Super Junior’s Kangin, Lee Junki take part in military flood relief
Super Junior’s Kangin and actor Lee Junki, celebrities currently serving their mandatory military service, have been spotted working alongside other soldiers in relief efforts following deadly and damaging floods and landslides in Seoul. Over 400 Army troops traveled to Seoul to help eliminate mud, search for missing civilians, and drain water from flooded land.
So far, the floods and landslides have been blamed for at least forty-one deaths, with others still missing. They have also caused massive power outages, town evacuations, business closings, and extensive property damage in the Seoul area. Korean news sites reported that Kangin worked dutifully, not hesitating when faced with more difficult tasks. An Army official said, “Kangin is older than other soldiers, so in a lot of cases, other soldiers could feel uncomfortable working with him. However, he usually approaches others first and makes them feel easy to work with, creating good camaraderie.” This is the first time Kangin has appeared in the news since enlisting after a string of arrests and scandals in 2009 and 2010. He sang one song, “A Short Journey”, for Super Junior’s “No Other” repackaged album, but was otherwise barred from the group’s 2010 promotions.
Kangin’s troop takes part in army flood recovery efforts.
Lee Junki, an actor who shot to stardom through “The King And The Clown”, was also spotted helping with relief efforts. The Korean Defense Media Agency has posted pictures of soldiers in Seoul on their blog, and fans spotted Lee Junki among other soldiers digging up mud around the National Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts (NCKTPA). As the army continues to assist with flood relief, conditions in Seoul will hopefully improve.
Lee Junki (right) digs up mud with other soldiers.
More footage of the army’s relief efforts can be viewed below:
Dubbed as “Return of The Superior” by their fans for their much anticipated comeback, Super Junior maintains the buzz after a post titled “Explosive! Super Junior taking over the cash register” was published online.
Recently, a community portal site uploaded photos of Super Junior’s albums in front of the cash register, demonstrating the popularity of the group’s fifth release. Along with the title and uploaded photos, the site also stated, “Guanghwa’s Hottracks, Incheon’s Synnara, Yongdeungpo’s Hottracks and other stores already have employees revealing that all their Super Junior albums are sold out!”
Meanwhile, a certain music store in Seoul also posted a scene that looked like they were only selling Super Junior albums.
Netizens who saw the craze immediately left comments such as, “That’s amazing! Does anyone have all 10 album covers?”, “I’ve finally felt the true popularity of Super Junior”, “I’ve never seen a cashier only ring in one item for every single person!” and “Super Junior, jjang!”.
A few days back, Super Junior released their fifth album ”Mr. Simple” after a year of hiatus. The release has ten different album covers and different sizes, which has recently sparked a hot topic among their fans. Super Junior also managed to wow their fans as they performed their first comeback stage on KBS Music Bank earlier today.
Super Junior’s Leeteuk and Heechul to join the army
Super Junior’s Leeteuk and Heechul, both born in 1983, will turn 29 years old this year. In accordance with Korean law, they will naturally join the army at this age. In fact, the two are to join the army sometime between this year and the middle of next year.
However, according to a representative of SM Entertainment, while they are of age to join the army, plans have not yet been made for them to enlist.
Because of this, their fifth album ”Mr. Simple” is expected to be Super Junior’s last album in a while. Once fans heard of the news, they commented that they felt this album was more meaningful to them.
Since this could be their last album, Super Junior is planning a world tour.
During their August 4th press conference for “Mr. Simple”, Leeteuk stated that as this might be the last album, they will try to promote their album for as long as possible.
Leeteuk also commented that as he is a Korean man, it is his duty to join the army. Although he has some fearful feelings, he doesn’t feel highly pressured. He also expressed his hopes that his fans would patiently wait for their next comeback after the army.
Super Junior will perform on Music Bank on August 5, Music Core on August 6, and Inkigayo on the 7th.
However, Super Junior will not only be performing “Mr. Simple”, but also “Superman”, making a total of 2 new refreshing songs that the group will show. This performance will show an energetic and powerful choreography that will gather the attention of many viewers.
“Superman” will make for a large-scale, passionate, and impressive Super Junior performance. The lyrics for this song are memorable, and the performance will be one that permeates the confidence of Super Junior.
This album has been doing well on music charts the past 3 days, once again confirming the power of Super Junior as they have placed first on music charts not only in last year’s comeback, but also this year’s.
Super Junior has recently held a press conference for their 5th comeback for Mr. Simple.
Korean version of “Hana Kimi” will be directed by director of “Boys Over Flowers”
According to reports, the Korean version of romantic comedy “Hana Kimi” will be one that SM Entertainment has taken up. It will be directed by the same director of “Boys Over Flowers”.
This director has worked on the dramas “Delightful Girl Choonhyang”, “My Girl”, and “Boys Over Flowers”. He has retained respect for his work by paying attention to very tiny details in his directing. The reason this director took up this drama is because of its synergy effect.
This drama is based off the Japanese manga of the same name, which has already been made into a drama in Japan. This drama has gained lots of interest with teenagers. The manga this drama will be based on is about a a girl who has a crush on a high jumper and dresses up as a boy to enter his all boy high school and meet him.
The fact that SM Entertainment has taken the rights for this drama has gained lots of interest because of the potential casting.
Super Junior returns to Music Bank with “Superman” and “Mr. Simple”
After being away from the Korean pop scene since their last promotions with “Bonamana” last year, Super Junior returned to the showbiz with the release of their newest full length album “Mr. Simple.”
Earlier in July the group started teasing its fans by putting up concept pictures of their newest release, as well as shocking them with the looks and changes. Super Junior’s comeback teasers, and finally the MV, were released to meet up with their comeback performances as they made their long-awaited return on this night’s episode of Music Bank, performing “Superman” and “Mr. Simple” from their new album.
A parody video, made by fans, is attracting attention for their clever rendition of the SHINee’s 2009 Oddugi noodle snack advertisement.
This comical video was uploaded on August 5th, on a internet cafe and was titled, “Remake of SHINee’s snack ad by SHINee fans!”
In the video, five fan girls are wearing masks with the faces of the SHINee members and are imitating the the same moves in the original advertisement. The video had received many views especially because the video editing was very similar to the original.
Netizens who came across this parody video commented, “I hope SHINee gets to see this!“, “It’s fun to watch anytime. This video was very well made“, “Your skills are amazing! The best~!” and “Is it true that you guys went to college with this video?“.
Meanwhile, SHINee is working on the ending theme song for a Japanese-Korean-Chinese co-produced drama titled “Strangers 6”
Super Junior’s panda bear, Kangin (26; Kim Youngwoon) enlisted in the army last July and recently made a public appearance.
Currently in the military as a active-duty soldier, Kangin committed to supporting the flood recovery from July 28th to August 2nd.
According to a military official, the Hyungchon Village in Seoul was the area where Kangin and his group were assigned to. This area had been damaged the most from the recent storm and was put under intensive flood recovery operation; nearly 300-400 soldiers were assigned to support the citizens in this particular area.
During this operation, soldiers had to go down to the basement and dig up the mud themselves without the use of equipment; the soldiers worked hard all throughout the weekend to help out in the recovery.
Meanwhile, Kangin, who had voluntarily enrolled into the army after admitting guilt to his DUI and assault charges, didn’t hesitate in going into the dirty mud water and even took the initiative according to his fellow soldiers.
A military official stated, “In Kangin’s case, there was the possibility of some trouble because he is older than most of the soldiers who are also higher than him in ranking. But he’s getting along with the others very well and acts as the youngest soldier of the group”. He also added that he wishes that Kangin will safely finish whats left of his military service and succeed in making his comeback as a singer.
