Dating in Korea may be less casual than it is in some other countries, but why can't male and female idols be friends and spend time together without people assuming they are dating? It's hard if everywhere they go the media stalks them.
The news agency Dispatch, which recently publicized the relationship between actor Won Bin and actress Lee Na Young, reported this week that Kara member and actress Goo Hara and actor/model Lee Soo Hyuk enjoyed a meal together at a Chinese restaurant in Cheongdamdong. They were with a friend, actor/model Hong Jung Hyun. Readers immediately assumed that Goo Hara and Lee Soo Hyuk were dating.
Their having a meal with a friend might not have seemed like such a big deal if they had not been spotted together earlier this month. The idols were photographed shopping in Japan in late July. When confronted then, they said they were just friends. She was in Japan for promotional reasons and he was on vacation after finishing his role as a detective in the melodrama "Shark." It was just a coincidence, they said, that they were in Japan at the same time. Since they had already become acquainted through a mutual friend, they decided to meet up.
Their mutual friend is Kim Young Kwang, the actor who she appears with in an episode of "Secret Love."
According to DSP Media, "Goo Hara got to know Lee Soo Hyuk through Kim Young Kwang after acting with the latter. The two get along well with each other, and have a senior-junior relationship. They had a meal, but are not dating."
Goo Hara and Lee Soo Hyuk also have a BigBang connection, as Goo Hara is a friend of Seungri's and likes to shop with him. They attended the same dance academy. Lee Soo Hyuk is a close friend of the band's leader G-Dragon.
Goo Hara dated Beast's Yong Jun Hyung for two years. The couple broke up in March and the two decided to remain friends.
Netizens remarked that it was really no one's business whether Goo Hara and Lee Soo Hyuk were dating or not. Even if they pursue a relationship, they are not harming anyone. They are both single and Goo Hara and Junhyung broke up months ago.
At any rate, Goo Hara will soon not have much time for dating. Kara will release a fourth full-length album, "Full Bloom" on Sept. 2. The group will be busy with promotional activities.
Goo Hara appears in "Secret Love" with fellow members of Kara and also played the president's daughter in the drama "City Hunter." Both Lee Soo Hyuk and Hong Jung Hyun, who appeared in "Dating Agency: Cyrano," can be seen in 2NE1's music video "Falling in Love."
