The Big News of 2020 You Shouldn’t Miss

By Jae-Ha Kim
Kocowa.com
February 17, 2020

The recent episodes of “E-news Exclusive” feature the latest entertainment news from South Korea. Episode 143 highlights BTS‘ historic performance at the Grammy Awards, while Episode 144 features the first interview by Ku Hye-Sun since her public split with Ahn Jae-Hyun. And in Episode 145, the team reports on “Parasite,” which won four Oscars at the Academy Awards.

Episode 143

At their first Grammy appearance in 2019, BTS presented H.E.R. with her award for Best R&B album. The septet also promised they’d be back to the prestigious music awards show. They had hoped it would be as a nominee.

But when they weren’t nominated in 2020, everyone was disappointed. As RM pointed out, usually only nominees perform on the Grammy stage.

This is where Lil Nas X comes into the picture. The American rapper had a hit single with his genre-bending single “Old Town Road.” When he was invited to perform the song at the Grammys, he invited all his collaborators, including Billy Ray Cyrus, 13-year-old yodeler Mason Ramsey, Diplo and RM, who had tweaked the song into “Seoul Town Road” for his collab with Lil Nas X.

If anyone believes in the power of seven, it’s RM, so he brought his group with him and shared his lines with Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V and Jungkook.

By the way, Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyris won a Grammy for the Best Music Video for “Old Town Road.”

One of the things I hadn’t noticed — but learned from watching this episode — was that when it was BTS’ turn to sing with Lil Nas X, their backdrop included a photo of Seoul’s famous Namsan Tower as well as ARMY (the name their fandom) written in Hangul.

Though the program showed superstars such as Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish and Alicia Keys on stage, the hosts confidently said that BTS was the evening’s most anticipated guest.

They weren’t wrong.

Episode 144

Ku Hye-Sun and Ahn Jae-Hyun seemed like the perfect couple. The two met on the set of the 2015 K-drama “Blood,” fell in love and got married in a low-key wedding on May 21, 2016. They had a civil service ceremony and celebrated afterwards with a private dinner for their families. Bucking the trend of lavish weddings, the good-looking young couple touched netizens’ hearts by donating all the money they could’ve spent on a fancy reception to a hospital’s pediatric ward.

Subsequent appearances on reality programs showed the couple at home relaxing, cooking, playing videogames together and enjoying each other’s company.

Then last year, fans were shocked to learn that the “Boys Over Flowers” actress and “The Beauty Inside” actor were going through a contentious dissolution of marriage, which became clear when Ku started to air their laundry on social media. Ahn responded by doing likewise, though at a lesser frequency.

In the first interview since the public feud, Ku candidly reveals why she did what she did (she regrets it) and tells viewers that she is moving on.

“The past six months were like a nightmare,” said Ku, after working a day at a dog shelter where she regularly volunteers her services. “I thought I would never ever go through a divorce.”

It was her volunteer work and taking care of her own five pets that helped her get through the rough times: “Dogs that have been traumatized are scared of human beings. There’s no trust.”

It seems as if she’s talking a bit about herself as well. While Ahn went back to work, starring in “Love With Flaws,” Ku took a temporary break from acting. She concentrated on writing, held an art exhibit, did her volunteer work and studied.

She said in retrospect, she regrets exposing so much of their private life on social media. She felt shame over how childish she was. But, “I thought that was the best thing to do at that moment.”

After she saw how select texts that Ahn had released made her sound crazy, she decided to talk less in public and keep more to herself.

“I think I am going to regress if I don’t start anew,” she said. “I want to end our relationship on good terms.”

Right about now, she should be in London, where she enrolled in immersive English classes.

“Studying is the only way I can distract myself,” Ku said. “In the future, I will come back with good work!”

Episode 145

And last, but certainly not least, a good chunk of Episode 145 is devoted to “Parasite.” The film made history at the Academy Awards as the first non-English film to win for Best Picture. It also won for Best Foreign Language Film, Best Screenplay and Best Director for Bong Joon-Ho.

Delighted and excited at his wins, Bong’s mantra that evening was, “I’m ready to drink tonight until next morning.”

The venerable Martin Scorsese looked genuinely happy for Bong. And in his acceptance speech, Bong said one of his favorite quotes was: “The most personal is the most creative.” And he pointed out that was a quote from Scorsese.

“E-news Exclusive” staff flew out to Los Angeles to greet the “Parasite” cast when they landed at LAX. Park So-Dam looked a little flustered at being greeted at the airport and shyly pointed out that she hadn’t done her makeup.

Cho Yeo-Jeong, whose birthday is Feb. 10, said that the Oscars occurred when it was technically her birthday in South Korea. So it was the best gift she could’ve ever received.

Also featured in this episode was a chat with the filmmakers behind “In The Absence,” which was nominated for a Best Short Documentary Oscar.

Be sure to follow @GoAwayWithJae, where I tweet about all things Korean.🇰🇷