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Thursday, May 31, 2018

Korean Girl Crush: My Top 10 KPOP Singers


I have being looking for the meaning of the concept "Girl Crush" for a long time, and found myself with the follow: "Shows fierce and confident women with an empowering theme"; "Boldness, and shows that girls are really smart. However, I think that this "concept" is more of liking, who you look up to. An artist that has your attention for being themselves and what have they done, how they hard work has put them on the entertainment business and what they still have to overcome. It's something of perspective, and for that reason only, here are my top 10 kpop "girl crush". 

1.      CL

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Birth name Lee Chae Rim, born on February 26, 1991. CL got her audition with YG Entertainment at age 15, and in 2007, she featured on an Intro song for Big Bang, making her stage debut that year with her label mates on SBS's Gayo Daejon. But, it was in 2008 that her name appeared for the first time on the credits of a song, which was Uhm Jung Hwa's song "DJ". On 2009, she made her debut as CL on the girl group 2NE1, as the leader and lead rapper. Before the official debut of the group, they made a collaboration with Big Bang for the song "Lollipop". Their single was "Fire", a combination of hip-hop and reggae, and the video received more than one million views on less than 24 hours. It wasn't until 2010 that the group released their first album, title "To Anyone". The album had a total of 12 tracks, with four tracks as singles: "Clap Your Hands", "Can't Nobody", "It Hurts (Slow)" , and "Go Away". The group received four awards at the 2010 Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA): Artist of the Year, Best Music Video for "Can't Nobody", Best Female Group, and Album of the Year. For 2011, the group released their second EP "2NE1", with three #1 songs "Lonely", "I Am The Best" and "Ugly". After their promotions ended the group did their first concert, which was sold out for all its dates (August 26, 27, 28). CL also had collaborations with label mates, like with G-Dragon on the song "The Leaders". On May of 2013 she made her solo debut song with "The Baddest Female", and was a key point on the writing and composing of 2NE1's second full length album "Crush". It was announced on 2014 that CL was planning to debut as a solo artist on the US, under the management of Scooter Braun. She released a collaboration with Diplo called "Dr. Peper", her first single under Braun was "Hello Bitches" that later on was going to be part of her EP "Lifted". 2NE1 made their last performance as a group on the MAMA's 2015, when CL performed "The Baddest Female" and "Hello Bitches", with a special appearance of the other 3 members performing "Fire" and "I Am The Best". Later on October of 2016, CL made her North America tour title "Hello Bitches Tour", and was featured on Time's "Future of KPOP in America. On 2016, Minzy, the maknea of the group, left the agency to persuade her solo career, and on November of the same year, the group announced the disbandment with CL and Dara staying at YG, and the agency terminating Bom's contract. For the group's last project, they released the song "Goodbye" on January of 2017, which was an inspiration of a letter that CL wrote to Minzy when she left the group. On 2018 PyeongChang Olympics, CL performed "The Baddest Female" and "I Am The Best" at the closing ceremony. She is going to make her first appearance as an actress in Hollywood later this year with the movie "Mile 22", staring Mark Wahlberg.

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What makes her girl crush?

Her spirit of fighting and never giving up. CL had to face a lot as the leader of 2NE1, even when she wasn't the oldest one on the group, media constantly posting about her delaying her debut at the US and Bom's scandal with "drugs", for which she sometimes felt responsible to have notice beforehand. Even thought, the road has been rough and long; she hasn't   given up and wants to make her way on the entertainment industry on Asia and the US.

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2.      Hyolyn

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Birth name is Kim Hyo Jung; she was born on December 11, 1990. Singer, songwriter, and former leader of SISTAR. Before her debut, Hyolyn was supposed to debut as part of a JYP Entertainment group, composed by Secret's Jieun, EXID's Hani, and Bestie's Uji, but the project was cancelled and all of them left the agency. In 2010, she made her debut with girl group SISTAR, under the agency Starship Entertainment. After their raising success, she made her acting debut, and only project, on the KBS drama "Dream High, Season 2", among other projects, she has been part of multiple OST singles. On 2013, Hyolyn embarked on her first solo project "Love & Hate", it was a success and both of the song use for promotions were on top of the charts. For all her fans surprise, she was part of the rapping show "Unpretty Rapstar" as a contestant, where she placed third on the finals. On May 23 of 2017, it was announced that SISTAR would disband after 7 years together. At September of that year, Hyolyn announced that she would part ways from Starship Entertainment and start her solo career on her own; she founded her own music label Brid3. Afterwards she took place on OST projects and released the tracks "To Do List" and "Dally", songs that would not be promoted, just a way to exchange her music with her fans.


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What makes her a girl crush?

Her incredible talent at singing and writing, and don't forget her sex appeal, that's is on point. She is true to herself and it’s very protective of her former SISTAR members, as well as to all the people she is close to. When she was a child, she had a complicated health issues, but that did not stop her, she went for her dreams and made her even stronger. 
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3.      Jung Eun Ji

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Birth name is Jung HyeRim, and she was born on August 18, 1993. Singer, songwriter, and actress. Main vocalist of the girl group A Pink. Aside from her incredible work as a singer, Eun Ji has made a great appearance as an actress. Making her debut as an actress on the Tvn drama Reply 1997, where everyone fell in love with her character Sung Shi Won, with her strong attitude and Busan accent.  Beside the Reply drama, Eun Ji has been part of four other projects, but what made her win the "Bets Performance" award on the Second APAN Awards was the drama "That Win The Winter Blows", where she worked alongside Jo In Sung, Song Hye Kyo and Kim Bum. She had great success as a solo with the project "Dream" and the title track "Hopefully Sky" on April 2016.


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What makes her a girl crush?
Aside her incredible talent as a singer and acting, Eun Ji is a strong outgoing person. Her appearance at variety shows had made a great impression among idols and celebrities. Since the beginning of her career she had seem very mature, allowing her to befriend older celebrities like S.E.S.'s Bada.

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4.      Solar

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Birth name is Kim Yong Sun, born on February 21, 1991. Solar is the leader and main vocalist of MAMAMOO, signed under Rainbow Bridge World. She debuted on June of 2014 with the track “Mr. Ambiguous”, considered as one of the best K-Pop debuts of 2014, Retro-Jazz-R&B concept with strong vocals is what makes the group one of a kind. For her stage name, Solar comes from the English word "Sun" as well as for the musical note "Sol", both assertions goes back to her real name Sun. She was discovered at a restaurant, there was a contest for a gift to the singers, she participated and there was a representative of the music industry as the costumers. On 2016, she was part of the reality/variety show "We Got Married", where she was paired with singer Eric Nam. Both artist received great reviews and lots of fan love, with their fun encounters and outstanding chemistry. The couple won the MBC Entertainment Award for "Best Couple" on 2016. MAMAMOO's latest project was release on March of 2018, titled "Yellow Flower" with the title track "Starry Night".  Aside from group projects, Solar has her solo tracks under the name of "Solar Emotion", which mostly contains cover songs from other artists.   

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What makes her a girl crush?

At the time that Solar was part of the show "We Got Married" with Eric Nam, it was very nice seeing how humble and simple she is. She is very close to her family and group members, and almost naïve when it comes to love relationships. Aside from that, she is sincere, funny, sexy, hardworking, and goes for her dreams. 

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5.      Hani

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Before being part of the group EXID under Banana Culture Entertainment, Hani was supposed to debut on a group with Sistar's Hyolyn, Secret's Song JiEun, and Bestie's Uji, under JYP Entertainment but it was canceled. EXID official debut came on February 2012 with the single "Whoz That Girl". Nevertheless, it wasn't until 2014 that the group gain recognition by the media and entertainment business. The song "Up & Down" was released on August 2014, but didn't got good respond, which ended with the desist of promotions. In late November the group gained popularity after a fan took a video of Hani dancing to the song on an event, the choreography was kind of "sensual" and the video got a bunch of views on the internet, this made the group promote the song again and even won a couple of trophies on music shows. Hani's appearance on variety shows has being great for her, she has a free spirit personality and sometimes it's kind of though, for which younger male idols call her "hyung" (older brother). As a child, she competed at triathlons until middle school, and she is a great swimmer.

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What makes her s girl crush?

Her free spirit and great personality! Hani is known for her carefree personality, for which she even fall asleep at "Running Man" during a car ride with Yoo Jae Suk, to her foodie side, her love to her younger brother, and close relationship to male idols but more as she is one of the guys.

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6.      Amber

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Amber Josephine Liu is a Chinese heritage American singer, actively working on South Korea under her stage name Amber. Born on Los Angles, California on September 18, 1992, was cast on a Global Audition from SM Entertainment in 2008. After a year and a half of training, Amber debuted as a member of the girl group f(x) on September of 2009. She also made appearance on TV shows like; "Invincible Youth", "Show Champion", "A Song For You", "We Got Married: Global Edition", "One Fine Day", and the second edition of "Real Men" female soldiers. She made her debut as a solo artist on February 2015 with the EP "Beautiful". Since then she has done some great projects, a little different from what she has done with the girl group. Aside from singing, songwriting, directing and even producing, Amber made her debut as an actress on the tvN drama "Entourage". Her latest project title "Rouge Rouge" was a mixtape of six tracks, accompanied with their respecting MV's, a complete English project. This has being a completely independent project, where she shared through her personal YouTube channel and Sound Cloud.

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What makes her a girl crush?

Since the beginning of her career Amber has come across prejudice for the way dress and acts. At first, you might think she is a boy, for the way she dresses and walks. This can be a little disturbing on a patriarchal society like South Korea, where women have to be girly and cute, as well to follow some kind of beauty standard. But, Amber has to deal with this prejudice every day, and haven't giving up on her dream to do music and share her talent. Her latest project is prove of that. She shared her thoughts on love, gender equality, and the problems that celebrities that grow up on the spotlight had to face. Above all, she wants to be true to herself and let her fan know how she really is and what she stands for.

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7.      Sunmi

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Lee Sun Mi was born on May 2, 1992. She made her debut as part of the JYP Entertainment girl group Wonder Girls on 2007. On January of 2010, she left the group to study, and after three years, she started her solo career. On August of 2013, she released her first single, "24 Hours", it was a success and toped various charts. Later on, she released her first EP title "Full Moon", which also toped charts on 2014. The group Wonder Girls made their comeback on 2015, after two years of hiatus, this time as a band, where Sunmi played the bass. On the group's album "Reboot", she co-wrote and co-produce three of the songs. For the 10th year anniversary of the group it was announce that they would disband, with Yeeun and Sunmi leaving JYP. The group released their last project on January 2017, title "Draw Me". On August of 2017, Sunmi returns as a soloist with the track "Gashina", produced by Teddy Park and The Black Label. The track toped a few charts, and won several music shows awards. On January 2018, it was release the track "Heroine", which Sunmi described as a prequel of "Gashina". This project also received great response from the media and public, with a tropical house sound, and won a few music show awards.

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What makes her a girl crush?

"Do what you really like, and don't worry too much or have a lot of fear over the results. Let it down. Just let it all down. I don't have great desire or greed for popularity, and just want to be remembered as Sunmi through my name, performances, and music for a long time". The latest it's a fragment of an interview that Sunmi did a couple of weeks ago, and I think it's for us to admire what she had made of her career. Sunmi has come across a lot of criticize from netizens about her appearance, and even they suggested that she was gay for only having short nails and didn't use so much nail polish. Come on!!! That is the most ridiculous statement that I've read!!! However, some people might not know is that Sunmi became a celebrity to support her family. Recently on a variety show, Sunmi shared that she became a trainee to support her household, which consisted of her sick dad and two young brother. It was very difficult for her as a teen be a trainee and be far from home, not being able to care for her sick father. He died three months before her debut, which was sad for her, since he did not got the chance to see her accomplish his dream. This are just a few characteristics that makes her a girl crush, and of course, her sensuality while performing and how pretty she is.  

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8.      Hwasa

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Ahn Hye Jin was born on July 23, 1995. She is sub-vocalist, lead rapper and the youngest of the girl group MAMAMOO, under the company Rainbow Bridge World. She likes jazz, blues, R&B, hip-hop and even heavy metal. One of her funniest moments is the writing of the song "Pink Panties", song that she wrote the lyrics to with the instrumental of the song by Robin Thick, "Blurred Lines". Most people think she is the oldest of the group, for her sensual vibe and incredible voice. Hwasa and group member WheeIn are from the same hometown and are the same age, there have being friends since middles school and have matching tattoos that read "Resonancia". She is close to Hyuna and rapper Kisum. Rapper Loco said multiple times that she is his ideal type that is why it was not a surprise to see him collaborate with her on the variety show "Hyena on the Keyboard". The wrote the song "Give It To Me", and it was very funny to see their constant flirting while working together. 

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What makes her a girl crush?

Come on!!! Look at her!!! Hwasa has being mentioned to have the best body among the MAMAMOO members. She has a sensual vibe and does not look conventional to the Korean beauty standards. On a recent interview she said, "Don't try to fit yourselves to beauty standards that other people set. I show what I am." This are great words for the young girls to hear and emulate.

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9.      Bomi

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Yoon Bomi was born on August 13, 1993. She is a singer, songwriter, actress, and member of the girl group A Pink. She appeared on the dramas "Reply 1997", "Love Profile K", and "Because This Is My First Life". She also had great appearance on variety shows like "Weekly Idol", "The Human Condition", "Real Men" female edition, and "Shikshim Road 2" alongside group member Namjoo. On October of 2016, Bomi started her virtual marriage with actor Choi Tae Joon. Both of them use helmets to their encounter, to hide their identities, and ride a motorcycle to a café. When they took off the helmets he said that she was "really pretty on person" while she asked if it was "Ji Chang Wook?” to what he responded with a laugh and said "No". Immediately she apologized for her mistake, later on the interview the show makes she said she was looking for her potential husband by searching which celebrities frequented the café, for which she came across with the actor's name. Their virtual marriage ended on March of 2017.

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What makes her a girl crush?

Bomi has many cute props on her favor. She is funny, a little bit crazy, sometimes rough, and even has a childish side. When she appeared on the show "Cool Kiz on the Block" she showed her skills on taekwondo, and it was mentioned that she practiced boxing. She is pretty, fun and has a great personality, this is what some male celebrities had said about her and I second that.

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10.  Heize

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Jang Da Hye was born on August 9, 1991. She is a singer, rapper, songwriter and composer, under Stone Music Entertainment.  She got recognition for her appearance on the second season of the reality/variety show, "Unpretty Rapstar". Her debut single was "After I've Wandered A Bit" on 2014, but it was the track "Star", after her appearance on the show, that made an all kill on all real time music charts. After that, success came to her with multiple collaborations and tracks. Her latest projects include the 2014 "You, Clouds, Rain", which received an all kill on real time charts and even won on music shows without performing the track. The mini album "Wind" received great reviews, and the title track "Jenga" featuring Gaeko toped six major real time charts on South Korea.

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What makes her a girl crush?

On the show "Happy Together", it was mentioned that Heize's dad was against her becoming a singer, so he accepted under that condition that she became a top student on her class, and then he would let her be a singer. She studied hard and became the first on her class, proving her dad and herself of what she was capable of if she worked hard. That's a great part of her, she fought hard to get her opportunity and follow her dream. At the begging she had a hard time, since she was doing everything on her own, which made her have to work three part time jobs to pay for the production of her album and her rent, with almost no money for food. After all the hardships, she got her dream and now is having the time of her life. In addition, of course, she has a great personality, very cheery and sweet, which it makes it impossible not to like her.

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Well, this is my perspective of "girl crush". I admire these strong, hardworking and talented women. They are an example of not getting by on what the media or the Internet might said. They are just like us, but with more power than we are to make a change on the world or their country, through their work and position as celebrities.

Hope you like what I have wrote, and come back next time for more great topics. Like and share!!!  

Friday, April 6, 2018

KPOP Charts 2018, 2nd Edition: My Top 10


For this edition, I'm going to do something different. I had a little trouble to find tracks that really got me going, that's why I decided to take 5 songs for the month of February and 5 songs from the month of March. I hope you like it, and check them out!

1.      Henry: Monster

Super Junior M member, Henry, released a new track on February of 2018. This song was release in Korean, Chinese, and English, with MV for the English and Chinese versions. The track is an alternative R&B song with a bit of a rock vibe, which talks about the struggle with the end of a relationship.



2.      Hyolyn: To Do List

After leaving Starship Entertainment and the disbandment of SISTAR, Hyolyn decided to go on her own. She stablished her own agency called bird3. "To Do List" is the first song that she produced herself. An acoustic ballad with lyrics about someone delaying a breakup and the struggle to part away. The track is one of a three single project called "Set Up Time". She decided to not appear on broadcast for her comeback, just communicate with fan through music.



3.      Suzy: SObeR

Suzy has released a new album title "Faces of Love", with seven tracks. The song "SObeR" is the one that got me, with some retro nods and an upbeat sound with a great chorus. The lyrics of the song were writing by her, and talks about wanting to know someone's true feelings.



4.      Red Velvet ft Hitch Hiker: I Just

The group Red Velvet released their song "I Just" in November, but it was 'till February that they released the MV for the track. Filmed on a van, gives us the vibe of a road trip. It was a one take shot with minimal effects, like animations and colors. The song help us to hear each member’s unique vocals.



5.      Ailee: Rewrite If I Can

This new track is part of the web drama OST, "This Flower Ending". The song can be describe as Ailee's comeback as the "OST Queen". As the title describes, the track talks about rewriting the history to get back to that loved one.



6.      Got7: One and Only You

The JYP boy band made their comeback with the album "Eyes On You" which has seven tracks. "One and Only You" is a pre-release of the album and title track "Eyes On You". The track that I selected for the list is a collaboration song with Hyolyn, "One and Only You" it's a playful track with different melodies. The album "Eyes On You" topped various music charts all over the World.



7.      Mamamoo: Starry Night

The group has release the title song "Starry Night" from their mini album "Yellow Flower". The track talks about a romance happening under a starry night. The member Moon Byul was part of the lyricists of the track. On the MV you could see beautiful scenarios from New Zealand.



8.      iKON: Rubber Band

On March, the group announced the addition of the track "Rubber Band" to their promotions. The group made their comeback on January with the album "Return", and positioned themselves at #4 on Billboard's World Albums. The label shared a dance practice video of the group on March 7. BI and WINNER’s Song Mino made the writing and composing of the song. The track describes the stage that comes right before a break up. 



9.      J-Hope: Daydream

The most anticipated project from one of BTS rappers was release this past March. The mixtape from member J-Hope was named by fans "Hixtape" but it's official title is "Hope World". It has seven tracks, from which two MV's where release. The first one was "Daydream", which has a psychedelic layback vibe with a 90's tune. Meanwhile, the second MV, "Airplane" is a poetic outburst of his youthful dreams of flying around the world on a plane and achieving it thanks to his work and success.



10.  Heize: MAINHAE (Sorry)

The new album from R&B artist, Heize, has finally come out on March. "Wish & Wind" has seven tracks, and two MV release, "Jenga" ft. Gaeko, which is the title track, and "MAINHAE (Sorry)". Even though the latter is not the title track, you can be easily drown by its retro-modern R&B tune and jazzy vibe with an incredible hook of the word "mainhae" along the song.  





Well, this is for now. Hope you like the new format and comeback for the next post. Like and share!!!!!!^.~

Wednesday, March 14, 2018

Top Korean News: 2nd Edition


Hello everyone! Since a few people like my last post about top Korean news, I'm going to share with you 5 news that made headlines for the months of January and February 2018. Hope you like it and come back for more next time.

1. Taeyang and Min HyoRin Tied the Knot

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After almost four years dating, Young Bae a.k.a. Taeyang and Eun Ran a.k.a. Min HyoRin, got married at the begging of February. The couple came out to the public on June of 2015, after already been together for almost a year and a half. Both parties accepted the news of their relationship and said that they never were cautious about it, they went on dates on the public but never were photographed. Min HyoRin was Taeyang's love interest at the MV of the song "1 AM", she was also the inspiration for the track "Eye, Nose, Lips".

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On December 18 of 2017 the couple announced that they decided to spend the rest of their lives together, this through an Instagram post made by Taeyang. A few hours later an official post from both agencies confirmed. The ceremony was speculated to be on February, before his mandatory military service enlistment. To the wedding were invited a great number of artists, from the Big Bang members, to singers, actors, comedians, and a bunch of entertainment personalities.

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The wedding took place on February 3 of 2018 on a church with close acquaintance, friends and family, follow by a reception at Paradise City in Incheon. The officiant of the wedding was actor Ki Tae Young, husband of artist Eugene, who Taeyang got close to on church and previously sang the congratulatory song on the actor's wedding. For the congratulatory song, the R&B/ hip hop singer, Zion T., gave the couple that gift. One of the things the media has been talking about is that the couple did not wanted any monetary gifts from the guest, like is the costume, they just wanted to share this moment with the people close to them (even though some guest give it to them). The couple did not went abroad for their honeymoon, because of their schedule.


2. PyeongChang Winter Olympics 2018

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The XXII Olympic Winter Games were held on PyeongChang, Gangwon Providence, South Korea from February 9 to 25 of 2018. The election of the host of the Winter Olympics was decided on July of 2011, since then South Korea has been arranging the area for the games, and is the third Asian city to host them. The events were held in Pyeongchang, aside from ice events, which were held in the neighboring city of Gangneung, also downhill, super-G, and combined were on the neighboring county of Jeongseon. The focus of the 2018 Winter Olympics was the Alpensia Resort in Daegwallyeong-Myeon, Pyeongchang, at this area was the Olympic Stadium, Ski Jumping Stadium, Biathlon Center, Cross-Country Center, Sliding Center, Olympic Village and Alpine Center.  Aside from these venues, the Winter Olympic had the stand-alone ones, which were Bongwang Phoenix Park in Bongpyeong-Myeon at Pyeongchang, were the freestyle skiing and snowboard games were held, the Jeongseon Alpine Center at Jeongseon, were alpine skiing, downhill, super-G and combinde were held. The venues that were at the neighborhood city of Gangneung were Hockey Center, Curling Center, Gangneung Oval, Ice Arena, and an additional venue was located at the Catholic Kwandong University for the ice hockey women's competition.

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There are 15 sports at the Winter Olympics which featured 102 events, this would be a total of 102 medals for the first time in the history of the Winter Olympics. The games for the Winter Olympics are: alpine skiing, biathlon, bobsleigh, cross-country skiing, curling, figure skating, freestyle skiing, ice hockey, luge, Nordic combined, short track speed skating, skeleton, ski jumping, snowboarding, and speed skating. For this games, six new sport were introduced to the Olympics: men's and women's bog air snowboarding, mixed doubles curling, men's and women's mass start speed skating, and mixed tem alpine skiing. A total of 92 teams participated at Winter Olympics of 2018, with six nations making their debut (Ecuador, Eritrea, Kosovo, Malaysia, Nigeria and Singapore). One of the most meaningful moments of the Winter Olympics was the unification of South and North Korea at the opening ceremony, marching under the Korean Unification Flag, and a unified Korean team for women's ice hockey tournament under the country code COR. Both countries also participated separately. The rank for the medal table goes as follow (only the top 5 will be shown): Norway, 14 gold, 14 silver and 11 bronze, with a total of 39; Germany, 14 gold, 10 silver, 7 bronze, with a total of 31; Canada, 11 gold, 8 silver, 10 bronze, with a total of 29; United States, 9 gold, 8 silver, 10 bronze, with a total of 23; Netherlands, 8 gold, 6 silver, 6 bronze, with a total of 20. For the host country, they won 17 medals in total, 5 golds, 8 silver and 4 bronze, making it to the seventh place.

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The PyeongChang Winter Olympics 2018 has been emphasizing on the children and peace. Since the opening ceremony, children have been a key part of the event, and at the closing ceremony 12-year-old  Yang Tae-hwan made a great impression with the electric-guitar presentation, aside from 11-year-old boy, Oh Yeon-joon, who had won the South Korean version of The Voice, who performed the Olympic anthem. Children also accompanied Jang SaIk for South Korea's national anthem. The artistic performance at the closing ceremony was on the hands of KPOP with singer CL and boy band EXO, as well the audience could see the interactions between the Korean history and the current Korean culture. As for the International Olympic Committee (IOC), they thanked the athletes for their "spirit and fair play" and Thomas Bach, the president of the IOC, made the remarks before the closing ceremony that on this Winter Olympics, "We have seen here how sport can make the world a better place."


 3. Yonghwa (CNBlue) under investigation and enlistment

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On January of 2018 there was rumors of an idol cheating his way to Graduate School at Kyunhee University, South Korea, for the Applied Arts Doctorate Program. This idol was giving admission without completing all the requirements, and even got top marks, despite not showing up for the mandatory interview. The agency FNC Entertainment goes as follow: "Yonghwa was recommended multiple times by the school and applied to Kyunhee University's Applied Arts Graduate Doctorate Program in January of 2017 during the additional accepted round. Popular celebrities such as idols have their schedules planned by the label since they are busy due to concerts and other things, and celebrities more according to that schedule. Similarly the label took care of Yonghwa's application including filling out his forms, submitting them, and contacting the school. Both the label and Yonghwa believed that he was undergoing the normal application process until the situation became problematic. Yonghwa believed that the individual interview was the regular process, and attended the interview as the label scheduled." During the Statement the label also mentioned that Yonghwa was denied admission for the master program on fall of 2016, but a professor from the program said that they needed more students and there was no competition, that is why he applied for the followed year. Both, the label and Yonghwa, though there was no breaking the school's laws during the process, for which they felt sorry and he was going to take a break from school.

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After all this controversy, Yonghwa enlisted for his mandatory service on March 5 of 2018, right after his last fan meeting in Hong Kong. On March was announced that the label and professors of the University were charged for obstruction of business. A common though on the internet is that he intentionally was delaying his mandatory service with this graduate program process. For now, Yonghwa is going to be serving until December of 2019.   

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4. South Korea Hospital Fire

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On January 26 it was reported a fire on a small hospital without sprinkler system, killing 37 people. Sejong Hospital is situated at the city of Miryang, which has an elderly center with 94 patients, the ones that were successfully evacuated. The hospital had a total of six floors, from which the first and second floors had the most amount of victims. The officials stated that the fire started on the emergency room. 34 of the dead's were women, and 26 were in their eighties or older, and there was a total of 140 injured victims. This event is the country's deadliest blaze in about a decade. Before this accident, a fire on December of 2017 was the deadliest, a building located in central South Korea was caught on fire killing 29 people.

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5. An Olympian Visits South Korea's Dog Farm

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We know that different cultures have different diets, and some cultures eat things that you would never imagine could be eaten. When a United States' freestyle skier (Gus Kenworthy) went to the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics this past February, he went to the dog farm near of the venues. But this dog farm is not one that raise dogs to later find a good home for them, this dog farm is to maintain the dogs to later sale as cooking meat. For western culture this can be outrageous, but it is a practice of centuries at oriental cultures.

All the rights of the images goes to their respected owners

All the rights of the images goes to their respected owners

Dog trade in South Korea generated around $2 billion yearly, this according to the International Aid for Korean Animals (IAKA). The athlete made the point that he did not wanted to impose with his ideals, but the way the dogs were living in small spaces and the malnourished evident to his eyes, was "completely inhumane". He decided to adopt one of the dogs there, and hopes to raise awareness about the topic. It was reported on a census carried by Korea's Statistics Information Services, that there is over 100,000 farms holding 892,820 dogs, which makes millions of dogs slaughtered yearly. The practice of dog eating is neither legal nor illegal in South Korea, from which the Korean Association for Animal Protection demanded the prohibition of it.

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This story has many people supporting the shutting down of dogs farms around South Korea. A CNN reporter said on an article that her dog was a rescue dog from one of those "farms", rescued two years ago. Other athletes also had made their voices heard upon this issue, even the President of South Korea, Moon Jae-In, has adopted a shelter rescued from a meat farm and adopted one of the dogs there. But further action hasn't been done by the government there. The Humane Society has been doing a great task, by shutting down 10 dog farms which rescued more than 1,200 dogs, and they are also working to make the practice illegal by signing petitions around the Asian country.     




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