Lifestyle Report From Korea: Talking style with Kim Hyun Joong

Seoul man: Singer and actor Kim Hyun Joong says, “The Philippines has given me a lot of good experiences because the fans have been really welcoming and they’re really warm inside.”| Zoom

If hallyu is the love for all things Korean, then Kim Hyun-Joong is the undisputed prince of this Korean wave. As the former leader of boy band SS501 (he’s now singing solo) and actor in the beloved Korean dramas Boys Over Flowers and Playful Kiss, KHJ is a pop-culture phenomenon — a standout in a country where it’s tough to stand out, considering that South Koreans are some of the most style- and beauty-conscious people in the world. The plastic surgeons here are reportedly the best in Asia, and many young Koreans — even those who aren’t in show business — will go for tweaks to their noses, eyes or cheekbones without suffering the same stigma they might get in other parts of the world.
“The attitude is, ‘I’m doing it to look more beautiful and if I can be the most beautiful I can be, what’s wrong with it?’” says Diane Lee, overseas marketing associate of The Face Shop’s overseas business department.
Not surprisingly, cosmetics are also big business, and The Face Shop, having gone global and offering a wide array of natural skincare products to address every need, is the best-known and most trusted Korean brand. As their endorser since last year, Kim Hyun-Joong has traveled throughout Asia, thrilling fans while talking up the brand. (He left yesterday to tour Japan.)

A few of KHJ’s favorite things: Power Perfection BB Cream, E’thym Moisture Lotionand Natural Sun SPF 45 with Acaiberry are available at The Face Shop in leading malls nationwide.

Today we’re catching up to him during a rare break in his schedule. Wearing a black suit perfectly tailored to his six-foot frame, his light brown hair styled into a piecey coif, the three-time winner of Korea’s style icon awards offers a friendly handshake. He seems a bit tired but game, answering questions with a wicked sense of humor that unfortunately seems to get a little lost in translation. On the table are a few of what we assume are his favorite Face Shop things: the Power Perfection BB Cream, a triple-action cosmetic that whitens, fights wrinkles and acts as a sunscreen (it can also be used as foundation); and the E’thym O2 Water skincare line, which includes a Balancing Toner, Recharging Essence, Moisture Lotion and Aura Wave cream. Barring a tiny scar under his eye, KHJ’s complexion is flawless thanks to these products.
“Kim Hyun-Joong is the perfect brand ambassador because he’s not just a pretty face but (at the age of 25) he also has a good heart with all his charity works,” says Keti Maderazo, Face Shop’s brand manager in the Philippines.
As a model of male grooming who travels with his own stylist and makeup artist, KHJ also proves that there’s nothing wrong with a man wanting to boost his image by taking good care of his skin. Excerpts from the interview:
THE PHILIPPINE STAR: You’ve won many awards for being a style icon. How would you describe your style?
KIM HYUN-JOONG: I don’t think I am stylish myself but a lot of people say that I’m stylish. So I’m in a dilemma about whether I’m really stylish or not.
What do you think makes a man stylish?
I think that instead of fashionable clothes, a man should have his own characteristic himself, his own charisma that shows how stylish a man can be instead of just clothing.
Are there any celebrities whose style you admire?
Grunge (keeps repeating the word “grunge”).

The face of The Face Shop: “My image is well-matched with The Face Shop’s concept of being natural and using natural ingredients.”

Can you describe your grooming regimen in the morning? How long does it take you to get dressed?
I don’t do much of the grooming thing in the morning because I have a lot of schedules every day, so the only thing I do is take a shower before I leave.
Why did you choose to work with The Face Shop?
My natural looks are well matched with The Face Shop’s concept of being natural, and using natural ingredients. The Face Shop believes in the naturalism concept, so I think the image matches very well.
What are the Face Shop products you can’t live without?
I’m exposed to the sun and to the lighting onstage, so I protect myself with the BB Cream — it’s on the table — and another one is the sunblock.
You’ve been to the Philippines a number of times. How do you find the Philippines and your Filipino fans?
The Philippines is a very nice place and has given me a lot of good experiences because the fans have been really welcoming and they’re really warm inside. They’re really passionate and their response rate is really high.
What Face Shop products you would recommend to them?
Because the Philippines is a hot place, I recommend the sunblock, of course, and because people in the Philippines sweat a lot because of the warm weather, they need to take a shower very often, so having a light moisturizer would help them.
Where do you like to shop for clothes and get your hair cut and colored?
My stylist actually goes and picks clothes and outfits for me, instead of me having to do the shopping. I go to have my hairstyle done at this salon called Azunsoo in the southern part of Seoul, where a lot of celebrities go. I also get my hair colored there.

Kim Hyun Joong with (from left) Diane Lee, overseas marketing associate of Face Shop Korea’s overseas business department; Keti Maderazo; Face Shop Philippines brand manager; Marge Apacible, Face Shop Philippines training manager; Jin Ahn, Face Shop Korea training manager; and Kelly Kwak, overseas marketing team leader of Face Shop Korea’s overseas business division

What do you like most: music, TV or film, and why?
I can’t choose from the three because the three can’t be separated: in the movie there is music, for the music I have to do music videos. So I can’t really choose.
What kind of music are you listening to right now?
I’m planning to make my next album, so I’m listening to a lot of music that shows the winter feelings, because in the Philippines there’s no winter, right, so a lot of fans can just feel the winter through my music. So these days I’m listening to a lot of winter-related songs, like carols.
When is your album coming out?

Heart and Seoul: Customers shop for skincare and makeup at The Face Shop store in Insa-dong, South Korea.

The single will be out in December, but the next regular album will be out, like, mid of next year.
Are you working on any TV shows or films right now?
I’m working on a drama series, but there’s no film planned yet.
What is the hardest thing about being a celebrity?
The hardest thing about being a celebrity is to have pressure from fans, because whenever I come out with something, all the fans will expect something better next time.

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In the Philippines, The Face Shop has 26 stores located in leading malls nationwide.

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'Silenced': Haunting Korean tale of school abuse

So graphic is the violence perpetrated toward children in the South Korean drama "Silenced" that one wonders how well (or not) the feature's young actors dealt with their distressing scenes.

Based on the 2009 novel "Dogani" by Gong Jee-young, itself a thinly disguised exposé of a real-life case of rampant sexual abuse of deaf kids by one school's authorities, "Silenced" doesn't hold much back.

Half the story focuses on grim, shocking details of systematic beatings and rapes of boys and girls at a school for hearing-impaired students in Mujin city. The second half is essentially a courtroom drama in which the victims and their allies face an uphill battle for justice.

The major connecting link is the lead character, an art teacher named Kang In-ho (Gong Yoo) who takes a position at the Mujin school and becomes an advocate for the kids.

The subsequent trial of the school's principal and two staffers gets to the heart of the movie's message. Cronyism, corruption and backward laws stymie the prosecution's case.

The 2005 trial that inspired this story was decried as an example of unenlightened laws concerning sexual abuse of children and the disabled. This film reportedly created enough stir in South Korea that the country's National Assembly passed the "Dogani Law," reforms named for the movie's Korean title.

The good that "Silenced" has done certainly outweighs its flaws, but there are certainly some of those: character and plot tropes that pad out the story but have little to do with it. (In-ho is a widower with a sickly child; his chief ally is a brassy, iconoclastic human-rights worker.)

While director Hwang Dong-hyuk is committed to brutal honesty, he also flashes an interesting taste for eccentricity, especially in the way he captures the film's villains. What's certain is that "Silenced" will haunt a viewer for a while.

Tom Keogh: tomwkeogh@gmail.com

About Korean Drama

Korean drama (Korean: 한국드라마) refers to televised dramas, in a miniseries format, produced in the Korean language. Many of these dramas have become popular throughout Asia and have contributed to the general phenomenon of the Korean wave, known as "Hallyu", and also "Drama Fever" in some countries^{[citation needed]}. Most popular Korean dramas have also become popular in other parts of the world such as Latin America, the Middle East, and elsewhere.

Plot

There are two main genres of Korean dramas, generally speaking. The first genre is similar to soap operas but without the never ending plot and frank sexual content. These dramas typically involve conflicts such as single and marital relationships, money bargaining, relationships between in-laws (usually between the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law), and often complicated love triangles while the female hero usually falls in love with the main character who may treat her badly since the beginning, instead of the one who always cares for her. These dramas last anywhere from 16 episodes to over 100 (most often not exceeding 200).^{[citation needed]}

The other main genre is Korean historical dramas (also known as sa geuk), which are fictionalized dramatizations of Korean history. Korean historical dramas typically involve very complex story lines with elaborate costumes, sets and special effects.^[1] Martial arts, sword fighting and horsemanship are frequently a big component of Korean historical dramas as well. Korean dramas, whether the historical dramas or modern dramas, typically are characterized by excellent production quality, characters with depth, intelligent scriptwriting but largely relies on the use of archetypal characters.^[2]

Popularity and availability in the USA

Korean dramas became popular in the United States particularly in regions with populations of ethnic Koreans. The spread of the popularity of Korean dramas typically centered around these regions perhaps because Korean drama programming is publicly available in those broadcast areas. Now, due to information spread via the internet, cable TV, satellite TV, and DVD rental businesses, along with k-dramas' quality English subtitling and good production quality, Korean dramas have become even more popular across a diverse American audience – i.e., not limited to families of Korean descent. Many fans now include South Korea destinations among their tourist destinations, due to their enjoyment of the Korean TV dramas.

Many of the more recent k-dramas have been translated fully with high-quality English subtitling. However, some k-dramas DVD sets are not translated completely into English and are issued in sets with fewer DVD's than the Korean language versions, to the dismay of English-speaking consumers. These are typically done so that the story is coherent and satisfying, but viewers are always disappointed to know they are missing out on some portions of the story that were not subtitled into English (for example, with the story of "The Immortal Admiral Yi Sun Shin").

Korean drama fan clubs have appeared in Hawaii,^[10] California^[11] and the metropolitan areas of Chicago^[12] and Philadelphia,^[13] Pennsylvania. Cable channels in the U.S. (such as AZN, KBS World, and MBC America) have featured several Korean dramas during primetime, in addition to offering daytime and late-night Korean programming, usually subtitled.

In November 2008, Netflix began offering several Korean dramas as part of their video selection. In August 2009, DramaFever began offering free subtitled video streaming service, with video advertisements, in the United States.^[14] As of May 2010 Korean dramas began airing on a DramaFever channel on Hulu. Additionally, Korean dramas are available at online DVD retailers. Some Korean dramas, however, are not available for Region 1 (North America) encoding and NTSC video format.

By late 2010 and early 2011, many popular Korean dramas began to air on Puerto Rican channels. This have impacted greatly on which is the Hallyu in the USA and Latin America. Such dramas as My Name is Kim Sam Soon, Princess Hours, The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince, Boys Over Flowers, All About Eve (TV series), Stairway to Heaven (TV series) and others have proven to be quite successful in Puertorrican households.