>Hugz<

Like a Virgin(Chun-ha-jang-sa Madonna, which means "Madonna, the champion of Korean Wrestling") will be released soon as Bluray Disc. Chun-ha-jang-sa means the most powerful man under the sky. But in Korea, it also means the champion of Korean wrestling, Ssirem(see the painting above). The main character is a high school boy who wants to be a woman. He secretly loves his Japanese teacher(played by one of the most famous Japanese Idol stars, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi), has to deal with his troubled father and earn the money to become a woman. He hears the news that the prize money for the Ssireum championship for high school students is big enough to cover the money for surgery to become a woman. And he enlists himself as the newest member of Ssirem team in his high school. When I watched the movie in the theater, I got so moved the way the directors portrayed the main character. All the episodes seemed so real. Good to hear that they release this good piece of work as

Suk-chun Hong is the first out Korean celebrity. After his coming out in 2000, he was banned from TV for 3 years. But he survived it and became owner of many famous restaurant in Itaewon(one strict of Seoul where there are many gay places), father to his nephew and niece(he adopted his sister's siblings after she got divorced) and iconic figure in Korean queer community. He appeared one of the famous talk shows, Healing Camp recently and shared his love story, the reason of coming out and how he dealt with the result. He got emotional several times during the show but he also shared his experiences which many Korean gay people can relate to, I suppose.