Sorry no major idols here.

In a survey conducted from July 10th to the 16th, Koreans were asked to name the movie actor or actress that they would want to have a summer getaway with. The winners were Ha Jung-woo and Ha Ji-won!

Ha Jung-woo stars in the summer sports Olympic flick, “Ski Jump“ (국가대표), about the plight of the Korean national ski jump team. It released in South Korea on July 29th on the big screen.

Ha Ji-won stars in a different kind of summer flick, the blockbuster action-disaster movie, “Haeundae” (해운대). It was released July 22, 2009 and is currently playing in theaters in South Korea.

Popular soju ad queen, Shin Mina, came in second place. The battle between the two leading ladies will continue with the release of “A Million” (10억) in August. Perhaps the ratings would have been different if the premiere of “A Million” had been closer to the time of the survey.

The list of actors and actress chosen are all stars of this summer’s releases, which include monster/horror flicks, “Chaw“ (차우) and “Living Death“ (불신지옥), and the romantic melodrama “Five Senses of Eros” (오감도).

Anyway, here are the rest of the rankings from the survey!

Actors:
1. Ha Jung-woo (Ski Jump) 34.1%
2. Lee Chun-hee (A Million) 18.3%
3. Uhm Tae-woong (Chaw) 9.1%
4. Lee Min-ki (Haeundae, A Million) 6.5%
5. Park Hae-il (A Million) 6.3%

Actresses:
1. Ha Ji-won (Haeundae) 46.8%
2. Shin Mina (A Million) 17.5%
3. Nam Sung-mi (Living Death) 13.1%
4. Uhm Jung-hwa (Haeundae, Five Sense of Eros) 10.8%
5. Jung Yoo-mi (Haeundae, Chaw) 3.2%
6. Go Eun-ah (A Million) 3.1%
7. Lee Eun-sung (Ski Jump) 2.7%

Who would you personally like to take on a vacation getaway?

Kim Rae-won is back after his stint as a chef in the lackluster drama, “Gourmet.”

This time, the sexy actor stars as an reproduction artist in the big screen flick,  “Insadong Scandal” (2009) with pop diva and awkward actress, Uhm Jung-hwa.  Directed by Park Hee-gon, the film revolves the scandal of trying to sell a reproduction of a 400 year old painting that went missing 400 years ago.

“Insadong Scandal” opens in April 2009. Check out the still cuts.

Perez Hilton must secretly be dating a Korean man. Why else would he post up music videos of the Wondergirls, Lee Hyori and now Uhm Jung-hwa? The man is calling her, “Korea’s Kylie,” but little does he know that she is known in the Korean media as  “Korea’s Madonna” – get it straight.

But we are thankful that Perez acknowledges the cool factor of Korean pop culture. So….does that make us cool too?

Check out the comments talking about North Korea and Uhm Jung-hwa at Perezhilton.

[Thanks to all the tipsters]

As the saying goes, “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours,” Uhm Jung Hwa will be scratching the backs of YMGA (Masta Wu, DM) by being featured in their title track ‘Tell it to my heart’ (a remake of Taylor Dayne’s 80’s hit of the same name) -just like Big Bang’s TOP was featured on Uhm Jung Hwa’s ‘DISCO.”

YMGA will release their new album on October 10th. In a collaborative effort, the YG Family will feature in the song, “What” and Big Bang’s Tae Yang will be featured in the track, “Real Talk.”

YMGA is YG Family’s newest hip hop act after 6 long years.

Check out YGMA’s 1st stage on SBS on October 12th.

The entertainment community is reeling from another shocking loss.

Choi Jin-shil took her own life on October 2^nd. No one would have thought something so tragic could have happened. Looking back on the day before her death, Choi Jin-shil went about her work as usual. She had a photoshoot at a Kangnam studio in the afternoon and went out for drinks with her manager in Shinsa-dong. After drinking 3 bottles of soju, she told her manager, “I want to die.” At home in her Jamwon-dong home, she told her mother, “I am sad and disappointed in people. Why do they bother me like this? I have nothing to do with the loans…” At 12 pm, she went to bed. At 4 am, her mother discovered that the bathroom door was locked. At 6am, a locksmith unlocks the door and her body is discovered. At 7:34, the police arrived on the scene.

With the recent deaths of Ahn Jae-hwan, and Lee Eon, the entertainment community has lost another star. We hope that there will be no more of these type of tragic losses.

And we hope that Choi Jin-shil can finally rest in peace.

Ahn Jae-woo, Byun Jung-woo, Choi Ji-woo, Shin Aera

Go Su, Jo Sung-min, Jung Joonha

Jung Sun-hee suffers another loss. Our hearts go out to you.

Kim A-joong, Kim Jung-min

Kim Nam-ju, Lee Byung-heon

Lee Seung-yeon, Lee Sora, Lee Jung-ja

Noh Hong-chul, Yoo Jae-suk, Park Myung-soo

Shinae went to Choi Jin-shil’s house on the morning of the 2^nd upon hearing the news.

Shin Ae-ra, Uhm Jung-hwa, Yoon-Eun-hye

I disagree.

Although Uhm Jung-hwa is considered by many as the “pop diva,” “queen” is not the label that I would choose. However, the interior of her home is unlike her slick diva image. The rustic touches of the plain wooden chairs and table, and the overall simple white decor reveal that Uhm Jung-hwa has rather down-to-earth taste.

Uhm Jung-hwa’s queenly abode was featured in the September 2008 issue of Instyle Magazine (Korea). Check it out.

I can hear SHINee’s song now, “Noona, you’re so pretty”

Uhm Jung-hwa is dating one of Korea’s top male models and a younger man at that! The popdiva was caught getting into the same car as her boy toy, Jun Joon-hong! (see below). Wow, getting into the same car means that you are dating? If that was true, then I have so many boyfriends.

However, Uhm Jung-hwa’s management company has cleared the air by acknowledging that the pair is in fact meeting on a regular basis.

Jun Joon-hong is 8 years younger than his noona, Miss Uhm Jung-hwa.

Go girl go!

No, that’s not T.O.P. above, it’s G-dragon, another Big Bang-er.

T.O.P has been replaced by fellow Big Bang member, G-dragon for Uhm Jung Hwa’s 2^nd version “D.I.S.C.O Part II” (as if 1 was not enough) of her hit dance single “D.I.S.C.O.”

The 38 year-old pop diva performed the second version of her single with G-Dragon on SBS Inkigayo last week. “D.I.S.C.O Part II” features a sample from Delegation’s ‘Heartache No 9’ ? what does this mean? Nothing much.

Check out version II:

Not much.

The highly anticipated shared stage between pop divas Lee Hyori and Uhm Jung-hwa fell short of my low expectations at the Mnet 20’s Choice Awards on August 23^rd 2008. Although I was hoping for something titillating (i.e. a shared kiss, perhaps?) between the two, the pop divas confirmed that they could easily be interchangeable. Wearing the exact same outfit, Lee Hyori performed Uhm Jung-hwa’s hit, “D.I.S.C.O” and the only way I could tell it was Hyori was because of her sexy smile and short legs. Otherwise, she could be Uhm Jung-hwa herself. On the other hand, Uhm Jung-hwa’s version of her counterpart was a slightly less fashionable, slightly skankier take on Hyorish’s fashion. Wearing white cropped pants mismatched with a peach high-cut bathing suit, Uhm Jung-hwa did better with the booty shaking that was required for Lee Hyori’s hit, “U Go Girl.” The reason being-Uhm Jung-hwa has the booty.

Check out Lee Hyori and Uhm Jung-hwa’s shared stage or at Daum here.

Interest is brewing around D.I.S.C.O diva, Uhm Junghwa and U go girl, Lee Hyori sharing the same stage for Mnet 20’s Choice Awards on August 23^rd 2008.

If both divas were to share the stage- like Madonna and Britney Spears, what would happen? With all eyes on the 2 pop stars, they would have to do something shocking – perhaps a lip lock for fan service?

Check out the 5 hour run of the Mnet 20’s Choice Awards on August 23^rd 2008, starting at 5pm.

Selca (pronounced, “sel-ka”) is the term created by netizens that refers to “self camera,” in other words, self portraits. And if you have been to Korea, you will know that Koreans are obsessed with taking pictures of themselves! Of course, celebrities are no exception.

Popselca is POPSEOUL’s new fun feature to introduce the world of celebrity sel-ca taking.

Here we have pop diva Uhm Jung-hwa showing a more natural side. The 30-something singer actually took picture of herself in the shower! Who does that?

Overall, her sel-ca attempt earns 2.5 out of 5 stars for the shower picture.

If you want to start sel-ca-ing yourself, check out the POPSEOUL guides:
Star tips on sel-ca-ing
Star tips on sel-ca-ing: what not to do.