Mainichi Daily News reported:

Another South Korean actress has been subjected to slandering on the Internet for donating a large amount of money for community service projects.

Numerous messages slandering the actress, 21-year-old Moon Geun-young, have been posted on the Internet since it came to light earlier this month that she has donated a large amount to South Korea’s Community Chest.

The incident came only a month after Choe Jin-sil, another South Korean actress who was subjected to harassment on the Internet, committed suicide.

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Chosun reported, “Rapper Kim Jin-pyo won the Super 1600cc Division of the CJ Super Race Championship, a professional racecar competition in Korea. Kim finished third in the final seventh round at Speed Way in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province on Sunday, but with a total score of 78 points, he easily beat the 62 points of second-place finisher Lee Dong-hoon.”

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Chosun reported:

The launch ceremony of the new Audi A4, held on Thursday afternoon at the Olympic Hall in Seoul, was marred by the collapse of VIP stands near the stage, leaving a number of celebrities, including top actress Kim Hye-soo, injured. According to witnesses, the VIP seating stand collapsed at 8:10 p.m. when crowds swarmed towards the new Audi car as it appeared center stage.

Celebrities, including actresses Kim Hye-soo and Choi Kang-hee, and actors Jung Woo-sung, Lee Jung-jae and Ryu Seung-bum, were sitting in the VIP area. Some escaped the site unharmed, but others sustained minor bruising.

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Chosun reported:

A game targeting fans of top Korean Wave actor Bae Yong-joon who want to learn Korean will be launched in Japan in January next year.

The Busan Metropolitan Government announced Wednesday that multimedia company Mobilero has developed an educational Korean language game starring Bae with funds from it and the Korea Culture and Content Agency.

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image courtesy of Sankei Sports

Chosun reported:

Tickets to the first solo concert in K-pop sensation Lee Hyo-lee’s career at the Jamsil Indoor Stadium on Dec. 20 sold out in just five minutes on Thursday.

The first 2,000 out of 7,500 tickets for the stadium, which were released at 2 p.m., were gone in five minutes, and the second round, released at 4 p.m., went equally fast as there were 13,000 people on the waiting list. Lee instantly emerged as the dark horse in the year-end concert market, the most hard-fought competition ground for big stars.

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Image courtesy of Chosun

CRIEnglish.com reported:

South Korea’s highly popular 2003 television series “Dae Jang-geum,” or “Jewel in the Palace,” will be made into a feature film, the Chinese web portal 163.com reported.

China’s Xi’an Film Studio will cooperate with a South Korean film company on the project, officials said at the company’s fiftieth anniversary celebration on Saturday in Xi’an.

Lee Yeong-ae, who attained fame through the smash-hit TV series, again will play the heroine, Seo Jang-Geum. South Korean heartthrob Song Seung-hun also will be cast in a role, although the exact one has yet to be determined, the report said.

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Chosun reported:

Ju Hee, 38, has not changed much in 20 years. Many people remember her big, wide eyes and articulate speaking manner. Ju Hee, a teen star in the 1980s, made a comeback as a film festival programmer after finishing her studies in Japan. She is now an executive of a Cinus multiplex and a planner of the 2008 Pink Film Festival, which opened last Saturday.

The Pink Film Festival, which was launched last year, is the only women’s film fest showcasing low-budget Japanese adult movies in Korea. The festival runs from Nov.1 to 28 in four Cinus theaters in Isu, Seoul, Busan, Daejeon and Paju (the one in Seoul ends next Tuesday).

“Last year, we held the festival as a limited test-run, and sold 83 percent of seats,” said Ju.

After she quit acting in 1991, Ju began a graduate film studies program in Nihon University, Japan the following year. While studying for her master’s and doctorate degrees, she won Japanese government scholarships that covered all her tuition fees.

She began to take interest in adult films when preparing for her doctorate dissertation. “My topic for the dissertation was research on the mentality of Japanese people as seen through ‘yakuza’ gangster movies.

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Chosun reported:  While the life of Shin Yoon-bok, one of the most acclaimed artists from the Chosun Dynasty, is in the spotlight thanks to popular soap opera “Painter of the Wind,” starring Korea’s sweetheart Moon Geun-young, a film that deals with Shin’s life is also coming out. The movie “Portrait of a Beauty,” to be released on Nov. 13, is a romance that deals with ill-fated love over the eponymous artwork that has reportedly hoarded a secret for 250 years.

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Image courtesy of Chosun

Chosun reported:

A press conference for the 6th Asiana International Short Film Festival was held last Tuesday morning at the Kumho Art Hall in Gwanghwamun, downtown Seoul. Present were actor and festival director Ahn Sung-ki, film director Yoon Jong-chan, festival programmer Lee Joo-yeon, actress Kim Hye-soo and actor Chung Bo-hoon.

A total of 1,734 films from 69 countries have been submitted to this year’s event. “Although more films were submitted this year than last, we had to reduce the number to be screened during the festival due to time restraints,” said Lee Joo-yeon.

Kim Hye-soo, one of Korea’s top actresses, was notably appointed as a special member of the jury. Kim has appeared in some 20 movies since her 1986 debut with “Ggambo” to her most recent release, this year’s “Modern Boy.”

“I graduated from university one year later than my fellow students, mainly due to the fact that I was working in the film industry while I was attending classes. Another reason is that I wasn’t the most conscientious student. The only thing I loved as a film major student was to watch films. As a huge fan of short films, I will do my best to discover actors with great potential through watching many good short films,” said Kim.

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Korea Times reported:

The 13th Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF) closed Friday with the premiere of the South Korean film “I Am Happy” directed by Yoon Jong-chan.

This year’s festival featured the largest number of films and world premiers, receiving good response from audiences. But the festival, the largest of its kind in Asia, has an air of calm rather than extravagance.

Asia’s largest cinematic event featured a record number 315 films from 60 countries, including 85 world premieres and 95 Asian premiers at 37 theaters over the nine-day run.

The variety of films led to large audience figures. According to PIFF organizers, a total of 198,818 people participated in the event, slightly up from last year.

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