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
• GAY AND TRANS SOLDIERS SAY THEY WERE ABED SOUTH KOREAN ARY
• HOMOSEXUALITY IN KOREA: KOREAN CELEBRI, GAY IDOLS AND MORE
• THE KOREAN ACTORS ARE BREAKG DOWN BARRIERS FOR THE GAY COMMUNY IN KOREA
• 8 UNFORTABLE TTHS ABOUT BEG GAY SOUTH KOREA
• THE KOREAN ACTORS ARE BREAKG DOWN BARRIERS FOR THE GAY COMMUNY IN KOREA
• 8 UNFORTABLE TTHS ABOUT BEG GAY SOUTH KOREA

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

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.

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!

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

The moment he nfs that he was gay was tly the plot-twist we didn’t expect for.

gay characters kdrama.

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.

KOREAN ACTOR'S REALY DRAMA: COMG OUT AS 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. 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.

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

There, homosexual sex is not banned, but is illegal the ary, where almost all men mt plete a stt of pulsory nscriptn.

GAY AND TRANS SOLDIERS SAY THEY WERE ABED SOUTH KOREAN ARY

“It’s kd of sad, ” said Jungm Kwon, an amic who wrote a book lled “Straight Korean Female Fans and Their Gay Fantasi. “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.

HOMOSEXUALITY IN KOREA: KOREAN CELEBRI, GAY IDOLS AND MORE

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. After Hong me out publicly as gay 2000, he was fired om his hostg job and lost other work – and thor Kwon believ that harsh rponse has disuraged others om followg su.

THE KOREAN ACTORS ARE BREAKG DOWN BARRIERS FOR THE GAY COMMUNY IN KOREA

Holland thks thgs are changg: more artists appear to be ditg that they are alli of the gay muny. In the absence of nfirmatn, mentators have ed small, clive clu to speculate on their stance, for example, the time the band’s lear RM tweeted Macklemore’s song “Same Love, ” which promot equal rights for gay people. But ultimately, experts believe a time when gay stars are accepted mastream K-pop uld still be some way off.

8 UNFORTABLE TTHS ABOUT BEG GAY SOUTH KOREA

Origatg 1960s Japan, where  was known as “yaoi, ” BL typilly picts two men a homoerotic relatnship.

THE KOREAN ACTORS ARE BREAKG DOWN BARRIERS FOR THE GAY COMMUNY IN KOREA

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.

8 UNFORTABLE TTHS ABOUT BEG GAY SOUTH KOREA

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. From Itaewon Class and Prison Playbook to Seohyun’s heartbroken closet lbian Hello Dracula, South Korean seri are creasgly embracg gay, lbian and transgenr rol – and the actors have all ma a mark this belated shift towards diversy Published: 11:55am, 9 Jul, 2020 Updated: 11:55am, 9 Jul, 2020 Korean drama actors Moon B, Seohyun and Lee Chung-ah and Lee Joo-young have all portrayed LGBT characters on screen.

“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.

1, 2003Around the rner om Gay Hill and Hooker Hill, among the serpente si streets the Itaewon district that visors roam wh tent, Hong S Chon was tryg very hard one recent night to relax si his bar, ''Our Place.