from Faith)… which seems like kind of an offbeat pairing, no? Both sides leapt into damage control mode and issued denials, saying they were “just friends.” (They worked together last year filming the movie The World’s Saddest Goodbye—playing siblings, ha. Go to town with that, gossip network.) [Source: Star News]
…and so they did. Especially when, the next thing you know, up crops a photo of the two frolicking poolside at a Singapore hotel, looking suspiciously cozy. And all the netizens went, “Is this what just friends do, hmmm?” *arched eyebrow* [Source: Newsway]

Then, a huge shocker: Rain and Kim Tae-hee, a couple? Rumors broke out after a photo was taken of them wearing masks, sneaking around on a supposed date. Speculation flew around in a confused frenzy. Was this really a date? Was it misunderstanding? Were we witnessing the birth of the biggest star couple since Hyun Bin and Song Hye-gyo? [Source: Sports Chosun]
Everybody denied it, of course. (“She’s not dating anyone!” “He’s just friends with her brother from army duty!” “Lies, lies, all LIES!”) [Source: Newsen]
Until they confirmed it was true, that is. [Source: Mk.co.kr]
The next day after the scandal broke, Kim Tae-hee’s reps did an about-face from their initial stance and affirmed that the romantic sneaking around had been going on for a month. I’d say the fan response was mostly positive (after the initial shock), although I suspect there’s a corner of fandom that’s flooded with tears and angrily shredded “Rain Is Coming” posters. Maybe a really big corner. [Source: Naeil]
On a slight tangent, Rain was then assailed by news reports of a more unpleasant nature. In a nutshell: He was accused of leaving his army post for personal matters. He was allowed to leave for military-related reasons on three separate occasions, but took extra time returning and met with personal contacts, which is a violation of military regulations. (Also a prime time to get his photo snapped with his secret girlfriend.) Rain acknowledged his wrongdoing and is awaiting punishment, though will likely not face brig time. [Source: Seoul Shinmun, Asiae]
And THEN, freshly discharged Kim Nam-gil sent a food truck to the set of School 2013 on New Year’s Day, a gesture so seemingly random that it could only mean one thing: He’s dating Jang Nara? [Source: Newsen]
With all the recent gossip still swirling around, it seems like everyone’s minds jumped to the same conclusion, only this time it was the wrong one, and the parties involved were all left scratching their heads in confusion. Kim Nam-gil, Jang Nara, AND Daniel Choi issued statements to clarify the situation, calling the dating rumors a misunderstanding. [Source: Newspim]
After some actual research—y’know, instead of knee-jerk scandalmongering—it was revealed that Kim Nam-gil happens to be friends with both Jang Nara and Daniel Choi. Plus, he had a small role (his TV debut, in fact) in the original 1999 School, hence the food truck gift. Ha to the nice gesture that got blown waaaay out of proportion. (Apparently the media caught wind of the younger cast members tweeting about it and jumped to connect the dots… in all the wrong ways. Oh, social media. Your power is so easily corrupted.) [Source: New Daily]

Phew, that’s a lot. But wait! We’re not done yet!

THEN, news broke that another star romance was blooming, this time between onscreen lovebirds Lee Jang-woo (I Do, I Do) and Oh Yeon-seo (Baby-Faced Beauty), who are currently romancing each other in the MBC daily drama Oh Ja-ryong Is Coming. Aww, they are really adorable together, and while I don’t watch that show, this explains why I hear they have cute chemistry in it. This time the stars came right out and confirmed it, letting us bypass the whole “No, it’s false!” “We’re just friends!” “All right, ya got me, it’s true” rigmarole. Phew. [Source: Break News]
That just made everybody curious to see the new couple in action, even if it was just fake-action, and Oh Ja-ryong saw an immediate spike in ratings, logging its highest numbers to date. Its January 3 episode recorded a 13.9%. [Source: News1]
However, that presented a pickle for producers of We Got Married, since Oh Yeon-seo happens to be paired with MBLAQ member Lee Joon on that reality show. We know it’s fake, they acknowledge that it’s fake, and yet there’s still the baseline premise hovering over the show that we’re going to pretend we believe it’s a real marriage, and therefore we can’t have the “newlyweds” dating outside their fake-wedded bliss! It just isn’t… seemly, I guess? [Source: TV Daily]
Well, We Got Married fans are peeved, and it’s looking likely that Oh Yeon-seo will quit the show. Hm, does that mean she’s about to pick up a militia of anti-fans for pulling Lee Joon off too? [Source: Sports Chosun]
On the heels of all this lovey-dovey news, Choi Jin-hyuk (Panda and Hedgehog) and Sohn Eun-seo (May Queen) have split after nine months of dating. I guess not all love lasts forever. [Source: E Daily]

…annnnd that does it for our Star Romance Bulletin. I told you it was a doozy!

‘Course, that doesn’t mean there isn’t any other news. It just isn’t quite as juicy.

Im Soo-jung won’t be coming back to television so soon after all: She’s decided against taking the SBS drama All About My Romance, citing scheduling conflicts. The drama is adapted from a novel of the same name and boasts the rather pat tagline of being about the world of “romance that’s like politics, and politics that’s like romance.” And is a romantic comedy. [Source: Star News]
In Im Soo-jung’s place, producers were courting Gong Hyo-jin to star, but she also declined. Now producers are on the hunt for a new leading lady—other cast members are set, with Shin Ha-kyun and Hong Soo-hyun among them. It’ll follow That Winter, The Wind Blows, which puts its premiere in April. Chop chop. [Source: TV Report, TV Daily]
In other news, Gong Hyo-jin does have a spread in the latest issue of High Cut (pictured above). [Source: High Cut]
So does Jo Jung-seok (The King 2 Hearts), pictured below. He’s adorable. [Source: High Cut]
Kang Ho-dong’s new variety show now has a title to go along with its timeslot! It’s called I Like You, Meeting Night. What’s with these variety show titles? The program will take over the Win Win timeslot beginning January 22. [Source: Joy News]

122

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51 Sam

January 5, 2013 at 10:13 AM

Can someone explain to me why many Korean netizens have said that Kim Tae Hee is too good for Rain, and are against him?
Coz I've been reading it since the news broke and I don't get why?
I've got nothing against the girl. She's beautiful and could be very nice for all I know, but in terms of talent... She can't act, and I'm pretty sure her job is to be an actress.
And Rain is Rain. He's huge. Or is that just an international view? Why doesn't Korea like him? :S

Update on the Jang Woo and Yeon Seo story. It has gone so back and forth. Her agency has denied it. Apparently she's denied it to WGM. And WGM have decided to continue with the couple. Then Sports Seoul released a video of them dating. So god knows what's going on.
I personally think they should just end the couple on WGM. It's over.
And I hope the dating rumour is true. They'd be cute together.

I got excited at the Jang Nara news! :D it was the only one I hadn't heard. Tbh i'd kinda been shipping Jang Nara with Daniel Choi and I wasn't fussed if it was on or off screen, but Kin Nam Gil is awesome too!

Ernest Bot! <3

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a_diva

January 6, 2013 at 1:58 PM

i totally agree with you and just said so in a post above claiming that she could do better. i mean, rain is a LEGITIMATE talent. he can actually do well in the job titles he holds, i.e. he's a singer and can actually sing, i.e. he's an actor and can actually act, etc. he's also an international superstar and achieved that status through hard work and dedication to his career.

i'm not knocking tae hee at all, but she's more pretty than talented. that's not a bad thing, because you can't knock a girl for spinning what her mama gave her into a successful career, but her job is to act and she has never quite managed to do her job well.

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evoka

January 6, 2013 at 5:33 PM

Very good point. I like her as Kim Tae Hee but not as Kim Tae Hee the actress! She likes her beauty image so much and never want to take risks as actress. She never act in different roles. she is always beautiful simple drama girl and dont want to ruin it with taking real human roles. So I cant respect her as actress or take as real actress. I want to see her in extreme roles like Im Soo Jung or Jeon Do Youn. They are also beautiful womens who never care to look ugly on screen. This is what acting is all about. Rain force himself as actor. he cant lose his sexy pop star image but at least he try to improve his acting.
No one can know their real characters or what they found from each other but I hope they wont be one of the temporary "I love her/him because he/she looks hot" type couples. I hope they really fell into each others personality and try to make long term power couple. We will see after they came together and show us some chemistry!

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bd

January 6, 2013 at 11:50 PM

Look, very few actresses can be like a Jeon Do-yeon, but KTH has taken roles where her character has to emote/cry and while she wasn't that great w/ it at first, she did a pretty good job w/ that in "My Princess."

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evoka

January 7, 2013 at 3:59 AM

Ok, for you, she cried well at "My Princess" so she is a good actress!?! and sorry, I watched "My Princess" and I couldnt see any special acting scene from Kim Tae Hee, and if you say "very few actresses can be like a Jeon Do-yeon" you talk wrong. Jeon Do-yeon or other few ones are not extra ordinary talents, they are only doing their job in right way. they are getting into characters and give smths, a real emotions from inside. ıts not hard to do.This is called acting. Beauty images act so robotic and always scare to take hard roles.They always pick the easy roles which cant ruin their images. If one day Kim Tae Hee want to act as bad girl or maybe sick or ugly, anti-social or as psycho woman,........ character in her productions, I would respect her as actress but for now she is only pretty face for me.

52 Windsun33

January 5, 2013 at 10:32 AM

I find it pretty funny that what passes for "Scandal" on the K-pop/K-drama scene would barely make a ripple in the USA.

When you have folks like Lindsay Lohan and the Kardashians, all the K-Scandals seem like high school gossip :D

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53 Mar

January 5, 2013 at 1:31 PM

This is my policy with relationships and Korean celebrity land from sexual orientation to marriage to pregnancy: Don't take anything for gospel until there is an actual marriage or a baby is born. I find it's best for me to look at the pretty on screen and not speculate about their real lives. It makes things much more enjoyable to me lol.

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sogazelle

January 6, 2013 at 1:38 PM

@ Mar

Our minds think alike!

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54 goldeng

January 5, 2013 at 5:36 PM

these past four days hab been a rollercoaster!!! im still paranoid that all these scandals were released to distract citizens from the new pension law in SK but still im kinda surprised! i dont understand why agencies say "no, theyre not dating" and then say "surprise people! we were kidding! theyve been dating for 7 months!" wth? just say they are dating the 1st time ure asked... or in yeon seo's, jang woo's case... they say they were and then denied it... wth?! strange... totally off topic but the news who got me was Block B's lawsuit... poor them... :(

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55 rjyuggy

January 5, 2013 at 6:18 PM

Why do you have to drop Im Soo Jung?? We need your awesomeness on small screen!!!!!

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56 korfan

January 5, 2013 at 8:28 PM

Kim Nam-gil! ...... there's just something about him that makes him intriguing .... and very interesting.

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57 Carinne

January 5, 2013 at 10:22 PM

Love is ALWAYS in the air. Why are ppl surprised any bit?

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58 Lilian

January 6, 2013 at 10:54 AM

For me the most shocking news is definitely one of these 2:
1) Rain and Kim Tae Hee!
2) Lee Jang Woo and Oh Yeon Seo (both from WGM, one from a previous season and the other from current season) . My first thought was oh oh...what about Lee Joon??

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59 sogazelle

January 6, 2013 at 1:36 PM

Maybe it is just me, but I thought that Oh Yeon Seo was the spitting image of Kim Sun Ah in that picture..

so I thought DB was going to announce that Kim Sun Ah and Lee Jang Woo were dating...and I was going to hit the sky with happiness.

I Do I Do was my fav. drama of 2012...I just adore their couple.

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60 michelle

January 6, 2013 at 8:05 PM

Jang Nara... adore her and made my heart skip a beat when you mention her romance rumor. ...lol @Daniel Choi coming out as denial too...scratch my head indeed.

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61 soyabeans

January 6, 2013 at 10:03 PM

Jang Nara and Daniel Choi... I would "approve" of their relationship! Heehee! I thought School 2013 was their 2nd time collaborating, after Baby Faced Beauty. But I just came across an interview and Daniel said his debut was a cell phone commercial with Jang Nara! That's how they met...

One other "TV couple" that I can think of that appears in the same dramas is Ahn Suk Hwan and Choi Ran. Delightful Girl Choon Hyang, My Girl, Big. I think Hong Gil Dong too. Yeah, all are Hong sisters' dramas!

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62 bd

January 6, 2013 at 11:57 PM

Interesting that a good no. of Korea's greatest beauties, KTH, Han Ga-in, Hyori, etc. are w/ guys who aren't what one would consider particularly handsome (can throw in Park Ha-sun if there is something to that photo w/ Ryu Deok-hwan).

But then again, Song Hye-gyo dated Hyun Bin (who I think is attractive, but not in the upper tier) and Jeon Ji-hyun's husband is pretty good looking.

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63 Clarey

January 7, 2013 at 6:39 PM

I am waiting and wishing for Jang Nara and Daniel Choi romance. They look good together. I love them in babyfaced Beauty. I hope 2013 School give them a chance to make the relationship deeper... :) Wishing...

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