As we know, Koreans sure have a fierce sense of cultural pride (sometimes to uncomfortably myopic degrees). So it’s no big surprise that all are elated with Olympic gold medalist Park Tae-hwan’s win in the 400m freestyle on August 10. In about the half-day since he’s won the medal, his cyworld mini-homepage has amassed over 80,000 congratulatory messages.

Actually, currently there are 82,204 82,357 82,505 messages (that’s how fast the numbers climbed in the time it took me to write this post), although only the last 75,000 or so have come post-win. It’s kind of cute, actually, there are some messages reading, “I’m watching you on TV now,” and then, just a few messages later, “Just… a little… farther…” to be followed with, “Congrats on the gold medal!”

Of particular note are congratulatory messages left by members of girl groups Wonder Girls, Girls Generation (SoShi), and even figure skater Kim Yuna.

Kim Yuna’s message read:

“오빠 대박 ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ 추카해!!”
“Oppa, jackpot! Kekekeke Congratulations!!”

His site’s background music was the boy band 2AM song “아니라기에” (”To say it’s not”), to which 2AM’s Im Seul-woong wrote:

“(배경음악 선택에) 너무나 감사하고 올림픽 금메달을 석권한 박태환 선수처럼, 저희도 열심히 해서 가요계의 금메달을 따겠다”
“Thanks so much for choosing our song. Like you’ve won the gold medal at the Olympics, we’ll work hard and do our best to win the gold medal in the music industry.” (Whatever THAT means!)

Another 2AM-er, leader Jo Kwon-do, wrote:

“금메달 소식에 홈페이지에 와 봤는데 ‘아니라기에’가 흘러나와 깜짝 놀랐다. 금메달 따길 2AM모두 기도했는데 너무 축하 드린다”
“I came to the site after hearing the news that you’d won the gold medal, but I was startled to hear ‘To Say It’s Not’ playing. Everyone in 2AM had prayed you’d win the gold. Congratulations.”

Park Tae-hwan sure wasn’t shy about his gold-medal hopes; his cyworld address is http://www.cyworld.com/freestylewin.

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• Han Ji-hye’s Olympic “Friends”

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• Tablo addressed erroneous rumors that he’s retiring from the music biz by posting a message on his homepage: “I’m not retiring.” He’s not happy with the state of the industry and its focus on singles over albums, but he assures his fans, “I’ll make music forever.”
• Ha Jiwon was invited to the New Zealand embassy in Seoul to welcome Prime Minister Helen Clark on the 15th. She’s been active in promoting films from New Zealand in Korea, and vice versa (Korean films in NZ). She also films her next movie in New Zealand at the end of the year.
• First it was a Girls Generation song (sung here); now figure skater Kim Yuna says she’ll be performing Jewelry’s “ET dance” next, using their chart-topping hit “One More Time” (song here) in one of her skating routines at the KCC Switzen Festa on Ice. Maybe she just really wants to be a pop star.
• MBC’s popular variety show We Got Married has brought several stars into the limelight, including Shinhwa’s Andy, dubbed “top husband material.” But did you know he’d already gone on a formal “seon” (marriage set-up date) years ago at the tender age of 25? His mother tricked him into going, saying it was merely dinner with a friend, but when he showed up the woman was there with a “young girl” — and the mothers quickly got up and left the couple behind.
• And with SBS gearing up to launch two new series, the promotion blitz sure is kicking in. All of a sudden, everything is about Iljimae (Lee Junki, Han Hyo Joo) and Gourmet (Kim Rae Won, Nam Sang Mi). Seriously, Lee Junki is everywhere.

 
SONG OF THE DAY

Andy – “Love Song” [ Download ]

RELATED POSTS

• News bites: May 11, 2008
• Kim Yuna in a rare off-the-ice performance
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• News bites: April 26, 2008

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Wow, that was fast. World-famous figure skater (and reigning — two-time — world bronze medalist) Kim Yuna showed her little-known singing skills when she recorded a segment as a guest on SBS’s new program The Star Show on May 8. The segment is to be broadcast on the May 12 episode, but the clip is already online.

Kim Yuna professes to enjoy going to karaoke rooms (noraebangs) frequently, and sang the song “만약에” (What if), originally performed by Girls Generation’s Tae Yeon — which you may recall receiving significant airtime in the recent drama series Hong Gil Dong.

Granted, it’s not exactly a perfect performance, and she chose a difficult song to perform live — but dude, I’m not going to rip on the singing skills of anyone who can propel themselves more than their own body length through the air while spinning multiple times and landing upright on the edge of a blade. Mad respect to skaters (figure and otherwise).

(And besides, she still sounds a lot better than, say, any or all of the Wonder Girls live. Talk about nails on a chalkboard. Screeeech.)

Via Hankyung

SONG OF THE DAY

Tae Yeon – “만약에” (What if) from the Hong Gil Dong OST. Used most prominently in Episode 7.
[ Download ] (repost)

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