Actress Han Ji-min (Cain & Abel) has put out a book titled We’re Already Friends — Han Ji-min’s Philippines Donation Book, which includes stories of her time spent in a deep mountain village in the Philippines helping at a village school. (The book also contains drawings, which Han drew herself.)
As you may know, Kim Myung-min plays a man suffering from ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, in his latest film, My Love By My Side [내 사랑 내 곁에].
Kim Myung-min is now acting to raise awareness of the illness, and the Naver portal site has set up a corner promoting the “Kim Myung-min’s Happy Energy” campaign. (Happy Energy has a few campaigns in progress featuring celebrities who promote a certain cause.) The campaign allows people to make donations to an organization helping Lou Gehrig’s patients, and in less than a week of its opening, it has raised over 10 million won. (The 10 million figure was as of September 3; the donation number currently stands at 17 million won.)
One campaign administrator said, “We haven’t exposed the campaign through advertising yet, but to have raised 10 million won already in this short time is a shock we’re grateful for. I think Kim Myung-min’s heartfelt performance and his image have made a deep impression on netizens.”
Lou Gehrig’s disease is an illness that attacks the body’s motor cells, leaving intellect and consciousness intact while rendering the muscles paralyzed. As the disease progresses, even the vital organs become paralyzed, which makes eating impossible and requires feeding tubes. After immersing himself in his latest role, Kim Myung-min said, “There is still no cure, and it’s a disease in urgent need of society’s awareness. I hope that with the film, many people will take a warm interest in the patients suffering from Lou Gehrig’s disease.”
The movie My Love By My Side opens September 24.
Via OSEN, Happy Energy
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Actor (and director) Yoo Ji-tae is opening up a kindergarten in Nepal.
Last April, Yoo had participated with members of his online gallery at the popular internet community DC Inside to raise money to help the needy; those funds will provide the basis for setting up the school. A rep from Yoo’s side said, “He’s been preparing to go to Nepal for a long time. He will travel in October with fans who contributed to donations for the groundbreaking ceremony and plans to participate in various volunteer activities before returning.”
Yoo Ji-tae was last seen acting in the melodrama A Star’s Lover, which ended a few months ago. He is currently gearing up for the release of his fourth directorial effort, the short film Invitation (releases on June 9), which will screen in the competitive category at the 6th Short Shorts Film Festival. He’ll fly to Japan next month for the festival, and is also working on his next movie role in Bimilae with Return of Iljimae actress Yoon Jin-seo.
Phew. No rest for the weary, eh?
Via Sports Seoul
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Jung Hye-young, who played Iljimae’s mother in the just-ended Return of Iljimae, is blessed with a ridiculously adorable family and a doting husband (Sean of old-school kpop duo Jinusean). She was also pregnant while filming the drama with their third child.
The couple has revealed (through a mini-homepage posting — who needs publicists when you have the internet?) that she will be donating part of her Return of Iljimae paycheck to charity in the name of her unborn baby, Ha-yul (Jung is due in June).
Sean wrote, “Hye-young said that she wanted to share her proceeds from the work she did filming with our unborn Ha-yul. She felt particularly sympathetic with children in difficult situations because, as a result of filming for Return of Iljimae, she had to spend time apart from the children.” He added, “As my wife and baby Ha-yul wrap up with Return of Iljimae, we also wanted to show our love in a small way. We give part of her paycheck in Ha-yul’s name to the Social Welfare Society along with our love.”
Via My Daily
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Adoptee Soo-hoon (Sonny) with actor Lee Wan
Mea culpa.
I admit I’ve looked upon celebrity involvement in charity promotion and public campaigns with a skeptical eye, as I did in the original post featuring Lee Wan, above, who participated (along with Kim Rae-won and Lee Junki) in a campaign to raise awareness for the adoption of disabled children.
Well, I got an email this morning informing me that Soo-hoon, aka Sonny, pictured above with Lee Wan, was recently adopted into a loving family last month. The 13-year-old Sonny has Down Syndrome and grew up under the care of Holt International, and is now a happy resident in Iowa. Jake Krob, Sonny’s proud adoptive father, wrote up his adoption experience for an Iowa paper, which gives a moving account of the way Sonny came to be a member of the family. (If you don’t tear up, you can’t have a heart!)
When we’re talking stars who promote charitable organizations, you’ll inevitably get a segment of people scoffing that it’s all for self-promotion and image-conscious career calculation — like netizens backlashing against “donation angel” Moon Geun-young, or criticizing Choi Kang-hee’s bone marrow donation as a PR stunt. But you know what? If a raised profile — no matter the motive — in any way helps to complete a happy family as in Sonny’s case, well, the rest of the bad stuff just falls away.
So, yes: snark reflex has been duly checked and noted.
Also: Anyone have a shortcut to Lee Wan’s management or PR team? I was able to pass along the general contact info for his management company (Logos Film), but if anyone’s got a better way to get in touch, please let me (and Jake) know!
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