Showbiz halts in South Korea as stars pitch in

The South Korean entertainment industry has in effect been shut down throughout the rescue and recovery operations, but at least the celebrities have been sharing their feelings on Twitter and elsewhere.

Just as Thai stars did during the flooding catastrophe here in 2012, South Korea’s actors and musicians are chipping in wherever they can to help. Popular actor Song Seung-heon donated 100 million won (Bt3 million) to Red Cross relief efforts last Saturday, and evidently without the slightest publicity. His agency, Will Entertainment, told the Korea Herald it only found out about the donation only the next day. His fellow actor On Joo-wan coughed up another 10 million won for the same group, while figure skater Kim Yu-na and actress Ha Ji-won each came up with 100 million won, for Unicef and victims’ aid, respectively. 

Kim Bo-sung contributed 10 million won to the Community Chest and Jung Il-woo donated 30 million won to the Hopebridge-Korea Disaster Relief Association. They’re both actors too, as are Kang Dong-won, Yoo Ah-in and Song Hye-gyo, who, through their agency UAA, all sent supplies for the victims’ families camped out on Jindo Island. 

Meanwhile British youngster Connie Talbot, a singer, is giving the proceeds from her concert in Seoul this Sunday to the cause, she announced in advance on Twitter. “I’m leaving for Korea tomorrow, at such a sad time to visit,” she said. 

Some of the stars have actually travelled to Jindo, which was the ill-fated ferry’s destination, to participate in rescue and relief efforts. Actor Chung Dong-nam must be handy in more ways than one, being head of the Korea Rescue Federation and a former member of the navy’s underwater-demolition team. He arrived with more than 50 volunteers. And comedian Kim Jeong-ku is there as a certified “industrial engineer diver”, asking on Facebook on Thursday for prayers “for the safety of those missing and myself”. Actress Park Min-young, sister of Super Junior’s Lee Teuk, was joining the volunteers there as well. 

Other artists readily cancelled or postponed appearances and album releases. Lee Jung has called off back-to-back shows in mid-May and her fellow singer Lee Moon-sae has postponed indefinitely the Cheonan concert on his national tour next month. Same for rock bands Monni and Jang Kiha and the Faces. On Twitter Monni deemed it “untimely to give a concert that was meant to entertain and bring happiness to the audience.” New records from boy bands EXO, Block B and Infinite and solo singers Lena Park, Kim Jin-ho, G-Na, Junggigo and Ji-yeon from T-ara are all on hold for now. 

South Korean show business will likely remain in mourning and thus inactive for at least several more weeks as the nation struggles to accept the reality of the tragedy – and attempt to mete out both blame and compensation. Obviously their fans in Thailand and around the world understand the need for the pause. In the meantime, one good way to express your condolences and support is a text message with the hashtag #prayforSouthKorean.