K-pop: Why 's hard for stars to be gay South Korea | CNN

Contents:

• 5 STYLISH KOREAN ACTORS AND THE CONTROVERSIAL GAY CHARACTERS THEY PLAYED ON K-DRAMAS
• IN THE MP WORLD OF K-POP, ’S HARD FOR STARS TO BE GAY
• KOREAN ACTOR'S REALY DRAMA: COMG OUT AS GAY
• GAY KOREAN CELEBRI – K-POP SGER FIRST TO E OUT AS GAY 20 YEARS
• KOREAN BL - BL/GAY DRAMAS AND MOVI OM SOUTH KOREA

5 STYLISH KOREAN ACTORS AND THE CONTROVERSIAL GAY CHARACTERS THEY PLAYED ON K-DRAMAS

Origatg 1960s Japan, where  was known as “yaoi, ” BL typilly picts two men a homoerotic relatnship. Some LGBTQ activists have acced BL stori of fetishizg and appropriatg gay culture.

Wily regnized as South Korea’s first openly gay K-pop artist, the sger and actor Go Tae-seob, who the stage name Holland, starred a BL drama last year and believ that the growg visibily of BL books, TV seri and movi is a posive step. Bdette, who also intifi as gay and is a longstandg BL fan, said the genre will shake up nservative views on genr and sexualy South Korea.

“Whether you are a heterosexual woman tryg to ject your sexual tonomy to the world, or you are a gay man who wants to see posive reprentatns of male-male romance, BL n be ed, ” he said.

IN THE MP WORLD OF K-POP, ’S HARD FOR STARS TO BE GAY

Holland is not the first known LGBT K-pop idol, but you n say that this new generatn of K-pop, he's one of the first idols who admted that he's gay. He ially me out as gay 2015, and upon g Korea, his iends told him to keep his sexualy secret - but he's proud of his inty, makg him the first Korean artist who is openly gay.

However, durg an terview, she nfsed she is gay, g her to be kicked out om her agency.

KOREAN ACTOR'S REALY DRAMA: COMG OUT AS GAY

So seeg actors portray a gay character media is still volatile ground. Their groundbreakg rol as gay characters stirred global nversatns onto the laps of avid K-drama fans.

Korean Actors as Gay K-Drama Characters. Tae-sun later reveals to Oska that he is gay.

Former sger, performer, and actor, Lee Ho-dong or better known as Hoya was the first few actors who played a gay character across Korean televisn.

GAY KOREAN CELEBRI – K-POP SGER FIRST TO E OUT AS GAY 20 YEARS

Later on the seri, he harbors the secret that he is gay and is secretly love wh Yoo-jae. At the end of the seri, Oh-je nfs to his bt iend that he is gay which be the highlight of the entire seri! The moment he nfs that he was gay was tly the plot-twist we didn’t expect for.

gay characters kdrama. “Merry Queer” -host Hong Seok-cheon—one of the most proment openly gay celebri South Korea—spoke to TIME along wh the shows' producer Lim Chang-hyuck and “His Man” st member Lee Jeong-ho on what the shows mean for queer reprentatn. What is like to be gay South Korea?

Homophobia is still rife South Korea, where very few mastream mic stars have e out as gay. There, homosexual sex is not banned, but is illegal the ary, where almost all men mt plete a stt of pulsory nscriptn. “It’s kd of sad, ” said Jungm Kwon, an amic who wrote a book lled “Straight Korean Female Fans and Their Gay Fantasi.

KOREAN BL - BL/GAY DRAMAS AND MOVI OM SOUTH KOREA

“On the one hand looks like the dtry is very open md to shippg culture, ” she told CNN, referrg to the culture among fans of imagg relatnships between their favore stars – cludg gay relatnships. Acrdg to Kwon, fans were spired by “yaoi” – a kd of Japane manga that featur gay relatnships between male upl – and began makg up stori about their favore stars.

Even now, K-pop labels sometim cultivate idols’ homoerotic appeal the hop that mak them more popular fanfictn, where Kwon timat 80% of stori volve gay story l. South Korea’s rerd labels are happy to let fans fantasize about idols beg gay. But they don’t want gay idols be open about their sexualy.

But when me time to but, the label was agast him butg as a gay idol. “It’s a shame that’s the lim they n go when to showg homosexual teractn – n only be portrayed as funny.