Better than Bad TV

Kerry Howley | January 25, 2005

A leaked document on the private lives of Korea's spunky soap stars is causing some angst in Seoul. The document, compiled by a research firm and meant only for advertisers who might hire the celebrities, is bouncing around Southeast Asia. Koreans like their celebs as boring as their soaps, so allegations of group sex are not a career boost.

As in most of Southeast Asia, Korean soaps are massively popular in Myanmar. And just as they expect their own celebrities to have squeaky-clean private lives, the Burmese won't tolerate any scandal from their Korean teen idols. Yet profanity and sexual innuendo don't seem to be a barrier for Western musicians or actors; pirated Eminem albums are pretty much everywhere and suggestively posed pictures of Britney Spears are still flying off the shelves in Yangon, if nowhere else.

Comments

|1.25.05 @ 11:40AM|#

When in Beijing for business last year, lots of guys had suggestive posters of Britney Spears in their cubicles, which I found very funny.

A sex tape/story here in the states would only serve to boost somebody's career...see Paris Hilton. Although, I guess it depends largely on no minors being involved...see Rob Lowe.

|1.25.05 @ 12:01PM|#

This story is worthless with the english translation of that document >:)

|1.25.05 @ 2:38PM|#

(South) Korea is very conservative. A Korean friend of mine recently likened it to "living in the 1950's". Which I guess is why he worked so hard to become an American....