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Korean heart-throb Park Hae-jin: ‘My motto is to live in harmony’

SINGAPORE – Park Hae-jin, the South Korean heartthrob best known for his roles in hit dramas such as My Love From The Star (2013), Bad Guys (2014) and Cheese In The Trap (2016), is in Singapore for the weekend as a presenter at the Star Awards today (April 17).

Park Hae-jin was in Singapore as part of the annual Star Awards. Photo: Faith & D Entertainment.

Park Hae-jin was in Singapore as part of the annual Star Awards. Photo: Faith & D Entertainment.

SINGAPORE – Park Hae-jin, the South Korean heartthrob best known for his roles in hit dramas such as My Love From The Star (2013), Bad Guys (2014) and Cheese In The Trap (2016), is in Singapore for the weekend as a presenter at the Star Awards today (April 17).

This year marks Park’s 10th year in the TV drama scene. He became known to Koreans for The Famous Chil Princesses (2006) where he played a sweet, younger boyfriend and spouse of a female army captain and has since starred in 15 dramas and two films.

The star said because so many had given him “so much support for the past 10 years”, he decided to “return some of the support this year”. One of the things he did was organise a “Wish” event where fans sent emails detailing what they wished he could do for them.

“We selected three and I helped fulfill their wishes. One was unwrapping a samgak gimbab (Korean sushi wrapped in triangular form that is sold in convenience stores) for a high school girl in Incheon; the second was to meet and cheer for a student’s father at a fire station in Daegu; and the third was meeting with drama club students in Samcheok,” he said. “There are some more plans to make the year of 2016 a year of giving back.”

 

Q: Achieving 10 years is not easy. What do you think was the biggest challenge you faced and how did you overcome it? It hasn’t been smooth sailing over the 10 years. There was this time when I didn’t work for some time after 2009. I had a hard time going through what I didn’t want to go through, but now that I look back, I think the hardships actually helped me grow as an actor. An actor has to express various things; and personal hardships, I think, helps (in my craft).

Q: People sometimes see you as your character in the show. Obviously the real you is not the same as the TV you. How would you describe yourself? I think of myself as someone who is too sensitive, or even harsh. Despite this, my motto in life is to “live in harmony”.

Q: Doesn’t being sensitive help in acting? I guess it does help in some ways, but I feel like I should let go of certain things.

Q: People also see you as a role model, but do you feel pressure to live up to that role model status? It would be something I would be very grateful about. I do not know in which aspect, but because I live a rather exposed life, I try not to do something that I think would be a harmful.

Q: How do you feel about people always wanting to know more about your personal life? I think that is the trend partly because there are many TV programs that feature the personal aspects of celebrities. But actually, there isn’t anything special about my personal life. (laughs) Like anyone who works, I go home tired so I eat and fall sleep. There is nothing much to tell or show.. (laughs) I live with my nephews – a six-year-old and a three-year-old so I play with them.

Q: Do they know you’re famous? The older one now knows. The younger one points and says “uncle!” when he sees me on TV. When I wake up, it’s great because they’re so cute. But by evening, they can be quite cranky before they go to bed.

Q: What is the biggest lesson you have learnt all this time and why? I do not like lies. I believe the truth never betrays. If a person lies, he or she often tells more lies to rationalise, and eventually gets trapped in his own lies. I think it’s always better to say the truth from the beginning.

Q: Has anyone lied to you recently? I don’t know because I never found out!

Q: If you could travel back in time and give one piece of advice to Park Hae Jin in 2006, what would it be? I don’t think any advice to myself back then would make things different. For example, even if I tell myself in 2006 “why can’t you act better?”, it won’t make any difference because that was all I could express at that time. By 2006, I had taken acting classes, but there must have been a limit to the things I could express at the time. This is something I naturally learned with time.

Q: You have won many awards, but which was the most touching moment for you? The most touching would be when I received Rookie of the Year awards in 2006 from KBS; in 2007, from PaekSang (Arts Awards) and in 2008 from MBC. The PaekSang award was the most touching because it covers all broadcasters.

Q: Do fans behave in the same way in different countries? It’s great that many fans like me. Now I have many young fans in China who like me – this is something different from before. Japanese fans tend to watch me from a distance. This is my first visit to Singapore and I was quite surprised at the airport yesterday. I was not sure whether people knew me here, but there were many fans at the airport.

Q: What is the best thing about being who you are right now, this instant? I am dissatisfied with myself. For example, the negative posts about me on the Internet stand out to me rather than the positive ones. If I look in the mirror, I see flaws. I have this little scar (points to the scar on the upper right corner of his mouth) that sticks out to me. I think I should be less sensitive about the negative things.

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