[series][clip/cams][Eng trans] From Stephe’s desk: Rain (비) TV performances that made me wanna shout. (#3)
Pardon me for just a moment, folks: Seeing as this is a part of Rain’s military history and there is a sh*tload of misinformation and outright lies intentionally spread by the bottom-feeding Korean Media and scum-sucking netizens, I am adding links to all of my researched articles on Rain’s January 2013 scandal and singer Se7en’s June 2013 scandal below, so that you can witness for yourself how people tried to DESTROY this man just for ratings and because they were dissatisfied with their own lives. Don’t believe that bullsh*t you read out there because it is just that. ^@@^
Getting to the bottom of RAINmaggedon 2013
Getting to the bottom of MassageParlor-gate
What: The 2012 Seoul Peace Concert, “My Love, My Country”, marking the second anniversary of the tragic sinking of the ROKS naval ship Cheonan. Fellow soldiers Park Hyo Shin and KCM, songbird Insooni, and others also performed.
Where: Plaza of Peace at the Korea War Memorial, Yongsan, Seoul
When: 3/26/2012
How many times it made me want to shout: 5
1) Even though he’d been a soldier for 6 months, Private First Class Jung Ji Hoon still knew how to give us and the audience “face”!
2) Just the fact that we’d only seen him very few times after enlistment and always in uniform was enough to make me shout at that dark, sleek suit hugging his figure. He’d lost a crazy amount of weight during his 8 weeks of basic training and decorated entry into the Infantry near the DMZ (and North Korean soldiers), so I was thrilled to see that he’d filled back out a bit. Muscles and deliciousness!
I don’t remember where I read/heard this, but during an interview sometime after the SPC, he cracked me up when he said he’d been horrified backstage by how tight that suit had gotten. He spent the entire performance nervous that he would split those trousers. LOL! (We Clouds thought that the view whenever he turned around was great. We didn’t mind it! Not a tad!)
3) The closeups. Gosh… so handsome, military haircut and all. He had that calm, collected, grown man aura about him. No little boy idol him, not anymore. It was just so good (and calming) to see him in this capacity again.
He was right when he said during his last concert before enlistment that, with his new “do”, his head resembled a little chestnut. LOL~
4) Not only were the audience and the fans supporting him well, his fellow soldiers in attendance were cheering him on, too. They were shouting “Encore! Encore!” 🙂 His fellow soldiers had his back and cheered him on through all 21 months of his military duty, as a matter of fact (something that the corrupt Korean media and no-brained netizens would have you not believe, the douche bags).
5) He was so soft-spoken as he addressed the audience after saluting (see above clip ↑). Here’s what he said:
(English translation by 화니 @The Cloud Media Board. From my previous post HERE.)
This is PFC Jung Ji Hoon, attached to Defense Agency for Public Information Services. Nice to meet you.
Two years ago this week, the Cheonan ship sank into the deep sea with 46 sailors.
I also cannot forget the Cheonan and the brave sailors who died on that fateful day two years ago.
We shouldn’t forget about the brave soldiers who died for our country.
The reason why my movement during the performance was more intentionally active than usual was that doing my best would be thought to be the best way of bringing laughter to all of you, myself, the victims of the day, and their families who are here.
We can’t forget their spirit of sacrifice to save others.
To carry out all the obligations I’ve undertaken, now I’d like to sing my last song and then I’m afraid I must say goodbye.
And a Bonus: Fan cams from PFC Rain’s rehearsal with his crew for the SPC performance, earlier that day. We were all a bit concerned, though, to see that after “Hip Song” he was still favoring his foot and slightly limping from a military injury. 😦 ^@@^
Another interesting note: When the South Korean navel ship Cheonan sank 2 years before this, in late March 2010 (a loss of 46 soldiers by what many believe was a North Korean torpedo), South Korea shut down in mourning, including entertainment events and music shows. This is why Rain’s comeback mini-album Back To The Basic, slated to come out on April 1, was delayed and didn’t come out until the 7th.
Next time, we’ll visit a ridiculously sexy favorite of many a global Cloud! It has 2 dance breaks that, as far as I’m concerned, are not to be believed. (How did he make his body do that?)
Until then, y’all keep it rainy! ❤
Stephe @ cloudusa.wordpress.com / CloudUSA.org
» [series][clip] From Stephe’s desk: Rain (비) TV performances that made me wanna shout. (#2)
Cloud USA 
Wow, love this one! It proves that he doesn’t have to strip naked to be so unbelievably sexy 🙂 or even move his finger… there is just something… And I believe it has something to do with his character too, he’s so honest.
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Notre Rain est très fort Mentalement !!
Je suis fan car j’aime comment il a su gérer sa vie , et j’aime sa personnalité !!
Il est comme le roseau , il plis mais ne rompt pas !!
Ses 2 ans d’armée mon beaucoup affecter , car à chaque fois que j’entendais ses mensonges sur Rain , je m’énervais !!
Mais cela est du passer , il est revenue , et j’ai adoré Please Come Back Mister !!!
J’attend le passage de la tournée en Europe , ainsi que le nouvel album
Passer une excellente journée !!
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Hi, Lydie. 🙂 Je suis totalement d’accord avec vous. Il est comme un roseau et se plie dans la tempête, mais ne rompt pas! Bien dit!
L’armée aurait pu lui brisé, mais non. Il a combattu en arrière avec toute sa force, et il régnait. Son retour après que l’armée a été merveilleux. Voilà notre Rain!
Je suis impatient de les nouvelles de sa tournée nord-américaine et de sa tournée européenne. Ce sera une journée incroyable, en effet.^^
Stephe ^@@^
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Hey, look at this, everybody. I don’t know how I missed this back in the day! 🙂
If Billboard could get it right (Rain’s charges dismissed), the Korean media had NO excuse. LOL~ Such losers.
http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/k-town/5862358/rain-makes-grand-return-with-sixth-album-rain-effect
Stephe ^@@^
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Wow! Korean media is ….. . 😐 Thank you. 🙂
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Stephe I want to thank you for taking the time to help Mary understand the negative attitude that RAIN has to put up with, but I also want to thank Mary for wanted to know the truth. I commend her. I fear today younger fans tend to only want the 30 sec sound bite on a subject and never question the validity of the source. RAIN is a very talented man who endure much,that would in a less talented and strong person would have destroy them. in an earlier post on his Malayian concert , it seem he was sad about the small number of younger fans there. It think the number of older fans should attest to his enduring popularity and love they have for him. Youth is fleeing.but with maturity come endurance and purpose. He is our endurance and purpose.
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Oh, thanks so much for your encouragement, Libbie. 🙂
You and Mary and everyone who loves Rain — and Rain himself — are the reason I do what I do. You’re all so worth it.
I’ve been a fan since 2007, when I first laid eyes on him. And I have to say, the older Rain gets, the more handsome he gets and the more talent he reveals. His first decade was such a precious and amazing time in his career and, looking back, I marvel at it. But I’m delighted to have a front seat for his second decade. What a treat!
Stephe ^@@^
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Thank you. 🙂 I hope he’ll get more young fans. 🙂 After his success in C Running Man, I believe he will get more popularity. Because despite all of his failures and bad lucks, he always works hard and never sits back. I believe that God will help him and he will be successful much more than before. 🙂 Hope his next album be a veryyyyyyyyy big hit! 😀
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Cool… I’ve just finished my usual weekend Korean entertainment news sweep on the Internet, and the stuff I ran across about Rain was all positive. Even the comments. But then, that’s how it has been for a good long while now…
Thumbs up. The haters try to keep going, I guess, even though the world and Rain have both moved on and left them behind.
Stephe ^@@^
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Oh yeah this was a bad time for RainRain and Se7en; you are a celebrity, you are in the spot light of some terrible media people.
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Please somebody answer my Q!
There is a question that keeps bothering me whether I ask about or not!!!
You know, Rain is a great man and it’s definitely true. But about his behavior in military. Why a person like him who said “As a Korean man, I believe that it is only natural to be dutiful to my country and enlist into military service” did that? I read a few comments that said “If he was better at military and had behavior, he would be more popular”. What did he do during his military that ruined his image like this? What exactly a humble man and a workaholic could’ve done to ruin his image like this?!!! Is it true that he’s not that popular now?!
I love him and I want him to be more successful but I don’t know if his own country doesn’t really care about him or reverse….
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Hi, Mary. This is Stephe. I’ve seen your question and I have every intention of answering you in detail as soon as I’m home and back on my computer in a few hours. I can tell you now that Rain did not deserve to be used and railroaded the way he was by the military and the corrupt Korean media. He was used for ratings and to sell news articles because a lot of people out there believe and spread any and everything they read, including outright lies. You are right to support him, and I will tell you why. Talk to you soon. ^@@^
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Mary, I will have to split up my answer because it is quite long. But it’s important that you and anyone else who reads this has all of the facts. So, here goes. 🙂
(Part 1)
Hi, Mary. This is Stephe.
If there is one thing I’ve learned in the years I’ve been Rain’s fan, it’s that there are people who believe everything they hear about him and hate him for no reason. They aren’t interested in the truth about him. They’re mean-spirited and petty, and they live to spread the garbage they hear. Unfortunately for these people, there are MANY more people in MANY countries including Korea who respect and adore Rain because he always tries his best and remains humble.
Haters will tell you that Rain is no longer popular, but that is a whopping LIE, haha.
I lived through every moment of Rain’s enlistment in the military and documented it very carefully. He does not deserve comments like the ones you have read. I will tell you what I know.
In order to serve out his military service quietly and like an ordinary soldier, Rain enlisted in one of the hardest boot camps and trained 8 weeks instead of the usual 6, and graduated an Ultra Warrior (at the top of his class in marksmanship, stamina, and duties). From there, he chose to serve his 2 years in the Infantry, near the Demilitarized Zone and the North Koreans. His continued high marks earned him the hard-to-get position of ATO (Assistant Training Officer), involved directly in the training of his troop mates. He was settled and content, until 5 months into his duties when the PR (entertainment) department took (forced) him out of the Infantry and into their unit instead.
This upset Rain a lot. He knew that the Korean Media would blame him, which is what they did.
He decided that he should just make the best of it and serve his best no matter what unit he was in. The PR dept put him on a killer schedule in addition to his daily soldier duties. He worked and traveled days and weeks at a time with no breaks and no holidays, and always on weekends. Every weekend. They did this until his body started to break down and he ended up in the military hospital. After he recovered, his schedule only loosened up a tiny bit and he kept working as hard as he could, in many areas. He was in a lot of demand, because his fellow soldiers all wanted him to visit their units and boost their morale, and he wanted to do that for them in addition to his everyday soldier duties.
(TO BE CONTINUED)
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(PART 2)
Rain’s service was spotless and outstanding for 550+ days, until he had 6 months to go. That’s when everyone WAS TOLD that he’d accepted 3 rides back to his base from his girlfriend when the military didn’t provide him with transportation, but proof of that was never provided, not even by the media photos. It was not a major crime, but it was an infraction, not backed up by evidence. (Ordinary soldiers were doing the same type of thing, the difference being they were not followed around and hunted by photographers all the time like Rain was.) Still, he took the punishment (a week confined to quarters). It was not a serious punishment because it was not some terrible crime.
The vicious Korean Media took this opportunity to make ratings by going on a witch hunt after Rain and trying to destroy him. They accused him of staying out all hours with his girlfriend and skipping out on his duties, all LIES.
Because the Media had online commenters calling for Rain’s head on a platter, the military added another charge – not wearing his hat outside. Which was also an outright lie. There are dozens of pictures of soldiers and officers without their hats on outside, many of them in the same pictures with Rain. The military threw him under the bus just to shut people up.
The Media also accused him of taking almost 100 days off. This was proved a LIE when the government told everyone that no, in his entire service he had only taken 27 days, less than an ordinary soldier. The government asked that the Media correct their news articles and stop reporting the wrong info. The Media refused and continued to feed the public untrue news about Rain.
Rain took his punishment anyway, publicly apologized for his mistake, and gave his word that he would serve his remaining time honorably, and he did just that. He worked hard and received several promotions and finished his service spotlessly. At his first military function after his punishment (a charity walk), people closed their shops and businesses when they found out he was there and huge crowds showed up to see him in uniform and walk with him and say hello. It was really nice. If citizens had hated him, they wouldn’t have done that.
(TO BE CONTINUED)
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(PART 3)
A few weeks before the end of his service, singer Se7en got into trouble by being caught out at a massage parlor late at night, and another group of soldiers got into trouble by drinking and using their cell phones out of uniform, in a restaurant. Rain was NOT involved in either incident. He was in another location with his commanding officers, and afterwards in bed sleeping. But the Korean News Media still implied that he was involved and tried to get another witch hunt on him started, until they were embarrassed when it became clear he wasn’t involved. They were trying to ruin his Army discharge day, and they almost succeeded. With a LIE.
The Media continued to hound him even after that. He couldn’t even go to his mother’s grave without them in his face looking for something to report. The Army stepped in then and told everyone that was enough and to leave Rain alone.
The bottom line here is this: The ONLY thing Rain was guilty of was the infraction of accepting 3 rides back to base from his girlfriend when the military didn’t provide him with transportation. He served 660+ days spotlessly, and does NOT deserve the nasty comments that trolls and haters and the uneducated leave out there.
His career is fine. People couldn’t wait for him to get back on stage and in the limelight, and he’s been on a roll ever since. He’s been in demand for endorsements, dramas, movies, appearances, you name it. He’s done 2 dramas in Korea, a drama and a movie in China, 1 movie in the US, has no less than 6 endorsements (even one in Australia), has won umpteen awards, had several magazine covers, has been invited to umpteen festivals and events and variety shows and all of this is in the past 3 years, since he was discharged. And he’s about to do another drama and is on a world tour. Not only is he popular, he’s relevant.
But those haters will continue to tell you the lie that he is not, and that he wasn’t a good soldier. They are people who heard and believed the gossip, but were too stupid to read up for themselves.
I just laugh at them, because I can physically back up everything I’ve said.
(TO BE CONTINUED)
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(PART 4 FINAL)
Oh, I will say this – at 34, he’s no longer a teenage idol, so it makes absolute sense that those fans have moved on to the young boy bands out there. That’s normal. But in the adult world, entertainer Rain is A-okay.
Ultimately, being a fan of Rain or not is your decision and yours alone. I can tell you in good conscience that he served his country well, and that if his country doesn’t treat him well in return, that’s all on them. They will not dictate how I treat Rain. Only he does that, by his character. All he has wanted is to be a good citizen to South Korea and a good son to his late mom. Seeing as he has pretty much brought the world to South Korea’s door with his work, IMHO he doesn’t owe a thing more. But that’s just me.
I hope this has helped, and that you’re having a good weekend. I apologize for the long comment, but this isn’t a subject that you can answer with a paragraph or two, Lol 🙂
Stephe ^@@^
PS. Everyone, the links to all of my sourced articles and research during Rain’s military service are listed at the top of this post.
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@Stephe
Thank you so much. ^_^ I’m certainly a fan of Rain and I asked that Q because I’m a fan and I don’t want to believe or hear that he’s not competent.
By the way, you wrote “The ONLY thing Rain was guilty of was the infraction of accepting 3 rides back to base from his girlfriend when the military didn’t provide him with transportation.”. But in wikipedia says that he got punished because of dating her girl friend. Why dating a girl is a crime?
You know, I read about it in some articles too and I read that he was simply meeting her. What exactly he got punished for? I got confused again… -_-
Sorry!!! 😦
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You’re welcome, Mary.^^
Well, the reason that Rain was allowed off base for official duty sometimes is because the PR Dept. didn’t have the sound systems, costuming, etc. that were needed to prepare properly for military radio shows and other major events. After the Media accused him of dating his girlfriend off base instead of working, a military representative did an in depth interview on the national TV news and said that NO, what happened was “on 3 occasions while Rain was out for official duty, he had private contact on his way back, which could be deemed as having violated military regulations.” (https://cloudusa.wordpress.com/2013/01/06/interview-summary-rep-shin-in-gyun-singer-rains-71-days-of-leave-time-is-a-distortion/) He was on his way back/got rides, not dating and carousing around town with her.
The military representative also said that he thought it was kind of ridiculous to expect a soldier to not have any contact with anyone during a business outing. He thought that kind of thing was to be expected and that Rain was being unfairly targeted.
Wikipedia is written and edited largely by anonymous volunteers across the world who only have to back up what they are saying with articles, even if those articles are incorrect. Wikipedia is an okay source to check, but cannot be said to be the whole truth on any subject. It has mistakes in it, and that is one of them. The anonymous person who wrote that read it in one of those bad articles and put it on Wikipedia as truth. Use caution whenever you read Wikipedia. Sometimes the admins have to delete things off of it because of people not having their facts straight.
I’m not saying Wikipedia is bad. It really is a good site to use a lot of the time. I’m just saying use caution when you read stuff on it. Rain’s Wikipedia page is loaded with mistakes. The names of his very first album and his second album are even WRONG on there!
Rain was only punished for accepting the rides back to base from his girlfriend and being photographed during the last ride without his hat on outside. (The hat situation still pissed me off. Scroll all the way down to the bottom of this post and look at all the Army men with their hats off. It was not a punishable offense until RAIN did it. https://cloudusa.wordpress.com/2013/01/05/opinion-from-stephes-desk-rain-has-been-the-object-of-a-witch-hunt-worthy-of-salem/)
Now you see what all Rain was up against. The Korean Media left all of their untrue news articles out there and didn’t bother to correct anything, even when the military asked them to. You are seeing the results of that. Even the soldiers and officers he worked with were calling out the reporters for lying, and upset at the way Rain was suffering because of the lies. (https://cloudusa.wordpress.com/2013/02/05/military-account-i-hope-you-are-a-big-help-when-things-are-hard-for-him-reporters-distorted-reports/)
I specifically remember when the Global Post printed that Rain and other soldiers were caught out getting drunk at a restaurant and put under military arrest, which was a complete LIE. To their credit, when fans left many comments that Rain wasn’t even there and after I emailed the editor PROOF from the military that he wasn’t anywhere near the restaurant and was NOT in any trouble with the military, they did print a correction and an apology. So, you see what I mean? (https://cloudusa.wordpress.com/2013/07/31/articleglobal-post-how-we-restored-the-k-pop-communitys-faith-in-journalism/)
Rain is so doggone famous that his name sells the news. NEGATIVE things about him sell the news even more. The Korean Media exploited this fact, and netizens helped them do it.
I learned from this and from many other experiences with other subjects that you cannot automatically believe everything you read on the Internet. Heck, there is hate speech and lies about ME out there, even. LOL~
Stephe ^@@^
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@Stephe
Thank you so much. 🙂 Now I’m relieved. 😀 You know, I’m just 19 and I became a fan of him just because of his personality and his manners. Because I barely become a fan of artists but he’s different. I’m young and fans like me don’t want to hear or read bad things about their idols because they get disappointed… But now all of my doubts are gone and I know that he is really a HUMAN. 🙂 ♥ ^_^
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You’re welcome, Mary. I’m glad you felt comfortable enough to ask. 🙂
A person’s character is very important to me, especially an entertainer I am a fan of. That is why I do so much research on Rain, to be as sure as I can if he is a man of his word or not. I don’t expect him to be perfect, just a conscientious human being who works hard and loves his fans. 🙂
Have a great week!
Stephe ^@@^
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Mary,
One clarification to Stephe’s comments. The only thing Rain was really punished for was for not wearing his beret while he was outdoors. That’s the only thing that the military could punish him for, and they did that, albeit reluctantly.
The lies and confusion the Media perpetuated about Rain at that time time were astonishing. A great video about this very subject was recently produced by Rain’s Hungarian fans. It’s almost an hour-and-a-half long, but it’s extremely informative and lays out everything that happened very well. You can find the video on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7vX7DD9cPQ. You must pardon their English, for they are not native speakers, but other than that, it’s very well done.
Regarding Rain’s so-called rides from Kim Tae Hee back to the military post. It’s not truly clear that he did accept rides from his girlfriend back to base. No proof of that has ever been provided by anyone, and the only photos taken of him getting into a car after seeing his girlfriend do not support that claim either. In fact, one of the photos taken by The Dispatch clearly shows him leaving her and getting into a taxi, which we can presume took him back to the Army post.
And let’s be totally clear on the dating thing too. The dates he enjoyed with Kim Tae Hee were done while he was on approved leaves. They were NEVER done while he was on duty. Soldiers are allowed to visit family and date and do all of the other things that normal people do when they are on leave. But no one wanted to hear that.
The whole situation was ridiculous. The only reason Rain’s name was used so maliciously at the time was because it was an election year, and the politicians of the day were using the “celebrity soldier” program as a way to leverage their political clout. The “celebrity soldier” program did not have a good reputation, and many people in Korea wanted it dismantled. And guess what? After Rain’s witch hunt and after the massage parlor incident with Seven and Sangchu occurred, the “celebrity soldier” program was officially dismantled.
Yep. The politicians got exactly what they wanted, and they did it by mostly slandering and maligning Rain. Do I think that the “celebrity soldier” program needed to be disbanded? Yes, of course. Celebrities should be able to serve the military just like the rest of the soldiers, even if it’s just to get a much needed break from the spotlight and be a “normal” person for a change. But should celebrities’ names have been slandered and maligned as a means to get rid of it? No. Absolutely not. It was shameful.
But you know what? I look at it this way. Rain was born to change the world. And he does that in so many ways, from being the first Korean to star in a Hollywood film, to having a controversial military program disbanded. It’s not ever easy being a world changer. And he knows that. So, I’m sure he’ll be okay.
With regard to Rain being less popular, all I can say is he is still loved by many fans all over the world, and not just in Korea. Is he as popular as he once was? Probably not. That’s not because people don’t love him, or believe the lies they’ve heard about him. That’s just because he’s getting older and “aging out” of the K-pop industry. Rain is now in his 30s, and his career is already 14 years old. Like here in the U.S., the younger stars in Korea get all of the glory and the older pop-stars eventually have to move on and do other things with their lives.
I actually find it amazing that Rain is still able to travel around Asia and pack concert halls with fans. That is relatively unheard of in the pop music industry. Then again, I did say Rain was a world changer, right? 🙂
Thank you for coming to us and asking your questions. Many potential Clouds get confused like you did, but they never even bother asking. So, thank you for that. Very much.
Terri :-}
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Terry! Thank you for your explanation. 🙂
World changer… that is good nickname for him. I’m agree. 🙂
I don’t agree that just because he’s aging out, he’s not as popular as before and I do think it’s because of his 2 years hiatus and ruining his image. Because “image” is so important in Asia. Psy is 38; but he’s so damn popular in whole world and his sudden and unexpected popularity, surpassed Rain. I believe he will get more popularity because he works hard and I believe he will surpass Psy in popularity (I said “in popularity” because he already surpassed him in skill. 🙂 ). If he stars in a drama with huge success (like “Full House”, “You who came from the stars” and “DoTs”.) he will get huge popularity (like “Lee Min Ho” “Kim Soo Hyun” & “Song Joong Ki”. ). Young people love these celebrities mostly because of their dramas not skills!!! (As you can see PCBM results!!! Disappointment!! :|). In my country, Korean wave came in 2010 and in those years, Rain was not much active and after his military, he didn’t star in a drama that would become a hit. So, in my country, he’s not very popular and young people just know boy bands!!! Not their LEGEND!!! 😐
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