Arena Style Awards 2009

Captures courtesy various Korean media portals

November 26, 2009

Byunghun-ssi at the A-Awards Presentation Ceremony at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Seoul on November 26th. Honoured with the STYLE Award by the Arena Homme Magazine, Byunghun received the recognition from the internationally-acclaimed film director Kim Ji Woon who is also a very close friend of the actor. [Btw.. there's talk that BH would be joining Dir. KJW's latest movie in 2010, although still unconfirmed -- truly hope it will materialize soon!]

CONGRATS BYUNGHUN-ssi!

Many more photos

HyunJun’s K7

November 24, 2009

Lee Byunghun at the launch of Kia K7

Grand Hyatt Hotel Hannam-dong, Seoul

Thanks to the highlight by Andrea052187 at Byunghun-ssi, clip uploaded & shared by dhkfjznf

Kia K7 IRIS CF with Lee Byung Hun

Captures copied from yahoo.kr

November 24, 2009

Kia Motors launches luxury Cadenza sedan

By: The Associated Press | 24 Nov 2009

SEOUL, South Korea – Kia Motors launched its luxury Cadenza on Tuesday with help from an opera singer and a heartthrob of the South Korean cinema, betting the new sedan will raise the company’s game to a higher level and attract customers even as the outlook for the global economy remains cloudy.

Kia, an affiliate of Hyundai Motor Co., officially ushered in the sleek four-door at a splashy evening unveiling at a swank hilltop hotel with an appearance by Lee Byung-hun, one of the country’s top film stars who recently made his Hollywood debut in “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.”

IRIS Injury

English update courtesy segye.com, additional info thanks to ylin

November 24, 2009

Lee Byunghun injured his eye while shooting KBS2 ‘IRIS’

In a gun battle scene at a Catholic church in 11th episode, Lee, Byung-Hun got gunpowder in his left eye, which could have been led to a severe injury. The accident appeared serious as Lee, Byung-Hun could not open his eyes with tears trickling down; however, thanks to the staff’s emergency treatment, the injury didn’t lead to a bad one. The above-mentioned scene is where Hyun-Joon (Lee, Byung-Hun) hears about his parents’ assassination from Sun-Hwa (Kim, So-Yeon) and gets involved in a gun battle with Baek-San’s (Kim, Young-Cheol) men on his way to the priest who brought him up.

It is said that the crew members have always been taking safety precautions as there are many gun battle and action scenes, and after Lee, Byung-Hun’s accident, they are paying extra attention to safety.

Source: kr.news.yahoo.com

Gist by ylin at EverythingLBH
It was said the he injured his left eye when he was filming ep 11, the part where they were having the gun fights in the Church. He was accidentally shot while trying to avoid the “fire”.  He was unable to open his eye and tears were pouring out.

A Wedding On Saturday

Media captures with credits as stated copied from yahoo.kr

November 21, 2009

An all bundled-up & casually-dressed Byunghun-ssi at the wedding of actor Kim Hyeong Jong (not sure if I got the name right?) at the Seoul Convention Centre, last Saturday. He came straight from the filming set of IRIS and presumably had resumed working right after.

Must be a really close acquaintance of BH that he attended the wedding despite the pressing IRIS filming schedule but then again, Byunghun has always been good & very supportive of his friends and buddies.

Byunghun-ssi from the innolife clip appeared to be the last one to arrived at the ceremony, probably why he didn’t pose like the other guests. Nonetheless, I think the media had a field day asking & writing about him when it’ll be his turn instead.

More BH photos

Warm Smile Heartfelt Cards

Gratitude to Shenny at jazzholic.com for the heartwarming gist

November 19, 2009

LEE BYUNGHUN HELPS FIGHT WORLD HUNGER

Lee Byung Hun helps fight the hunger in Africa with a warm smile

Korea’s biggest asset, currently starring as the abandoned NSS agent, Lee Byung Hun, despite of his busy schedule filming his KBS2 “IRIS”, made sure to put some time with Cosmopolitan photo shooting schedule to help with the Africa “Card Project” that he’s involved in. With UNICEF, Cosmopolitan magazine and Lee Byung Hun work together to put out a pictorial in which they do some fund-raising for the project.

All proceeds will go towards UNICEF card project to help fight the hunger in Africa. The actor himself, works together with the bes-known photographers to make gift-cards and special Seo Taeji album. Along with reowned graphic artists and musician Oh Seung Uk, their work will be put together to make this fund-raising possible.

Lee Byung Hun mentioned that he’s very pleased with this UNICEF special project,

20 years, stronger

Info from amazon.co.jp and cgjapan, thanks to ylin for the highlight

Lee Byung Hun 20th Anniversary

HIP KOREA Full Version (Limited Edition DVD)

List Price: Yen 12,600(Tax Included)
Price: Yen 9,324 (Tax Included) & eligible for Free Shipping.

This title will be released on December 23, 2009.
Pre-order now!
Ships from and sold by Amazon.co.jp. Gift-wrap available.

A-Awards Best Actor of Style

Gisted from articles at news.nate.com , kr.news.yahoo.com with thanks to Ching and ylin for the highlight at EverythingLBH

November 18, 2009

Lee Byunghun, representing 2009 year of ’style’

Top actor Lee Byung Hun as well as Director Park Chan Wook are among 8 professional and successful male personalities who have been chosen as the 2009 recipients of the annual Audi Arena A-Awards.

These 8 individuals are each representing specified categories or sectors namely charismatic, leadership, confidence, passion, intellectual abilities, creativity, innovation capacities and style for which is awarded to our Byunghun-ssi. (Dir. Kim Ji Woon was one of the recipients for the 2008 A-Awards, so it’s a cool to see our BH achieving the similar exclusive recognition)

The official selection made in September

4 Kings of Friends

Update courtesy 10Asia

November 17, 2009

Hallyu’s four kings set to stir Japan

Reporter: Im Da-ham (Tokyo Correspondent) lindakim@asiae.co.kr

Will there be another miracle at Tokyo Dome, a place that was heated up by the presence of Yonsama near the end of September? After the news broke out that a mega-scale Hallyu event “Here Comes A Miracle: Hallyu’s Four Cards – FOUR OF A KIND” was going to be held on December 17, with stars Lee Byung-hun, Jang Dong-gun, Song Seung-hun and Won Bin, people are wondering how huge of a crowd the event will succeed in attracting. The event — to be held twice (at 12:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.) on November 17 — will be directed by Japan’s famous producer and lyricist Akimoto Yasushi with Korean filmmaker Heo Jin-ho in charge of the cinematography. Akimoto Yasushi is currently the producer of AKB48, Japan’s top girl band of the moment, but he was more famous as the producer of 1980s female idol group Onyanko Club, one of whose members, Kudo Shizuka, became the wife of Kimura Takuya. He has a good reputation among Hallyu fans in Japan, after directing Lee Byunghun’s fan meeting in 2005 at Tokyo Dome and producing all of the actors events in Japan ever since.

The Akimoto-Heo duo is planning a “dramatic reading” at the event, which producer Akimoto described as “a reading of a movie, which will be read and acted out by four actors on stage in accordance with Heo’s cinematography. Placing four of Korea’s top actors on one stage is nothing short of a miracle. I am also looking forward to this once in a lifetime performance by them.” This could be seen as a fresh approach to wipe out the common consensus that “Hallyu events are expensive but do not contain much to see.”

Uber Cool Byunghun iPod

Cool updates by the Korea Times and 10Asia

November 16, 2009

Lee Byunghun iPod Touch Coming Soon

A limited edition of the iPod Touch named after top Korean actor Lee Byung-hun will soon be released, his agency said, Monday.

The domestic iPod sales agency began to receive orders online and offline for 3,000 of the “LBH Limited Edition 8G,” Monday.

“It is the first time that a limited edition of iPod Touch with an actor’s initials will be released,” his agency BH Entertainment said.

The package is comprised of an iPod Touch with Lee’s autograph, a leather cover and a set of postcards with his photos.

Lee played Storm Shadow in the Hollywood film “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.” He has been enjoying soaring popularity with the ongoing KBS2 TV spy series “IRIS.”

Credits: chojh@koreatimes.co.kr

November 17, 2009

Apple to release limited edition of Lee Byung-hun iPod

Apple will be releasing a limited edition of its MP3 player iPod Touch under Korean actor Lee Byung-hun’s name.

Apple’s premium reseller Macgate said on Monday that the “LBH iPod Limited Edition” will come with an 8G iPod Touch player signed by the actor and photographed postcards of Lee. Only 3,000 units of the edition will be sold.

“We decided to release our first-ever limited edition under Lee’s name because he represents the image of iPod touch, which is innovation and change,” an official at Macgate was quoted as saying. “Lee has accomplished so much as an international movie star and has become a cultural messenger for Asia.”

The LBH edition, to be sold exclusively in Korea, will be available at Macgate stores around the country and at Hyundai Department Stores and its online store, H-mall. Advance sales for the item

BH is luck

Update courtesy media.asia

November 13, 2009

Seven Luck Casino pitches $7 million creative in Korea
by David Blecken 13-Nov-09, 12:20

SEOUL – Seven Luck Casino has shortlisted Grey, Phoenix Ad and Daehong to pitch for its creative business in Korea, which is believed to be worth an estimated $7 million.

A total of 13 agencies, including Cheil Worldwide, submitted initial written presentations on Monday.

The motive for the pitch is unclear at this stage. A source close to the review described the situation as “sensitive”.

Deserving and highly-paid

Updates from the Chosunilbo and the Korea Times, with thanks to joynara at IRIS-soompi.com for the clarification

November 12, 2009

Lee Byunghun’s Acting Fee Dwarfs Industry Guideline

Lee Byung-hun

Controversy is building over news that actor Lee Byung-hun is being paid W100 million per episode for appearing in the KBS drama “IRIS” (US$1=W1,158).

A newspaper reported on Wednesday that Lee was guaranteed at least W100 million for each episode of the spy thriller, including a W25 million per episode performance fee and a W1.5 billion advance. The figure is well above the W15 million per episode guideline set by the Corea Drama Production Association (CODA), and the third highest in the industry history.

The record is a whopping W250 million per episode paid to actor Bae Yong-joon for the MBC drama “Taewangsasingi (The Four Guardian Gods of the King),” followed by W100 million per episode promised to Park Shin-yang for four extra episodes of “War of Money.”

“In Lee’s case the amount includes a combination of things, such as proceeds from sales of domestic and overseas broadcast rights, so it’s not clear that his fee exceeds the guideline,” said CODA head Shin Hyun-taik.

Lee’s co-stars in “IRIS,” Kim Seung-woo and Jung Jun-ho, are reportedly paid W15 million per episode.

Source: englishnews@chosun.com

Thanks to joynara for insight clarification Nov 11 2009 There is no controversy (except for the so-called ‘reporters’) because among other things, Taewon is not a member of CODA, as it’s a movie production company first & foremost, and is therefore not affected by the guidelines. Even if it were, Lee’s case falls under some of the extenuating circumstances set in the guidelines, and CODA’s chief seemed perfectly fine with it. (The translation makes him sound more ambiguous than he is in the original articles.)In any case, Taewon went on record today to clarify a few things, namely that LBH, KTH, JJH and KSW each signed up for the sum of KRW 15 million per episode. But yes, there’s an incentive clause, and while it’s too soon for such estimate before the end of broadcast, Taewon acknowledges LBH is likely to earn KRW 100+ million per episode, and KTH, JJH and KSW over KRW 20 million per episode, once all the proceeds & profits are taken into account.

November 12, 2009

Visit Korea Year

All captures courtesy various Korean media portals with highlight by The Korea Times

November 11, 2009

Lee Byunghun at the VISIT KOREA YEAR 2010-2012 launch event

As the current KTO event ambassador, actor Lee Byunghun has had the honour of meeting the First Lady at the “Visit Korea Year” festival lantern lighting ceremony at the Cheonggya Plaza in Seoul on Wednesday, the 11th of November.

It’s an indeed a proud moment for the established actor and his fans at the event held by South Korea’s Ministry of Culture & Tourism.

November 15, 2009
To make Korea more attractive to foreigners, the government Friday unveiled a package of plans to draw 10 million visitors on an annual basis by 2012. Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said in his opening speech: “With 75 percent of travelers visiting Seoul, how well Seoul does decides virtually all. I, as a head of Seoul, will do my best.” The gala featured, among others, first lady Kim Yoon-ok, honorary chairwoman of the Visit Korea campaign; Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister Yu In-chon and Lee Byung-hun, the top actor starring in the current hit TV thriller, IRIS. A number of boy bands and girl groups also performed at the event.

Credits: pss@koreatimes.co.kr