Jo Hyun Jae

I discover that every time I see Jo Hyun-Jae I can’t help but smile. Every move, every gesture of his thrills and delights me — his sparkling eyes, his occasionally shy expression, his polite and sincere act of listening, a slight smile followed by a serious answer, his little mannerisms like nodding his head, twitching his lips, gesturing with his hand, blinking when he’s thinking, and especially that constant lovely smile on those perfect lips. (Editor: Yimi forgets to mention his signature mannerism — rubbing his nose.)

He touches everyone with his unerring sincerity, his low-key posture, his warmth and elegance, his gracefulness and refinement. I don’t know how he could maintain his elegance and exquisiteness. He must have put in a lot of effort and hard work. (Editor: we think it’s natural-born.) This DVD makes me feel closer to Hyun-Jae.

The second part on “Photography” is excellent! It shows much more than the photos portray. There are so many brilliant moments. I really envy those who were by his side during the photo session. Hyun-Jae’s beauty is not “loud” at all. He casually reveals so much in an instant. He does not need off-beat clothes or make-up. The simplest white shirt can become extraordinary on him.

The last part is the farewell just before he enters the army. He faces his future squarely; he is ready to be a soldier. Facing those he loves and those who love him — this true love will give him peace of mind on entering the military. His final salute says it all — he and those who love him will complete this “Last Story” together.

The e-mail ends with:
Because we like the same person, we have become closer to one another, right?

Right, Yimi!

This is a limited edition of 500 DVDs. The tentative title (translated) is “A happy time in the summer of 2008″. The major portion will be devoted to the Korea Fan Meeting in Seoul in July. There will also be a special Bonus feature of the Thailand Fan Meeting in August. Approximate running time: 1 hour 40 minutes. Subtitles will be in English. Price: 20,000 Korean Won (excluding postage.)

(Read about our account of the Korea Fan Meeting in our 3/11/09 posting “The way we were — the way things were”.)

(Photos courtesy of CarpediemKOREA. )

There is a Chinese saying: “Men don’t cry easily.” (It sounds much more elegant in Chinese.) When you’re good-looking, you look good even when your eyes are puffy, your nose is red, your cheeks are wet, and your face is distorted. When Jo Hyun-Jae sheds tears (in his dramas), how does it affect you?

Can you recognize where these teary scenes are from? (not just the drama but the exact scene.)

(Credit for photos: CarpediemJapan, KBS, SBS. Thanks!)

Wonderful news of Jo Hyun-Jae to share with you! (From EVERKorea)

1. JHJ has quit smoking! This is really a surprise because most soldiers smoke like chimneys (from boredom and stress, we guess) and peer pressure is hard to resist. In March we sent JHJ a very graphic photo (in colour) of two lungs: a healthy lung and a lung ravaged by cancer. We were shocked when we saw the photo and hoped to shock him too.

2. He has decided to remain as a regular soldier and not to apply to be an “entertainment soldier.” (Many actors and singers currently serving in the Korean military are “entertainment soldiers.”) We are so proud of you, JHJ! Your two years in the army will be an invaluable experience for you.

Here are more news (from Lee Bo Young’s Chinese website 2009.4.27. Thanks!)

“Seo Dong Yo” has been showing on the TV channel YOSHLAR in Uzbekistan since December 2008 and is proving very popular.

The lead actress Lee Bo Young was interviewed on April 23 by the state television broadcasting station of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan in a special programme on Korean stars organized by the Department of Culture and Tourism.

SDY and JHJ are well-known in Central Asia, imagine that!

You are six when we first met. I did not know about you before then.

Your Mom and I had a brief encounter in Venice. Brief but sweet! We did not see each other again until seven years later.

I thought of her often during this time. I wondered what happened to her. Did she marry that oafish fellow who burst into her apartment that morning and punched me on the chin? She deserves better than that.

My life these seven years has been a blank. I drifted from one project to another, one affair to another — pursuing a life without focus.

One day I saw your Mom again — in the most unlikely place– crouching on the floor of a restaurant. Your Mom has this knack of finding herself in awkward situations. Her doe eyes have the same beauty but have lost their sparkle. Seems life has not been kind to her. She tried to avoid me but I wasn’t going to let her go again.

I needed her to help me with my restaurant (she’s a terrific chef!) Actually I needed her to be by my side. Cha Eun Jae is the same stubborn, aggravating, contrarian, provocative, unreasonable, defiant and yet irresistible girl who followed me around and talked a lot in Venice. But she helped me find your Grandmama in Vicenza and she could cook spaghetti just like your Grandmama. Can you believe we once spent a whole day in the country because your Mom wanted to get some special garlic to cook something?

I was shocked when I discovered your Mom living with that fellow. I was even more shocked when I saw they had a son — you. But your Mom said they were just living under the same roof and he was not your father, and I believed her. Why didn’t she marry the father? I asked her. She gave me a funny look.

One day when I came looking for your Mom, I saw you playing in the front yard of your house. You are so cute, so sweet, so well-mannered — a credit to your Mom. You remind me of myself when I was your age. But you are luckier than me because at your age I have already lost my mother.

Your Mom is driving me crazy. I have never felt this way about a woman before. She tugs at my heart-strings. I want to see her every day. I need her to be with me. But she is playing hard to get. She never listens to me. She doesn’t care about my feelings. She calls me spoilt, selfish, arrogant, and unfeeling. She says I of all people have no right to judge her and she owes me nothing. I’m willing to accept her as a single mother, even pretend that you are my son. What more does she want? What more can I do?

Remember that day when I came to your house and you let me in? You were so tired you fell asleep on my lap on the bench in the front yard. Good thing your Mom soon came to my rescue. Fleeting emotions on her face ranged from surprise to tenderness to sorrow, ending in tears. Why was she over-reacting? I didn’t move even when my thighs were numb from the weight of your head so as not to awake you.

It was like a thunderbolt hit me when I learnt that you are my son — the son I never knew, the son your Mom raised all by herself. I cannot describe the emotions that raced through me in quick succession — shock, guilt, joy, disbelief, fear, anger, ecstasy……A son! You are my son! How could your Mom have kept it from me all these years? I have lost all this precious time with you. I want to tell you at once, but your Mom says you need time.

During this waiting period I see you with that man all the time. You two are so chummy; I am so jealous. It should be me holding your hand. It should be me buying you ice-cream.

One day over dinner I could no longer hold it in. “Jin Sol, I am your Dad.” Instead of flying into my arms, you burst into tears and hid in your Mom’s bosom. Your Mom was so mad with me, but I didn’t understand what I did wrong. I was just claiming my rightful place as your Dad.

I was willing to do anything for you and your Mom. I could give up everything, but your Mom, ever practical, asked how we’re going to live. I could work — that’s the least I could do.

Everybody tried to tear us apart, but I could be as stubborn and tough as your Mom. I asked her to trust me; I would make it right for you both. I had a plan. I could save your Grandpapa’s empire as well as keep our family together.

Your Grandpapa will love you. You are his first grandkid, his only grandson. He may look stern but he really has a soft heart.

Everything will be fine. Your Mom and I and you are a family. Nothing can change that; nobody can separate us. I want to make it up to you and your Mom. You are the most precious things in my life. You are the best things that ever happened to me. We’ll take you to Vicenza to see your Grandmama. We’ll revisit that place where your Mom and I first met and fell in love.

I love you, my son.

Remember this oldie?

Summer kisses, winter tears
Like the stars they fade away
Leaving me to spend my lonely nights
With dreams of yesterday

There are not many kissing scenes in Jo Hyun-Jae’s dramas which mostly end up in his not getting the girl, for one reason or another (sigh!) But the few that occur are very sweet and tender, and we would like to share them with you.

Why are there 3 photos from “Seo Dong Yo” (even though it’s not a “kissy” drama)? Because our resident SDY expert (aka M) insists on including all 3 kissing scenes. Actually they are the ONLY kisses in SDY. The last one looks…..uh…..a little forced, but M must have her way!

Which is your favourite JHJ kiss?

(Credit: See names on photos. Thanks!)

Interesting thesis, but it doesn’t hold water.

What is a villain? A bad guy, an evil person, a wicked woman. (Yes, it could be a woman*) Unless they are born freaks, very few people are inherently evil, but are shaped by their experiences in life. Giroo in “Seo Dong Yo” is one such. Quote:”He is smart, intelligent, and so human.” Agreed. So smart and intelligent that he plans his future with absolute precision.

Our first glimpse of Giroo is a boy whose place at the ritual ceremony in the court of Shilla is taken by another. He sees Seo Dong as an usurper, and everything he does from that moment on is to reclaim his right. We next see him in “negotiation” with the King of Shilla. He offers to spy for Shilla — good loyal subject. But, this is in exchange for the hand of Princess Sunhwa. I find this scene very unnerving — two men (one hardly one yet) talking terms (each with his own agenda), using the Princess as the “chips”. The King is the greater “villain” here — he is using both the boy and his own daughter. I doubt if he ever means to honour the agreement. But there is something devious and calculating about Giroo asking for the Princess as his reward. I do not find any evidence to suggest that Giroo has loved the Princess since he is a child. She doesn’t even seem to know him. He loves a princess, not Sunhwa. He feels he is entitled to her, and this is very offputting (to me, anyway.) To Giroo, love is possession. He wants to be the Queen’s Consort (if/when Sunhwa inherits the throne, and he’ll do everything to make sure she does, I bet.) Later, when he is firmly entrenched in Baekjae as Buyusun’s right-hand man, if Princess Woo Young would have him, I suspect he wouldn’t mind. He just wants to marry a princess, any princess.

Quote:”When Giroo was spying at Haneulchae, he was during no real evil.” He is biding his time. He befriends Seo Dong because he wants an ally, maybe a follower. He sows the seeds of discord and he plants suspicion against Seo Dong. The Baekjae exiles are nursing a snake in their bosoms and do not know it. Giroo uses people; he exploits their kindness and goodness. They treat him like a brother, but he would not hesitate to wipe them out to advance his own scheme. Yes, he is a schemer, but for all his meticulous scheming, he is no match for Seo Dong’s innocence and goodness and wisdom.

When Giroo discovers that Seo Dong is the one the Princess is in love with, his jealousy and fury erupt. He feels absolutely outraged — he is so sure of himself that he finds it an insult that the Princess should prefer Seo Dong to him. Actually the Princess only has eyes for Seo Dong; she is not even aware of Giroo’s existence. Giroo’s unrequited love for the Princess drives him to embark on his epic journey of revenge. I understand Giroo’s motives, but most men who are rejected do not go on a killing spree.

Here are the indictments against Giroo:

~He is a thief — he steals Baekjae’s “Book of Knowledge” and the secrets of their arts and crafts, techniques and inventions. He betrays their trust in him and robs a country of its most precious assets (now called “intellectual property”.)

~He is a murderer — he kills the Crown Prince, the King, and hundreds of citizens of Baekjae. True, he is acting under orders from Buyusun, but he has a choice. Once he makes the choice, he is launched on his journey of no return. Human beings have to live with the consequences of their actions.

~He attempts to kill Moraksu — he thinks he has succeeded and even taunts Seo Dong about it.

~Nothing would give Giroo greater pleasure than to kill Seo Dong too (and not from lack of trying.)

Like Buyusun, Giroo believes the end justifies the means. He would do anything to achieve his ambition. But I think in the course of this pursuit, he has lost sight of his objective. He claims to love the Princess, but he treats her most ungallantly. He threatens her; he blackmails her; he tries everything in his power to kill the man she loves. At some point he loses his perspective — he cannot even distinguish between the means and the end. One bad deed leads to another — after a certain point, DOING bad has become his nature of BEING bad.

Character is destiny. The Greek philosopher Heraclitus’ maxim applies admirably here — “A man’s character is his fate.” The kind of person that Giroo is determines his destiny. He blames everything on external circumstances; he chastises other people for doing him wrong. But not everybody in the same boat as he would do half of what he did. And those are not ordinary crimes that he commits — regicide, for one. I feel there is a certain flaw, a tragic flaw (just like the Greek tragic heroes) in Giroo — hubris (pride, arrogance.) Pride comes before a fall — this old English saying holds true in his case. He is brimming with self-confidence; he trusts his own judgement and no one else. He does not have the humility to admit he has made mistakes. Had his life been smooth sailing, Giroo could have become a notable aristocrat. But once it hits a snag, he snaps. He does not have the innate strength and integrity (that Seo Dong has.) They grow up under very different circumstances, of course. Giroo has been born to privilege and wealth; Seo Dong has known nothing but hardship and poverty. Giroo’s character has never been tested until he becomes a spy for Shilla. He has the ability, no doubt about that, but he does not have the rectitude (that Seo Dong has to sustain him through thick and thin.) As time goes on and he sinks deeper and deeper into the abyss, all Giroo has to keep him going is revenge, and even that has a hollow ring to it.

“What one cannot avoid is not fate. What one can avoid but still chooses to go down that path, that’s fate.” What Seo Dong says applies to Giroo too. So many times in the course of the drama Seo Dong pleads with him to give up, to turn back. Even at the very end, when Giroo tries to assassinate Seo Dong, now King Mu, who again gives him a final chance to save his skin, he still would not quit. He says it is too late, and perhaps it is. No one who has done what he did could live with those “sins” on his conscience.

Giroo is a well-drawn, well-developed character, and Ryu Jin plays him with subtlety and earnestness. He is the perfect foil to Seo Dong, the antagonist vs the protagonist, the anti-hero vs the hero. Notice I did not call him a “villain” — he is a three-dimensional figure, a very “human” being. Some stock villains in dramas have the word “VILLAIN” carved on their foreheads (you know what I mean.) But you see Giroo “becoming” a miscreant and you understand how and why that happens. Still, it doesn’t excuse him in any way. No, I don’t hate Giroo. I even feel sorry for him. But I still think he’s a bad guy. And I would avoid him like the plague.

P.S. What’s this ludicrous idea that Princess Sunhwa would live longer if she married Giroo? Who can play God? If she could not marry Seo Dong, I think Sunhwa would end her days in a nunnery.

(* There’s a woman in SDY that I detest. Guess who? Answer in later posting.)

This is the thesis of our resident expert on SDY.

(TO BE CONTINUED)