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Top actress Choi Jin-sil was found dead Thursday morning in her home in what appears to be a suicide. She was found in a shower booth with pressure band wrapped around her neck.
Police says that her body was discovered by her family member at 6:15 and police arrived at the scene around 7:30. No suicide note was found. The details and circumstances of her death are still being investigated.
Choi has been under enormous pressure lately from rumors implicating her in the suicide death of TV actor Ahn Jae-hwan, husband of Choi’s close friend, comedienne Jung Sun-hee. Internet postings accused Choi of lending about 2 million dollars to Ahn, indirectly driving him to his death. Police arrested a 25-year-old securities firm employee in late September for initiating the false rumor in cyber space.
Choi debuted in 1988 on a TV historical drama and since then has played numerous leading roles in both TV and films. She rose to stardom in the romantic TV drama “Jealousy” in 1992, and starred in such hits as “You and Me,” “Bad Woman, Good Woman,” “Rose and Bean Sprouts,” and “My Rosy Life.” Her latest starring role was in “The Last Scandal of My Life” the spring of 2008, which put her back in the limelight as the most bankable middle-aged star.
While enjoying professional success, her personal life, on the other hand, has been full of ups and downs. She married then baseball star Cho Sung-min in December 2000, but divorced him five years later. They have two children, whose last name was changed from “Cho” to their maternal sir name “Choi” this year. Well-known for her fierce loyalty and strong friendship with a small group of celebrities, which include comediennes Jung Sun-hee and Lee Young-ja and models Lee So-ra and Hong Jin-kyung among others, she was apparently devastated by the death of Ahn and the ensuing rumors. The general public suspects that the stress from the recent string of events pushed her over the edge and prompted her to take her own life. Her body is currently at rest in Samsung Medical Center in southern Seoul.
source: KBS World
’90s TV Icon Discovered Dead in Her Apartment
Top Korean actress Choi Jin-shil has been found dead in her Jamwon-dong apartment in Seoul. According to police, Choi was found dead by her mother on the morning of October 2 at 6:15 a.m. The police are currently investigating the details of the incident but tentatively concluded that the actress had committed suicide.
A police official said Choi had apparently hung herself with a compress in the shower booth. Close acquaintances say that Choi had been severely depressed after the recent suicide of actor Ahn Jae-hwan, who was the husband of her close friend and popular TV and radio host Jeong Seon-hee.
Choi had recently been at the center of unconfirmed rumors alleging that Ahn had owed her an enormous sum of money which she had lent to him as a private loan. Choi had denied the rumors and asked the police to investigate the matter. A couple of days prior to her death, the police indicted without detention a woman in her 20s for spreading the rumor online.
Source: KBS Global
Actress Choi Found Dead in Apparent Suicide
By Park Si-soo
Staff ReporterActress Choi Jin-sil was found dead in her home in Seoul in an apparent suicide, police said Thursday, amid rumors linking her demise to the death of an actor last month.The 40-year-old Choi has been a national heartthrob for the past two decades appearing in numerous box-office hit films, dramas, and commercials.
According to Seocho Police Station, Choi’s mother found the actress hanging by an elastic bandage in a shower stall at her home at 6:15 a.m. and reported it to them at 7:34 a.m.
An investigation is under way into the exact cause of her death, but currently police are leaning toward suicide since Choi sent a text message to her makeup manager hinting that she would kill herself. In the message, she said “My dear, I hope you take care of my children if something happens to me.”
An autopsy was conducted at Kangnam St. Mary’s Hospital that night, with results due within days.
“Taking the evidence and testimony into consideration, we believe she apparently committed suicide,” Yang Jae-ho, a chief investigator said. “We will continue to look into the case to clarify the cause and other details.”
Investigators said Choi drank with her manager last night and returned home at around midnight. Crying before her mother, she said “I am disappointed in people who allege I pulled strings behind the death of (actor) Ahn Jae-hwan. I had nothing to do with his suicide.” Then, she entered the bathroom and locked the door.
Waking up at around 4 a.m., her mother entered her room and learned Choi was still in the bathroom. As there was no reaction to her knock, she called a maintenance man to open the door at 6 a.m.
Ahn, the husband of popular comedian Jung Sun-hee, was found dead inside his car in early September also in an apparent suicide using toxic fumes generated by burning charred briquettes.
Rumors have since circulated on the Internet that Choi had lent billions of won to Ahn, who was reportedly shouldering huge debts due to his faltering business. Rumors also said Choi pressured and even threatened Ahn to get her money back.
Choi had asked police to investigate the origins of what she called groundless stories, and a securities company official was arrested this week on suspicion of spreading the rumor that Choi lent 2.5 billion won ($2.5 million) to the late actor.
On Wednesday, the actress went to a studio to shoot a commercial, but this was canceled halfway through due to her poor health. Choi’s partner at the shoot, Sohn Hyun-joo, said she looked very weary. “Her face looked really bad and she found it difficult to continue and had to stop after two hours,” Sohn said.
Born in Seoul on December 24, 1968, the all-smiling Choi jumped to stardom in the 1990s after appearing in a TV commercial for a Samsung video tape recorder.
Despite her professional success, her personal life was tough. Her manager Bae Byung-soo was killed by Choi’s driver in 1994, and Choi was called to testify in the case. In 2000, Choi married Cho Sung-min, then a popular baseball player, but this ended in an ugly divorce in 2004. She is survived by her two children.
Source: Korea Times
I really liked her…T_T Why is everyone I like suddenly dying?
I’ll miss her.
Ever since losing their home at the Seoul Arts Center due to a fire that broke out during the “La Boheme” performance last December, the National Opera of Korea has been going through a tough time.
Yet now, with its newly appointed artistic director Lee So-young, a well-known opera producer, the NOK seems to be getting its affairs back in order. Since their successful performance of “Carmen” in July, the company is set to stage a new work, “Salome,” starting Oct. 2 at LG Arts Center.Lee chose to stage “Salome” – considered one of the most controversial modern operas – for the first time in Korea. It is a part of the company’s “My Next Opera” series, which intends to introduce some rare works that have not been staged in the country before.
“Because of the sensual costumes and performances, the piece has been receiving extreme critiques. I felt like the piece was no longer provocative in the 21st century,” Lee said at a recent press conference in Seoul.
With music by Richard Strauss and scripts adopted from the play of the same title by Oscar Wilde, the story is about.
While the drama was a huge success in Germany when it premiered in 1905, it was soon banned from other theaters. The charge was that it insulted characters in the Bible.It deals with a peculiar love-hate relationships between King Herodes who loves his step daughter Salome, and Salome who is in love with the prophet Jochanaan, who refuses to accept her affection.
What makes the work sensational is the famous 12-minute voluptuous “Dance of the Seven Veils” – in which Salome dances as she takes off seven layers of her clothes in front of King Herodes to make him execute Jochanaan’s.
For this production by the Venezuelan-German director Carlos Wagner, however, Salome will not be taking off any of her clothes.
“I tried to develop a story where a girl, Salome, becomes a woman through the dance,” Wagner said.
Saying that he tried to be true to the text of Wilde, Wagner stated that he intended to show Salome’s emotional nature, rather than her body, during the dance, since the “Dance of the Seven Veils” is neither mentioned in the Bible nor Wilde’s play.
Instead, the producer decided to dress King Herodes in red underwear and a fur coat, which made the original cast, who were not feeling comfortable with the costume, back off. This so-called “red underwear incident” forced the National Opera of Korea to make last-minute cast changes.
Another challenge was the small orchestra pit at the LG Arts Center. Conductor Christopher Lee said it is hard to show the colors of Strauss’ music with a 40-piece orchestra; the original performance used a 120-piece orchestra.
Lee said he will do his best to make it work by using two electrons – electronic keyboard instruments – in place of the brass.
Sopranos Han Hye-jin and Lee Ji-eun will double in the role of Salome, while veteran German tenor Gerhard Slegel will play King Herodes.
“Salome” will be staged from Oct. 2 to 5 at LG Arts Center in Yeoksam-dong, Seoul. Tickets run from 30,000 won to 90,000 won. For details, call (02) 586-5282 or check out www.nationalopera.org
By Koh Young-aah2008.10.01
I have nothing to say to this. No opinions. Have a happy and safe day^^
Despite its top-notch cast, stellar script and near cinematic perfection, SBS’ new Wednesday and Thursday night series, “The Painter of Wind,” failed to win audiences over last week.
The period piece drew in nationwide viewer ratings of 10.6 percent (AGB Nielsen Media Research) following its first episode, which aired last Wednesday. Its low ratings placed it below the rival dramas MBC’s “Beethoven Virus” and KBS’ “The Land of the Wind,” which scored nationwide ratings of 16.5 percent and 15.9 percent (AGB Nielsen Media Research) respectively.The second episode of “The Painter of Wind” fared only slightly better, with a mere 0.5 percent increase in ratings (AGB Nielsen Media Research).
But the drama’s poor track record hardly does it justice. While ratings may reflect viewers’ preferences, they do not represent a series’ quality. Nowhere is this more evident than in the case of “The Painter of Wind.”
Based on the best-selling novel of the same name, this drama – which reinterprets and rewrites the lives of leading Joseon Dynasty painters Kim Hong-do and Shin Yun-bok – manages to fuse the artistic and human beauty of the rival series “Beethoven Virus” with the sweeping epic proportions of KBS’ “The Land of the Wind.”
Park Shin-yang and co-star Moon Geun-young bring star power and acting prowess to the game, pulling off their leading roles as mentor and pupil, lovers and comrades, with stunning depth and complexity.
If “The Painter of Wind” has an Achilles’ heel, it is that it chooses to focus on art. For the average television viewer, the combination of art and history can come across as boring and long-winded.
“It is a difficult drama,” admitted director Jang Tae-yoo at a press conference on Sept. 17. “It is challenging to make art interesting. I don’t know how much of it will get communicated to audiences.”
Judging from the first two episodes, Jang and his team have succeeded in breathing new life into a potentially stuffy genre. Soft and sweeping shots of aspiring court painters putting brush to paper and tipping back wine while ogling gisaeng (Korean geisha) offer an entirely new portrait of the Joseon Dynasty.
While the series retains the usual elements of intrigue and murder, politics and warfare take a back seat. Romance and the essence of the late Joseon Dynasty, an era of reform and cultural renaissance, come to the forefront, imbibing the period piece with a strong sense of humanity and intimacy.
More importantly, the series takes on an approach reminiscent of lush period pieces like E. J-yong’s “Untold Scandal” (2003), by focusing on issues of sexuality and gender.
Posing the classically Shakespearean question: “What if the famed painter Shin Yun-bok had been a girl pretending to be a boy?” the drama – like the original novel – toys with themes of homosexuality and forbidden love while highlighting the inequalities of a male-dominated society.
Actress Moon took up the challenge of playing girl-turned-boy Shin Yun-bok. And she does a surprisingly good job of portraying a confident and rebellious girl struggling to make it in a world ruled by men.
“I tried to copy my older male co-stars,” said Moon, 21, at the press conference.
The precocious actress did more than just mimic her male colleagues. Within the first two episodes, she managed to convey the mischievous and anguished nature of her character, at times playing a sweet and innocent tomboy, at others, a cocky and seductive painter.
Though there is no evidence that the real Shin was a woman, his talent at capturing the beauty of women and creating exquisite intimate paintings remains undisputed.
Known by his pen name, Hyewon (b. 1758), he is remembered today as one of the “Three Wons” of Joseon-period painting.
The other two include fellow genre painter Kim Hong-do a.k.a. Danwon (1745- c.1806) and 19th century painter Jang Seung-up (1843-1897) – otherwise known as Owon.
While Kim enjoyed a relatively prominent career as an artist, fellow painter Shin – who was expelled from the royal painting institute, Dohwaseo – lived a more obscure life.
“The Painter of Wind” takes historical liberties with the lives of Kim Hong-do and Shin Yun-bok, depicting a full-blown romance between Kim, played by Park Shin-yang, and Moon Geun-young’s character, against the backdrop of 18th century Korea.
“The Painter of Wind” airs on Wednesday and Thursday nights on SBS at 9:55 p.m.
By Jean Oh2008.09.30
I’ve only seen the first episode, thanks to my sweet Unnie who sent it to me, but I liked it. It has a good plot and the actors seem to portray the characters well. Park Shinyang is proabaly the reason though^^
Hope everyone can watch a bit of it one day.
First off, Tayku has PnuemoniaT_T. I had been trying to contact her the past few days and fially went to her house today. She’s sick in bed and has no strength to get up and post on here. I guess that only leaves me.
On to the real news… Seo Taiji(My god of everything that is sexy) had a concert. I really wish I had been there. It sounded like a lot of fun. I’m a really big fan of his. I’ve heard everything he has ever put out. Oh, by the way, he has a new mv out. T’ik T’ak. He’s just too… Forget that thought.
About his recent concert…
As if to persuade the audience that his moniker, “The President of Culture,” isn’t an overstatement, Seo Tai-ji lit up Seoul World Cup Stadium on an unseasonably chilly night Saturday.
Fusing two seemingly antithetical genres, the 36-year-old rock star and The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra created an epic sound that shook the stadium.
The grandiosity of the 65-piece orchestra, led by England’s Tolga Kashif, paired with Seo’s music was not only seamless, but the infusion was so perfect that there will likely be fans who cannot fathom listening to his music in its original form again.
The performance was a blending of violins, violas, cellos, oboes, trumpets, kettle drums, chimes and even a harp, all of which was accentuated by the thrashing sounds of metal from Seo’s camp.
A comparison to Metallica’s concert with the San Francisco Symphony in 1999 is inevitable, but the difference here is that Metallica’s devastating metal sound chewed and consumed the orchestra they performed with through a bombardment of ripping guitar riffs and Lars Ulrich’s obnoxious drumming.
Seo and Kashif, on the other hand, seem to have focused more on how they could blend the best characteristics of classical arrangements which would complement Seo’s eclectic hard rock. It proved a success on all fronts.
The show kicked off with a laboriously long intro featuring a repetitious laser show on the Jumbo-Tron that was more like a Windows Media screensaver.
Just when it got to the point of slight annoyance, the giant screen slowly split down the center to reveal the man of the hour.
The stadium roared with chants and cheers as the “president” arrived.
By the end of “Take 2,” the fans were warmed up and ready to have their engine revved.
It was Seo’s third song, “FM Business,” that triggered seismic activity in the stadium. From there, it was everything goes and the 30,000 fans never let up.
Seo easily fluctuated between a delicate voice that created an initial calm and a rage-fueled vocal that entranced the audience, such as his 1993 hit, “Swamp of Death.”
Just before performing his newest single, “Moai,” he asked, “Tonight, I would like to bring you with me on a journey. Would you like me to take you there?”
Because of his reclusive reputation, this figurative invitation made the crowd go wild.
What followed was a more serene orchestral version of his newest anthemic single that was perhaps a bit too downbeat, given that it’s supposed to be an uplifting song.
Regardless, the blending of the Philharmonic Orchestra created an almost otherworldly atmosphere accompanied by abstract animation on the Jumbo-Tron that was most likely Seo’s intention. It worked.
Near the halfway point, Seo decided to do a bit of market research – with irony, of course. He asked the audience their age range. As it turned out, most were career men and women, along with quite a few college students. There were even high school and middle school students, which was a testament to the appeal his music has had for more than 15 years. He reinvents himself with each record.
Standing out from the rest of the set was the performance of “T’ik T’ak Fantasia” and “Classroom Philosophy,” which incorporated the 60-member Paju City Choir that enhanced the grandiose theme of the concert.
“Classroom Philosophy” was preceded by a short scathing commentary by Seo on the conditions of the Korean education system.
“I feel really bad for our youngsters to have to go through such a horrific educational system here in Korea. Nothing’s changed since the release of this song and it saddens me,” Seo said before bulldozing through the tune with chaotic fervor.
Signaling the coming end of the show, Seo obligingly introduced his band before tipping his hat to the conductor Kashif.
“I am truly grateful to The Royal Philharmonic and The Paju City Choir for enduring months of rehearsals in preparation for this concert,” Seo said.
“And, last but not least, please give the man who lost many hours of sleep to make all of this happen applause – Tolga Kashif everybody.”
With Seo’s career-defining first hit, “I Know,” The Great 2008 Seo Tai-ji Symphony came to an end, leaving the fans wanting more. That’s the best time to exit the stage for a man who has been one of most influential figures in contemporary Korean music.
By Song Woong-ki2008.09.29
I really wanted to go! Taiji! I have yet to see him in concert… I’m always out of the countryT_T
Hope everyone can like his music^^ If you happened to have been there… please leave a message. I wonder if Dongmin and Jungin went. Have a good day^^
