Category: Entertainment Files

This might end up being an interesting documentary to check out:

The upcoming documentary film “The 2nd Repatriation,” directed by Kim Dong-won, focuses on the voices of the 46 people who have demanded the Seoul government let them return to their communist homeland for more than 20 years.

The film is a follow-up to the director’s 2004 documentary “Repatriation” about the 63 “unconverted” North Koreans who went back home in 2000.

“The 2nd Repatriation” revolves around Kim Young-shik, one of the remaining North Korean communists living in South Korea. He was sent to the South in 1962, arrested soon afterward and served 27 years in prison. The 90-year-old claimed he was physically and psychologically tortured to convert his ideology and subsequently excluded from the 2000 repatriation. 

It took nearly 20 years to complete the film, as Seoul-Pyongyang relations have experienced ups and downs over the cited period, while Kim Young-shik and other former North Korean spies have still not been permitted to go back home. 

“After I made the 2004 film, I thought the second repatriation would come soon. So I started filming their stories,” the director said Tuesday in a press conference after a media screening of the 156-minute film. “But their return has been delayed for about 20 years, and I’ve been working on it for the longer-than-expected period.”

Out of the 46 people still seeking to be repatriated, nine people remain alive, and they are 91 years old on average. So far, only one of them was sent to the North after dying of an illness in Seoul in 2005.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Outside of the Mandolorian series, the Disney+ live action Star Wars series have been mostly hot garbage. Hopefully Lee Jung-jae doesn’t end up in a stinker of a series:

Top actor Lee Jung-jae is to join the new Disney+’s “Star Wars” series “The Acolyte,” helmed by Emmy-nominated creator Leslye Headland.

Lee will take a male lead in “The Acolyte,” according to the US online entertainment trade publication Deadline, but the detailed information about his character and role are yet to be revealed.

“There are many speculations about Lee’s role in ‘The Acolyte.’ We do not have any official statement to make at the moment. We hope to share the information, if things are decided in the near future,” Lee’s agency Artist Company official told The Korea Herald on Monday.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

It seems to me that BTS is just leaving the door open to reunite if their attempt at pursuing solo projects doesn’t work out. I guess we will see what happens:

K-pop supergroup BTS flatly rejected rumors Thursday that the band is taking steps to disband itself following its recent announcement of a pause in group activities.

“We’ll try to show good performances either as a team or individuals,” RM, the band leader, said in a post to Weverse, a K-pop fan community platform.

He said he has received the most phone calls in his nine-year career since the band unveiled its plan to take a break from group activities in order to focus more on solo projects in a YouTube video Tuesday.

The abrupt announcement sent a shock wave through fans and news media, both inside and outside the country.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Considering season 1’s huge success, it is no surprise Squid Game has been renewed by Netflix for a second season:

The global sensation “Squid Game” will return for a second season, Netflix confirmed Monday.

“A whole new round is coming,” director, writer and executive producer Hwang Dong-hyuk said in a letter to fans released by Netflix. “And now, Gi-hun returns. The Front Man returns. Season 2 is coming.”

Gi-hun, played by Lee Jung-jae, is the debt-ridden character who gets involved in a mysterious deadly contest to win 45.6 billion won (US$37.9 million) in prize money in the nine-part series.

Hwang added that Cheol-su, the “boyfriend” of the show’s animatronic doll, Young-hee, will be introduced to viewers in the next season.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

BTS supposedly caused one of the largest gaggles of press reporters ever seen at the White House during the Biden Administration:

South Korean supergroup BTS highlighted the need to respect one another as they made their first visit to the White House on Tuesday for a rare meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden.

The group also joined White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre in a daily press briefing before meeting with the U.S. president.

“It is a great honor to be invited to the White House today to discuss the important issues of anti-Asian hate crimes, Asian inclusion and diversity,” group member RM said in the press briefing.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

With a high number of Korean celebrities that have completed their military service why should BTS be exempted?:

Saturday’s meeting between officials of the agency of boy band BTS, Hybe, and President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s transition committee went without discussing the K-pop sensation’s possible military service exemption, a high-ranking official said, while hinting it could be discussed in the new administration.

There was “no mention about the military service at all,” Ahn Cheol-soo, chief of Yoon’s presidential transition committee, told reporters after his visit to the Hybe headquarters late Saturday. “It is something that should be decided in the newly launched (Yoon) government, after discussion with the National Assembly,” Ahn said, leaving the door open for discussions in the future.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

Unfortunately Mr. O was not able to accept the award in person because there was no Golden Globes award ceremony this year because the HFPA that puts on the event is now considered racist:

O Yeong-su has won best TV supporting actor at this year’s Golden Globe Awards for his role in “Squid Game,” becoming the first South Korean actor ever to secure an acting trophy at the American awards show.

In the winners list of the annual awards event thrown by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) on Sunday (U.S. time), the 77-year-old actor won Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role on TV for his role in the Netflix original series.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but Mr. O is the first Korean actor to win a Golden Globe award.

Squid Game fans will not only have a season 2 to watch, but likely a season 3 as well:

The global TV sensation “Squid Game” will likely return not only with season 2 but also with season 3, its creator Hwang Dong-hyuk said Tuesday.

“I’m in talks with Netflix over season 2 as well as season 3,” Hwang said in an online interview with Korean broadcaster KBS. “We will come to a conclusion any time soon.”

It is the first time that the director-writer has hinted at the possibility of a third season of the biggest Netflix original series after he confirmed a plan to produce another season in a media interview last month. 

He said the next season will feature the story of Gi-hun, the final winner of the deadly contest of heavily debt-ridden people to win 45.6 billion won (US$38.9 million) in prize money.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.