News bites: September 29, 2008

It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these, huh?
- Newlywed Park Eun-hye is returning to work following a recent miscarriage of what would have been her “honeymoon baby” (she wed in April). She plans to attend the upcoming Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF), which screens her film Night and Day.
- Speaking of which, Kim Rae-won (Gourmet) and Han Eun-jung (Lawyers of Korea) will take a particular place on Wednesday’s opening-night red carpet at PIFF, as brand models for the festival’s sponsor, L’Oreal Paris.
- Song Il-kook had his day in court and won; the reporter who accused him of assault (whom he countersued for false accusations) has been sentenced to a year’s imprisonment. Ouch. We may never know the truth of whether he struck her as claimed, but a year in the slammer seems harsh. Well, that’s what happens when you go up against a rich actor with powerful connections.
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Sigh. Things are hard enough for Ahn Jae-hwan’s widow Jung Sun-hee, whose husband killed himself over large amounts of debt, and has endured accusations of kidnapping Ahn by his sister. She underwent an additional round of police questioning, spending four hours at the police station on the 29th. Jung roundly denies Ms. Ahn’s claims, and also denies rumors that she’s heading overseas for rest (which doesn’t sound like a bad idea, actually — the press was all over her collapses at Ahn’s funeral, and she again collapsed after emerging from the police station). - I don’t think many people outside of Korea are watching cable drama Chosun Police [조선과학수사대 별순검], but the MBC Dramanet fusion sageuk gained a following as a “Chosun-era CSI” and is now set to launch its season 2. The production press conference was on the 29th, featuring lead actor Lee Jong-hyuk, who admitted he’d purposely avoided watching Season 1; he wanted to differentiate his character from its original actor, Ryu Seung-ryong.
Kim Min-jung (26, of New Heart) has been cast in the lead of MBC’s drama 2009 Foreign Baseball Team, which was originally a hit manhwa in the ’80s. Actors Yoon Tae-young (Legend’s Hogae), Park Sung-min (Legend’s Saryang), Park Jung-hak (Kingdom of the Wind), Song Ah-young (Moon Hee), and Kim Sun-kyung (Legend’s Lady Yeon) are also cast. There’s a whole lotta Legend there. It should air sometime next year.- After spending most of his recent energies trying to make a dent in the international film scene, Rain is back to kpop after two years away with his fifth album. He’s announced that his title track will be a dance song, followed by a ballad, to go on sale in October. Rain, here’s a fundamental rule of showbiz: Show, not tell. We’re happy to welcome ya back if your work is good, but g/d I’m sick of hearing so much about it.
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Tags: Ahn Jae-hwan, bad deeds, film festivals, Han Eun-jung, Jung Sun-hee, Kim Min-jung, Kim Rae-won, Lee Jong-hyuk, news bites, Park Eun-hye, Rain, Song Il-kook

























