What does winning the Olympic gold medal get a hot rising athlete? An ad campaign with a top star, of course.

“Marine boy” and two-time Olympic medalist swimmer (one gold, one silver at the Beijing Games) Park Tae-hwan is teaming up with Yoon Eun-hye to sell clothing for the apparel company Basic House. They recently coupled up to shoot photos for the winter line.

The clothing brand expressed a desire to go for high-profile stars to head their winter campaign, and I guess pairing a gold medalist with one of the most popular young actresses around oughtta achieve that nicely. (Although I don’t know why they had to give Yoon Eun-hye fake hair instead of letting her wear her own proudly. At least get good fake hair; she looks like she’s wearing a mop on her head. Or frazzled straw.)

Via Sports Chosun

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Currently in between dramas, Yoon Eun-hye headed to Japan to celebrate her 24th birthday (25 in Korean terms) with Japanese fans on September 19.

The party was a little premature — her actual birthday isn’t until October 3 — but she took the day to interact with approximately 1,400 Japanese fans in attendance at Tokyo’s Nakano Sun Plaza Hall. Among the activities were a “question corner,” a dance-off with fans, and photo and handshaking time. Her recent CF jingle “Salad Song” was played, and Yoon sang a Japanese ballad originally recorded by Jpop duo Kiroro, “Nagai Aida.”

Toward the end of the event, Yoon explained, “I should have worn comfortable shoes — I regret wearing these. My legs hurt and I’m sorry to be showing you a tired appearance. Next time, I’ll come wearing comfortable shoes. I heard I received more than ten boxes of gifts — when I get back to the hotel, I’ll have to open them.” She said she enjoys being in Japan and promised to return.

Her popularity in Japan may not be on par with other Hallyu stars or even proportional to her fame in Korea, but she enjoys a sizable fanbase due to her two largest hits, Goong and Coffee Prince (the event had been planned to host 2,000, but only 1,400 attendees signed up, and Yoon explained that Hallyu men tend to command larger fanmeets than the ladies). Goong, which was an early 2006 show in Korea, aired in Japan last year, while Coffee Prince was also a big hit in Japan; in fact, this event progressed in talk-show format taking the concept of a “Coffee Prince Store #2.”

Via Edaily

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You’ve heard Lee Dong-gun sing (songs here and here), and you’ve seen Yoon Eun-hye’s latest CF video clip. Now they sing together.

The “Salad Song” (taken from Humming Urban Stereo’s “샐러드 기념일” [Salad days], which you can download at the link above) now reveals its full version, which features both actor-singers in a duet. Yoon and Lee are shown in recording sessions in the studio, interspersed with clips of Yoon Eun-hye eating fresh fruit and spraying herself (and plants) with water. (Because, lest we forget, we’re still selling something!)

Via Hankyung

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Goong lovers, take note! Your favorite faux royal couple, Yoon Eun-hye and Joo Ji-hoon, just may be teaming up again in a new drama.

The two former onscreen lovebirds are top picks for the lead couple in MBC’s new Personal Taste [개인의 취향 -- working title]. One rep from the drama side explained that the production company is nearly finished with its casting and contract issues, and put the likelihood of a Yoon-Joo match-up at “very high.”

The plot: A restless girl wants a gay (male) friend, ’cause fag hags are cool. The guy wants a place to live, so he pretends to be gay as they live together.

In an interesting genre pair-up, we have the director of the jokey rom-com Fantasy Couple (Kim Sang-ho) and the writer of the weepie Sad Sonata (Lee Sung-eun) working together.

Okay, first of all, we have several favorite kdrama clichés built right into the premise, including two of my favorites (cheesy but effective!): enforced proximity (the better for falling in looove!) and mistaken/pretend identity (to add angst when the pretender has to unveil his/her true self). This sounds like a hasty potluck of past hits, drawn upon in hopes of re-creating prior successes, like a Coffee Prince meets Fantasy Couple meets Bottom of the Ninth with Two Outs.

Second of all, it sounds AWESOME.

Via Today Korea, Sports Seoul

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Samsung Electronics unveiled some new appliances at its new-product presentation on August 28 at its headquarters in Seoul. Some of the machines being launched include newfangled washing machines and kimchi refrigerators, which boast the ad-buzzwordy “3E” strategy — or emotion, ecology, and energy saving.

Sounds like pretty mundane business, if not for the appearances of Samsung’s three high-profile brand models: actresses Han Ga-in (who has advertised for Samsung’s kimchi refrigerator), Lee Da-hae (in her third year in the spokesperson gig), and Yoon Eun-hye (which explains the reason for her singing the “Salad song” recently).

More photos from the event >>

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