Korean Media News

Filming has begun on The Jackal Is Coming, an action comedy movie that pretty much hooked my interest with its one-line premise: A bungling killer (Song Ji-hyo) is hired to kidnap an pop singer (Jaejoong) and fails in multiple ways to kill him. There’s no mention of it in the description so far, but does she also fall in love with him? That’s the obvious conclusion, isn’t it? Obvious in the way of Korean movies and dramas, I mean, not obvious in the way of life, because that’s just insane.

The casting seems pretty spot-on, and the goofy plotline has plenty of comic possibilities. I’m basically seeing it as another version of the Myung-wol the Spy concept, except hopefully funnier, and with a hopefully less asstastic hero. Basically I’m just looking for somebody to reboot that premise and do it justice, since I want it to work, despite the mess that the series was.

Meanwhile, the pop singer will also have a dogged, invasive stalker (the kind known as a “sasaeng fan,” which describes those fans with no concept of boundaries or privacy concerns when it comes to their favorite idol oppas), played by Joo Min-ha (Queen of Housewives).

These stills come from the movie’s first shoots, taken in a factory where our heroine, Song Ji-hyo, finds herself in the midst of a police chase. The role calls for a decent amount of action, as these stills suggest, and I think I’ve seen enough of Ace Ji-hyo on Running Man to say she’s up to the task.

The movie plans to release later this year.

Via Osen

 The champion in mixed double table tennis of Etude Coool skin world championship came up!
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It will be shown the crucial moment that Etude Sun BB team knocked their competitors down!
Take a look at Sandara & Min-ho’s winning speech!
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Credits: etudeblog

They’re still young rookies but they have started to accumulate experience. As they shake their bodies until they’re out of breath and carry on with their steady lives, their know-hows have increased too. ‘MAMA”s imposing sound, with the members who are like one during their strong performances, is oddly addicting. It’s barely been a month since they debuted and they have already started to show to the public their infinite possibilities and charms.

“Rather than being tiring, it’s amazing and fun. We’re also gradually getting used to the stage. I’m happy because we can show an image that’s a bit better” (Baekhyun)

The members introduced the positive reactions they received about ‘MAMA’ from the people around them with a bright expression. “They all said it was alright. My parents told me it was really cool after watching the broadcast. But they told me to always think about my health first and take care of my body a lot” (D.O)

After D.O’s history, the conversation suddenly moved on to parents. The members had a momentaneous dim expression and said “We last saw our parents last January for Seollal”. They knew their parents attended their debut showcase during late March but looked disappointed because they couldn’t meet them.

“It’s true that our parents came to the showcase but we couldn’t meet them because we were so busy. Since EXO-M’s parents are living in China they couldn’t come, we also felt sorry to be able to meet our parents only amongst us. On the opposite, when we had our showcase in China, the EXO-M members thought of us and didn’t meet their parents. We’re considerate of each other like this a lot” (Suho)

Chanyeol also expressed how much he missed his parents. “In the past I did a lot of voluntary service at halls for the elderly and welfare centers and there, an old woman I was cleaning for gave me a candy while telling me ‘Thanks a lot’. It’s been a long time since I’ve been separated from my parents and I can’t even go see my grandfather and grandmother during holidays so I suddenly felt like crying” (Chanyeol)

While holding in their longing for their parents that they have, EXO-K overcame their difficult trainee lives and had their strong debut stage, receiving as many favorable comments as the amount of time they spent on their intensive training. One of them was about Kai’s and the members’ awesome expression game. The part where he shouts”MAMA” to call the Gods while staring into the air with a slightly weak look is definitely ‘MAMA”s highlight.

“During the whole song, the expression game is a part that is absolutely needed. In our daily lives, we check our expressions when we take pictures of our faces with a self-camera” (Baekhyun)

On the other hand, Kai, the main actor of this expression game performance said “I do it as I feel when I listen to the song” while showing a relaxed image. But as opposed to the chic and arrogant image and the overflowing confidence he shows on stage, the fact that he gave only 10 points out of 100 to the ‘MAMA’ promotions caught our attention.

“There’s a lot more we can show in the future. I think we’re evolving little by little” (Kai)

While Suho, in contrast to shameless and cold Kai, gave to the team 50 points. “Because well begun is half done (laughs)”


Suho talked tenderly with deer-like eyes. He somehow seemed like he lacked charisma for a leader, when we asked him “Is there a leader-only secret to manage dongsaengs?” he tipped “I manage the members every week during family meetings. We resolve minor trivial things with love and hugs and I scold them a lot for big mistakes or if they act impolitely”.

Chanyeol then added and explained “Leader hyung doesn’t always scold us loudly but he leads the dongsaengs with quiet conversations”. When we joked and said “You look like someone who got scolded by his hyung a lot” he struck an embarrassed face, laughed as his face turned red and shook his head.

As we were reaching the end of the interview, we were very curious about one thing. Each of the 6, no, 12 members have different personalities, so with what convictions and values are they uniting with and towards what goal are they running to?

“The common motto we all attach importance to is ‘Training to give more than to receive’. You generally think that celebrities only receive, right? But we’re thinking that we are sharing the love we receive. To accomplish that we have done voluntary service since pre-debut” (Suho)

From leader Suho’s reliable answer, we could guess dimly EXO-K’s essence. Through ‘MAMA’, they are singing the pain of the modern age communication gap; they’re uniting on the basis of consideration for each other with warm hearts that understand that feeling.

EXO-K responded ‘No comment’ when asked about the follow-up song and the next concept. They piqued our curiousity by saying “If we get the opportunity, we could even promote with EXO-M”. They’re still doing their best promoting ‘MAMA’ in Korea. Like the ‘monster rookies’ they are, displaying their explosive potential on the music charts at the same time they did when they debuted, we’re looking forward to the day they’ll compete on worldwide stages, which is coming soon enough.

(*) Sehun unavoidably couldn’t participate to the interview that day because he was going to school.


source: bntnews
translation cr; emilie @ exok-trans

Girl group T-ara member Hyomin will open a collection (shop) exclusively for G-Market.
T-ara's Hyomin is working with on a collaborative project with stylist Kim Sungil for G-Market. Together, they're working to release products through the shop.
The G-Market shop is scheduled to officially open on June 4th. Hyomin came up with a total of around 150 products including a variety of flower patterned dresses, beachwear, shorts and various other items. The items will range between 20,000 to 50,000 won.
Hyomin has been actively involved in the product planning, designing, product launch preparations and the photoshoots for the product. On the 16th, she visited the G-Market headquarters to conference with stylist Kim Sungil and improve the product she's involved in. Currently, Hyomin is a model for G-Market's T-ara Star Shop.
G-Market's Fashion Marketing leader, Lee Yooyoung said, "The customer's response to T-ara's Star shop and member collaborative projects have each been successful and popular. The individuality of each of the T-ara member is unique, and in the future we hope to showcase a variety of fashionable items in collaboration with the T-ara members."

Source: NateTranslated by: Nathaniel @ Diadem 

IUIU (Korean: 아이유), who was born as Lee Ji-eun is a South Korean singer and actress. Her stage name IU, is derived from "I and You" which symbolizes that we can become one through music.
IU debuted on September 24, 2008 with her first mini-album, Lost and Found, in which she was praised by various Korean artists for her strong vocals. On April 16, 2009, IU returned with her first full album,  titled Growing Up, with her title song being "Boo." She started promotions for the album on the 17th. Within three weeks, "Boo" went up to the #1 contendants for SBS Inkigayo, and her name also went up twice on Take 7 together with other notable artists like SG Wannabe and YounHa. The song also did well on KBS Music Bank K-Chart, on Mnet M!Countdown chart, and on various online music charts.


Real Name : Lee Ji Eun (아이유)Date of birth : 16th May 1993Height : 162 cmWeight : 47 kgBlood Type: A Hobby : ReadingSpecialty: SingingDebut: September 24, 2008 Labels: LOEN Entertainment Education: Attended Dongdeok Girls High SchoolFavorite foods : Raw fish, sweet potatoFavourite Musicians: Kim Tae Woo, Gummy, TamiaFavourite Star: Gummy, Ha Dong Kyun, Taeyang Favorite actors : Kang Ji-hwan, Jung Jae-young, Han Ji-minIdeal Type: Yoo Ah In Cyworld: http://www.cyworld.com/zieun2Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/lily199iu
====================Discography====================Korean Discography2008:

• Lost and Found

• Growing Up
• IU...IM

• Real

• Last Fantasy

• Spring of a Twenty Year Old

• I□U (Japanese pre-debut album)

• Good Day

• Dream High
• Welcome to the Show (cameo - Episode 1)

• Dream High 2 (cameo - Episode 1)
• Salamander Guru and the Shadows (cameo - Episode 6)

Congratulations to TaeTiSeo for winning on Music Bank again with their new song Twinkle.

Check out other performance from today's show!

‘Idol House’ SM Entertainment shows a male idol group, EXO-K for the first time after SHINee from 4 years ago. By having a peculiar promotion, they successfully drew the attention of the whole world before even debuting. They raised the expectation with a total of 23 teasers during 100 days. EXO is divided into EXO-K who promotes in Korea and EXO-M who promotes in China, they debuted at the same time on April 9th.

This time, the expression ‘Great boast, small roast’ was proved wrong. The six members, who got their peculiar name EXO-K from the word ‘EXOPLANET’, which stands for a planet out of the solar system, have such a sophisticated and perfect image that they can give the impression that they really fell from another planet.

You would think that they kept on going easily with the strong support of their company but armed with the SMP, it was a handicap. As much as it’s difficult to change one’s likes and dislikes, the members have various charms and respectable skills worthy of the love they receive. 

We recently met EXO-K’s members for this interview and instead of the stiff expressions they showed during the showcase, they shouted energically their official greetings “We are ONE. Hello, we are EXO-K” more relaxedly and with a bright image. A month ago they were at loss and had trouble working as a group, but during this time period, the members matured a lot.

“These days, it’s going well when we’re doing music programs. On days with music shows, we generally sleep around 4 hours, but today (Monday) we slept 7 hours” (Kai)

“I’m really having fun now. For my first birthday after our debut, the members and the fans congratulated me a lot and we had an event too” (Baekhyun)

These days, everytime they’re asked how they’re doing, the members reply like this with a shy expression. On stage, they hit high notes like professionals and match their difficult synchronized choreography looking like they are completely familiarized with it, but when facing them, we get the strong feeling that they’re ‘like children’. But here, they held the conversation with D.O’s round and bright eyes, Suho’s passionate image representing the team and with always a noticeable utterance, and Chanyeol’s brightness.

When watching the angelic members’ image, we were curious about whether they felt pressured by the media’s attention just because they’re SM rookies and the public’s expectations for them to have performances at the level of seniors such as DBSK-SHINee.

“Our promotions lasted for a very long time, right? I think that while the fans were waiting their expectations raised by quite a lot. Moreover, our seniors opened the Hallyu and K-POP path well so it pressured us even more of course. But under that pressure, we promised to practice even harder and to put in a lot of effort” (Chanyeol)

The genre of the title song ‘MAMA’, the SMP (SM Music Performance: its peculiarity is the splendid and strong performance), resembles the first generation of idols like H.O.T and Shinhwa and to the early days of the 5-membered DBSK, which makes them confident.

“When I first heard it I really liked it. It’s really imposing, and it’s been a long time since the SMP appeared, right? I thought that we could show a performance different from the other singers” (Suho)

“You can think that it’s old-fashioned or out of season but I think that this generation didn’t get to hear a lot of the SMP. Instead I thought ‘Won’t it be an original and new genre to them?’” (Chanyeol)

But thinking back to their first broadcasted performance on ‘Inkigayo’ only makes them dizzy. Starting from D.O’s ‘Superior (Imposing) Orchestra”s slip of the tongue, the members really tensed up. As soon as the subject was brought up, D.O headdesked, not knowing whether he should laugh or cry. After that mistake, when D.O just hears about the ‘first broadcast’, you can only see him sigh.

“Our first performance wasn’t live to emphasize on the performance. The pressure of the live of course decreased with that. But since it was our first time wearing an ear-mic, everything was unfamiliar so we were really nervous” (Baekhyun)

“Truthfully, even now, this kind of interview is easy but the interviews with cameras are really hard. You know how your face is still but only your mouth smiles? Recently, we had an interview once with Tony senior on ‘M!Countdown’ and I got scolded because my lips were really shaking” (Kai)

Even if they look perfect, they’re still rookies who are scared of the camera. “We can’t choose only one fan-idiot (T/N: A fan-idiot is a member who’s awkward with the fans and doesn’t know how to react and interact with them). We’re all fan-idiots” They gave us this standard answer. They showed their images only through teasers at first, that’s how they were exposed to the public before their debut, but as opposed to that they got to meet the fans through music programs, fanmeetings and fansigns and they were so amazed by it, it was totally showing.

EXO-K is complete only once these 6 members, who look similar yet totally different, are all together. They said that until now their singer seniors, such as DBSK, Super Junior, SHINee, etc. helped them a lot.

“DBSK’s U-Know Yunho senior and Max Changmin senior always monitor us and always give nice words to each one of us everytime we meet them after a while. Sometimes they even tell us warm words through speaker phone when we’re practicing. Seeing that we had a lot of members, Super Junior’s Leeteuk senior too told us a lot of things like ‘Make them unite as a leader’, ‘Unite a bit more’, ‘You exist because you are a group’” (Suho)




source: bntnews
translation cr; emilie @ exok-trans