HALLYU NEWS: LIFE IN THE TIME OF CORONA

PART ONE!

Curious how some of your favorite K-celebs are filling their time while the whole world is in isolation?

Here is what we dug up.

Song Joon Ki

News about Song Joon Ki has been relatively scarce since he starred in the Arthdal Chronicles (Netflix 2019). It was unfortunate that the series aired and struggled to find its audience at the same time as Song Joon Ki and Song Hye Kyo ended their short marriage.

It seemed that the Descendants of the Sun actor chose to remove himself from the spotlight at that time, taking a break from the intense schedule he had been keeping since Descendants first aired and Joon Ki became the talk of the town.

Recently there have been reports that the Song-Song couple’s former home in Itaewon, purchased in Song Joon Ki’s name– according to the International Business Times, for just over $11 million USD- has been demolished and construction started last month on the same site.

Korean media also reports that the actor purchased a holiday home in Hawaii but is back in Korea as the world goes into lockdown.

Song Joon Ki had most recently been in Columbia filming his upcoming action movie, Bogotá, until the shoot was stopped due to the pandemic.

We hope this period of self-isolation will give the actor time to choose another great drama to star in. We really miss him on the small screen.

Song Hye Kyo

The Encounter (Namja Chingu) actress has been busy on Instagram recently revealing that in recent months her career has been focused on fashion; with shoots for beauty brand Sulwhasson, Suecomma Bonnie shoes, Chaumet jewelry, W Magazine, Baazar, and many more. She was also seen at Milan Fashion week in February; making a special appearance at the Bottega Veneta show.

Never one to share much about her personal life in the media, Song Hye Kyo has kept relatively quiet in recent weeks. We hope she is well and enjoying a quieter and peaceful escape from her usual routine.

Henry Lau

One of our favorite Canadian-Chinese Kpop and Kdrama entertainers has been keeping busy providing content for his fans on his Vlive, Youtube and Instagram accounts. In his Instagram Lives, he interacts with fans, plays his violin, and piano and sings some of his newer songs as well as covers and older hits.

Henry debuted with Super Junior-M in 2008, but left in 2018 when his contract expired. He has since started his own agency, opened a Chinese fusion restaurant, Xioa Zhan in Seoul, and starred in his first feature film, A Dog’s Purpose (released in 2019).

ENOi

After wrapping up their promotion for Cheeky these hard working guys have been appearing on Arirang Radio and developing more content for their Vlive and YouTube channels. This has included cooking, singing, and craft segments as well as competitions, sports and recently a style a member challenge. Coming up to their first anniversary as a group it is great to see how they have grown their fan base, despite all the difficulties and delays they have had over the past year. They have been doing charity events such as recording books for children with disabilities and were recently appointed as Global Influencer at the Bucheon Film Festival ( http://www.ksilbo.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=743166 ) Rays (their fandom name) are really proud of them.

BTS

The Bangtan Boys made a special appearance to perform "Boy With Love" on the Late Late Show's Homefest with James Corden, AKA Papa Mochi.

They have also been active on VLIVE where you can see them participate in a variety of Mukbangs, like Jimin eating cheeseburgers and calling up Jin and V to participate. RM had a long chat while doing a Mukbang - expressing his disappointment that they weren’t able to perform in front of an audience after practicing for so long.

Their Bangtantv YouTube channel is also being updated regularly with content, like a "Bangtan Bomb" with a behind the scenes clip of the boys playing hopscotch.

As disappointed as they are that their promotional tour for "7" has been cut short, we are relieved for them that they can have a bit of a break. And we hope this means that there will be even more great music coming from this time of global quarantine.

NCT

#쟌맠의불시착

NCT's Vlive has been full of content from cooking, exercises, "camping," "barbershop", and much more.

Choi Siwon

Choi Siwon celebrated one of his birthdays (yes, like the Queen of England, he has two... see more on that here) by touring some of the places his fans have paid homage. Don't worry, as you can see he's been playing it safe by taking precautions when out and about.

Self Isolation hasn't slowed him down from his charitable endeavors either. His Instagram and Twitter accounts are filled with reminders and tips on how to help take care of each other during this time.

Eric Nam

Eric has also been incredibly busy on his social media accounts, cooking, promoting his podcast, checking in with other famous friends and providing all sorts of entertaining content for his fans.

He invites you to join his Live stream on Instagram and Facebook April 9th (7pm PST) & 10th (11am KST)

Kevin Woo

Kevin Woo's Instagram is all sorts of entertaining, from Instalive Karaoke with his fans, to a beginner chef cooking show, whipping up Korean favorites like Ddokboek and Insta-bombing some of his other celebrity friends (Amber, Eric Nam and more) on their InstaLives. He most frequently drops in on on his friend James Lee's Instagram, chatting with fans and promoting his close friend's new album as they tease each other about the way they are handling this time of self-isolation.

James Lee

James, formerly of "Royal Pirates" has had a bad day...

More literally, James has just released a new single, "Bad Day" and has been spending loads of time on his Instagram promoting it, along with his newly founded Patreon. If you tune in to one of his Lives you will catch him chatting with fans from his Discourse and Patreon community. Surprise calling at least one fan every time he goes live.

James was surprised himself when Brett Ratner (Director of the Rush Hour film series, The Family Man, Red Dragon, and X-Men: The Last Stand) asked if he could join his Live. The two chatted about how the quarantine has been affecting them, and how racism against the Asian population in North America has increased exponentially. Both of them heavily condemned the attacks on Asian Americans and Brett Ratner waxed lyrical on his love for Asian cinema and Asian Entertainment in general.

Both also expressed how hard it has been to stay inside but how important it was to do just that.

"Bad Day" is available now on Spotify!

Lee Dong Hae

Super Junior's Lee Dong Hae has also been spending time on Social media; answering fan questions, practicing his English, reading and more... In the clip below Dong Hae in his cafe "Haru and One Day" offers to make you coffee, are you interested in a cuppa.

We have to say, Haru and One Day is one of our favorite cafes. It feels like a calm and comfortable oasis, complete with palm tree.