Lady in Red

by Robert Koehler on October 10, 2007

Some photos of actress Kim Hye-soo (and others) from the 2006 Blue Dragon Film Awards.

{ 53 comments… read them below or add one }

1 mins0306 October 10, 2007 at 3:25 pm

Well, she sure isn’t shy about showing off her you know whats.

2 SomeguyinKorea October 10, 2007 at 3:35 pm

Why should she? She probably paid good money for those.

3 Robert Koehler October 10, 2007 at 3:41 pm

And they were worth every won.

4 dda October 10, 2007 at 3:58 pm

That fat tnuc loves to show the miracles of plastic surgery, eh?

5 iheartblueballs October 10, 2007 at 4:02 pm

Well, those of you without a yellow-fever infection may want to check out some photos of a certain white, middle-aged, frumpy, Senator from New York.

http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200710/200710100015.html

And please take note that she was fascinated by the hanbok. FASCINATED I TELL YOU! Like all non-Koreans, she in fact struggled to contain her FASCINATION with all things Korean. Speckles of fascination literally came flying out of her nose, mouth, and penis at the mere sight of a hanbok.

Oh god whitey, please love us! Please be fascinated by us! We’re so fascinating, that it would be an insult to the Four Seasons themselves if you did not recognize that fact and register your written or verbal fascination for all of the Korean people to see and quietly reflect upon in utter fascination.

P.S. I was personally fascinated by Kim Hye-soo’s sweaty jugs, but only because she was not wearing a hanbok and I was not given the opportunity to be fascinated by that.

6 sesame seed October 10, 2007 at 4:09 pm

I think Kim Hye-soo and her assets should be declared a national treasure. Although I think the 1990′s look is much better than the current trend.

7 dda October 10, 2007 at 4:12 pm

Although I think the 1990’s look is much better than the current trend.

That’s called fighting with the vagaries of aging and losing the fight. Although the one improvement over the 90s is the weight loss.

8 dissidentdave October 10, 2007 at 4:18 pm

#6: sesameseed, agreed on all counts.

which reminds me: anyone here care to ruminate aloud why it is that Korean men aren’t as enamoured of Hye-Soo as non-Koreans are? I can’t think of one time I’ve run across a Korean man (from uni-aged to middle-aged and beyond) who isn’t intimidated or scared by her “elegance” or “glamourous”-ness, to borrow from the konglish.

RE #5:

LOL–blueballs, your sarcasm never fails to make me laugh, even if i don’t agree with what you say sometimes.

9 SomeguyinKorea October 10, 2007 at 4:19 pm

#3,

Let’s just say that it put a smile on my face when my wife mentioned that she was tempted to go shopping for some.

10 SomeguyinKorea October 10, 2007 at 4:24 pm

#5,

Dude, they gave a hanbok (a Choson-era quasi-symbol of female chastity) to a feminist? Ouch, talk about making a cultural faux-pas.

11 No-bongpil October 10, 2007 at 4:24 pm

Kim Hye-su is a godess. She certainly has invested well. She’s an icon in this country and will be remembered and admired by many for years to come.

No hetero self respecting male would kick her out of bed.

12 SomeguyinKorea October 10, 2007 at 4:33 pm

“Anyone here care to ruminate aloud why it is that Korean men aren’t as enamoured of Hye-Soo as non-Koreans are?”

Well, I wouldn’t say that the ones who are too young to have lusted over her are ‘men’.

13 No-bongpil October 10, 2007 at 5:09 pm

Because she’s financially independent, sexually confident, professionally assertive and is too old to call half the country “Oppa” and doesn’t make little cutsie pie faces and I’m angry at oppa noises.

Plus, no self respecting Korean hetero would kick her out of bed either. It just there’s more “talent” that conforms to the stereotypical idea/image of what a sweet young bride, mother of your kids, cooker of all your meals, wiper of your arse etc wife should be.

14 Robert Koehler October 10, 2007 at 5:34 pm

Of course, we could simply appreciate Kim’s abundant, uh, talent without bashing Korean manhood, too.

15 Andy Jackson October 10, 2007 at 5:48 pm

Rob,

As you know, bashing some aspect of Korea and Koreans is half of the fun of commenting at the Hole, the other half being bashing people who bash Korea and Koreans.

16 No-bongpil October 10, 2007 at 6:01 pm

Sorry Marmot, SomeguyinKorea set me up for the slam dunk. It is funny though, my friends from other countries where the cute or more homely little sis image is pushed feel the same way. We are a product of our environs. Such peolples (not just Korean men) want a 문금영 type but call the 김혜수 type whores. To be honest, I find this a little offensive.

Just coz it looks like she would like to give a good B#@wie and recieve the occasional pearl necklace doesn’t mean she’s a whore. I’m even going to say that I think 문금영 probably makes shitty Kimchi 찌개 and is terrible at cutting fruit.

So there.

17 user-81 October 10, 2007 at 6:23 pm

“Just coz it looks like she would like to give a good B#@wie and recieve the occasional pearl necklace doesn’t mean she’s a whore. I’m even going to say that I think 문금영 probably makes shitty Kimchi 찌개 and is terrible at cutting fruit.”

The younger actress’s name is 문근영, not 문금영. Judging by your comment, it appears you may have 금 on the brain.

18 No-bongpil October 10, 2007 at 7:51 pm

Judging by your comment you must have 얌전 written on your forehead.

19 slim October 10, 2007 at 9:00 pm

That Clinton article IHBB linked to is the kind of healthy Korean journalistic fare that can lift us up out of the sewer and steer minso back to his natural calling:

“It was the first time a powerful presidential contender like Hillary Clinton has ever visited Koreatown during a campaign — an event that seldom occurs in the Chinese or Japanese communities in the U.S”

20 mins0306 October 10, 2007 at 9:10 pm

When Korean men talk about Korean women, especially the celebrities, Kim Hye-soo rarely pops up, so it’s hard to discern why Korean men are “intimidated” by her. However if one were to piece together the rare jokes and remarks regarding her, one can discern that the reason that Korean men are put off by her is her somewhat large physique. This applies when the subject of bedding her comes up. Korean men will state that even if Kim were to spread her legs wide in front of them they won’t go for it because they fear that her object will either break or crush their objects. Some will even add that her object will swallow them alive. Also, one of my friends chipped in by telling this story. In an episode of a Sunday morning drama, Kim appeared wearing a very skimpy bright orange bikini. My friend who was eating breakfast at the time said that he almost threw up his breakfast when he saw Kim in that bikini.

21 sesame seed October 10, 2007 at 9:29 pm

Dude!!!!

Please tell me you recorded that show and are willing to share it with the Men and Women that can appreciate her.

Seriously, that Korean chick from Lost, whatever her name is, is way over-rated. Now imagine if Kim Hye-soo was playing that part… oh yeah, I think, we’d all like be Lost with her!!!

Can I get a Assa?!

22 slim October 10, 2007 at 9:47 pm

She’s considerably overweight with obviously fake boobs and not really a looker. I can understand going gaga over her if you’re stuck in Saudi Arabia for 3 years, but not from anywhere east of, say, the Bay of Bengal…

23 seouldout October 10, 2007 at 9:58 pm

No assa for you, sez a me. The lovely Ms. Park from Battlestar Gallactica is way hotter.

Now that’s an ass-a.

24 Brendon Carr October 10, 2007 at 10:43 pm

That woman Kim Hye-Soo is “considerably overweight?” Not rail-thin, sure, but how can she be deemed considerably overweight?

25 Sonagi October 10, 2007 at 11:17 pm

Kim Hye-soo is not even close to being overweight by North American standards, but by Korean standards, especially compared to other entertainers, she is. I think both the body and the age repel Korean men. Hell, her slick jugs scare me a little, and I own a pair.

26 hardyandtiny October 10, 2007 at 11:42 pm

not overweight, end of story.

27 dda October 10, 2007 at 11:50 pm

No hetero self respecting male would kick her out of bed.

Or lesbian — if the rumors are true.

28 Maddlew October 11, 2007 at 12:52 am

Kim Hye Soo is overweight? Baaa! That’s just bleat!
I’ll say this again. The fashion industry has been traditionally dominated by men. Women are making headway but the big names are still men. These guys design women’s clothes and are also the ones who choose the models who showcase their stuff. They, to a great extent, dictate to us the female ideal. What do they consider the ideal woman? They don’t even like women! I’m generalizing but for the most part it’s true. Give me one heterosexual male fashion designer. One. Their ideal woman is a teenage male with an emaciated frame dressed in drag, and perhaps some small breast implants. They like waif thin because the clothes hang better. Heroin chic. That’s what goes into all the magazines.
Men and women the world over have bought into this, don’t ask me how. Stereotypes tend to go crazy here in Korea and so what’s 75% true everywhere else is 85-90% true here.
It’s not even healthy. They say that women achieving this look who try to bear children, their offspring have a much greater chance of developing diabetes and other birth defects. They have to nourish themselves and the child, it makes sense.
I myself don’t like ambiguity. I like a woman you can spot from a LandSat photo.

29 WangKon936 October 11, 2007 at 1:00 am

Reminds me of that scene in “The Aviator” where Hughes talks about “mammeries.”

http://www.pcplanets.com/videos-6088-The-Aviator-2004-Mammaries-.shtml

funny…

30 slim October 11, 2007 at 3:52 am

I’ll withdraw the “considerably” but I fail to be moved by KHS at all. The face, for starters…

31 seouldout October 11, 2007 at 4:19 am

…with its masculine jaw. If it weren’t for the tatas she’d be just a girl with a square head.

32 SomeguyinKorea October 11, 2007 at 7:05 am

“The fashion industry has been traditionally dominated by men. ”

I find greater irony in the fact that women are being told how to look by very unattractive, and generally overweight, people.

“Kim Hye-soo is not even close to being overweight by North American standards, but by Korean standards, especially compared to other entertainers,”

I can never decide if most Korean pop singers can’t dance because they lack coordination or muscle tone. In any case, I’m somewhat disturbed by the fact that these pre-pubescent-looking pop singer are being sexualized.

33 Maddlew October 11, 2007 at 8:31 am

Have you seen that Korean fashion designer, Kim? I don’t know what he is. Scary is a euphemism. I saw him once in person. I’ll admit some of his designs are very appealing on women. I’ve seen a nice sense of color and texture, but who in the hell dresses him and does his make-up? That’s one grim looking dude!

34 globalvillageidiot October 11, 2007 at 10:21 am

“Have you seen that Korean fashion designer, Kim?”

You must mean Andre Kim, Korea’s Marlon Brando/Michael Jackson lookalike. And he speaks funnier than he looks. Having said that, I gather he’s a pretty good designer.

35 dtwSickboy October 11, 2007 at 5:26 pm

She looks to be setting a trend with that outfit…

36 wookinponub October 11, 2007 at 5:41 pm

Woof! More trend, please.

37 arthjourneyman October 11, 2007 at 7:36 pm

seouldout wins. Possibly because this is the first time I’ve heard someone refer to a persons’ head as square, and sadly it’s not hyperbole either. That said, I won’t say having a square head isn’t hot…

38 JK October 12, 2007 at 2:28 am

dissidentdave wrote in #8:
“anyone here care to ruminate aloud why it is that Korean men aren’t as enamoured of Hye-Soo as non-Koreans are? I can’t think of one time I’ve run across a Korean man (from uni-aged to middle-aged and beyond) who isn’t intimidated or scared by her “elegance” or “glamourous”-ness, to borrow from the konglish.”

I, a heterosexual male of Korean descent, liked Kim Hye-Soo in the mid-90s. A LOT. Let me say this again….A LOT!!!!

But she’s definitely not my type anymore. And it’s not because I’m “intimidated” or “scared” of her elegance, glamour, or whatever nonsense so many Western expats attribute to her.

She’s GAINED. She’s AGED. That’s it. Granted, I wouldn’t kick her out of bed for eating crackers, but I’m just saying she ain’t all that hot – anymore.

I guess to some, she’s still hot. Heck, she’d probably make a good Western expat’s wife. :) Then the expat can say, “I got a hot wife and any Korean guy who doesn’t think so is just a hater who is intimidated by her beauty or angry that she’s with a non-Korean!” And then Korean and Korean-American males like myself can go, “Uhhhh….okay. If you say so.” :)

39 WangKon936 October 12, 2007 at 3:21 am

JK, I second that.

40 abcdefg October 12, 2007 at 4:56 am

Old (30+ yo) white expats like Hye-soo because she’s kind of like an ahjumma deluxe…

Anyway, I like borderline ahjeomma Kim So Yeon much more. Here she is at the recent PIFF:

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/5733/407979hj8lw7.jpg

Oh, Hillary Clinton is kind of hawt. MILF in the hanbok! :)

41 slim October 12, 2007 at 5:10 am

#38 It pays to read comments carefully before commenting on them:

JK: But she’s definitely not my type anymore. And it’s not because I’m “intimidated” or “scared” of her elegance, glamour, or whatever nonsense so many Western expats attribute to her.

(What) Dissidentdave (actually said): I can’t think of one time I’ve run across a Korean man (from uni-aged to middle-aged and beyond) who isn’t intimidated or scared by her “elegance” or “glamourous”-ness, to borrow from the konglish.”

I second the not hot, needless to say.

Check out Hillary from the waste down before you declare her a MILF. She’s got major daikon ashi/muu pal!

42 Sonagi October 12, 2007 at 5:33 am

MILF? Hillary has a pretty face, but she is cursed with a pear shape that is classic form for middle-aged white women. My mom is two sizes larger on the bottom than on the top, and I thank the gods every day of my life I did not inherit her figure.

43 Iceberg October 12, 2007 at 6:20 am

Kim So Yeon is a “borderline ajumma”? She’s all of 27.

I agree, though, that she’s much hotter than Kim Hye Soo – though she looks quite ordinary in person. Or at least she looked ordinary in person when I saw her a few years ago.

44 abcdefg October 12, 2007 at 6:41 am

I’d been getting “nuna” neukim from KSY for a long time; as a result, she is etched in my mind as being old or older than she really is. I was convinced she’d be 1976 saeng or something, found out she wasn’t, added “borderline ahjeoma” to modify my post, and hit submit.

“she is cursed with a pear shape that is classic form for middle-aged white women.”

The fats of life?

45 SomeguyinKorea October 12, 2007 at 8:32 am

#38,

Nah, we just like her sweaty breasts.

arthjourneyman,

Never heard of a “tête carrée”? It’s a derogatory name used by French Canadians against bigoted and close-minded English Canadians. The term originated in the 1700s when Quebecers observed to their amusement that the English were dividing up their land into square lots. French ‘seigneries’ were irregularly-shaped and sub-divided in ‘rangs’ (ranks), long rectangular plots, in order to minimize the number of roads needed and share access to waterways.

46 SomeguyinKorea October 12, 2007 at 8:32 am

derogatory term, sorry.

47 WangKon936 October 12, 2007 at 9:07 am

“sweaty breasts”? Nah, let’s call’em mammaries!

48 slim October 12, 2007 at 10:41 am

Speaking of sweaty breasts, the Chosun tells us Park Se-ri is getting prettier:

“About a decade ago, when I started to play in the LPGA, people gossiped about me being ugly, and now they say that I’ve had work done on my jaw, my nose, here and there,” Park said with a big smile. “But I try to remember that all the gossip just means that I’ve become prettier, and not get offended by it. And the truth is I only had double eyelid surgery. When would I have time for that kind of surgery when I have to play everyday? And if I really tried to fix my face, I’d make me look much better than I do now!”

With Michelle Wie now legal and Se-ri getting prettier, we might have a take second look at the LPGA tour!

49 KimcheeGI October 12, 2007 at 10:43 am

“sweaty breasts”? Nah, let’s call’em mammaries!

I don’t think they’re swaety, I think they’re *sparkling*… And KHS is Korean….That’s “Korea, Sparkling.”

50 slim October 12, 2007 at 11:47 am

OOPS, sorry: we might have to take a second look at the LPGA tour!

51 Robert Koehler October 12, 2007 at 11:49 am

Old (30+ yo) white expats like Hye-soo because she’s kind of like an ahjumma deluxe…

Not that there’s anything wrong with ahjumma deluxe, of course.

As for Kim So-yeon, I’d have to agree with Iceberg — 27 is too young to be “borderline ajummah.” A borderline ajummah I kind of dig, however, is Lee Mi-yeon, although I keep on hearing she’s a great big (rhymes with “rich”). Regardless of whether that’s true or not, she’s still rather easy on the eyes:

http://www.leemiyeon.com/

52 slim October 12, 2007 at 12:23 pm

Borderline Ajummahs — there’s a band name.

53 dissidentdave October 12, 2007 at 2:37 pm

Slim has already qualified what I was trying to say way back in #8, but I’d like to add my two pence worth:

My experience has been that Korean men, through a wide variance of ages, aren’t as enamoured with Hye-soo as, say, Robert is (or I am, for that matter). Granted, I do live in rural Gangwon, but I have lived elsewhere in this country, so my comments aren’t so limited to Gangwon men. Though I referenced “intimidation” or “fear” as reasons why, my tongue was tantalisingly in cheek, so let’s not be quite so sensitive. #13′s comments about why Hye-soo is less revered by her fellow countrymen was more along the lines of what I really thought.

As for those of you who aren’t as enamoured of her, nationalities aside, that’s fair play. I can kinda see the square head reference–barely, though, as I was laughing my rocks off–but how can she be deemed fat or overweight by anyone here? Has there been an influx of pygmies posting comments on this thread, because that’s the only way I can figure out out why anyone would call her fat or overweight. Semi-voluptuousness (let’s face it, she’s not fully voluptuous) or an hour-glass figure does not overweight make…

To each his or her own tastes, right? Especially when there’s a reference here to Hillary’s being even kinda hot, no? A MILF?

Shit, never thought I’d live long enough to witness the day I heard THAT!

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