Korean Wave

Hallyu 2022 year-ender: High-profile weddings, Philippine fan meets, memorable comebacks

December 29, 2022 | 3:55pm

Here are some of the highlights of the year that was in Hallyu

Composite art by Philstar.com/Anjilica Andaya

MANILA, Philippines — K-pop group BTS started its military enlistment and reel-to-real life couple BinJin tied the knot and gave birth to their firstborn. Plus, K-dramas took the international award-giving bodies by storm.

Here are some of the highlights of the year that was in Hallyu:

Winning Hollywood

Survival drama "Squid Game" broke viewing and award records. The hit Netflix drama is considered the most viewed drama by the streaming platform with 1.65 billion viewing hours during its first four weeks from launch.

Written and directed by Hwang Dong-hyuk, "Squid Game" amassed nominations and won at major award-giving bodies, including the Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and Primetime Emmys. Its lead actor, Lee Jung-jae, won the acting awards at the SAG and Primetime Emmys.

This year also saw the addition of Park Seo-joon in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, apart from Ma Deong-seok or Don Lee who already debuted in "Eternals" (2021). Park will star in "The Marvels," in a role that rumors said will be the husband of Carol Danvers a.k.a Captain Marvel.

Power couples tying the knot

The first quarter fulfilled many K-drama fans' wishes. In a much-welcomed suprise, "Crash Landing on You" co-stars tied the knot last March, announced a pregnancy in June, and welcomed their son last November 27.

Park Shin-hye married her university peer and "The King of Dramas" co-star Choi Tae-joon last January. They welcomed their son last May 31.

BinJin's contemporaries, actresses Gong Hyo-jin ("The Master's Sun," "The Producers") and Jang Na Ra ("You Are My Destiny," "The Last Empress") also got married this year. Na-ra married her non-showbiz boyfriend in June while Hyo-jin tied the knot with singer-songwriter Kevin Oh last October.

Successive fan meets

With ease of restrictions and quarantines lifted, many K-drama and K-pop stars held their fan meets in the country, some of which were sponsored or presented by Filipino companies that they endorse.

"Empress Ki" star Ji Chang-wook held his first Philippine fan meet, "Reach You," as presented by Bench last November 6.

His fellow Bench endorser, Kim Soo-hyun, visited the country last June. He will be back in January next year for another fan meet presented by another of his endorsements.

"Extraordinary Attorney Woo" star Park Eun-bin also held her first fan meet last October 23. The star of the first-ever K-drama International Emmy Award winner, "The King's Affection," wowed the crowd at the New Frontier Theater in Quezon City.

"True Beauty" leading men Cha Eun-woo and Hwang In-youp also held their separate fan meets.

Eun-woo returned last August to hold his fan meet. The star lived in the Philippines for six months to study English. His co-star, In-youp, is no stranger to the Philippines having studied and finished school in Davao City.

In-youp also held his fan meet last September after visiting the country previously in June.

Enlistment, comebacks

In the music front, K-pop had a busy year for many fandoms with exciting comebacks and concerts.

It's a bittersweet year for supergroup BTS as the year was hectic with album launches and comebacks before its eldest member, Jin, enlisted with the military last December 13.

The group released its first anthology album last June since their debut in 2013. Jin also co-wrote with Chris Martin and many others for his debut solo single "The Astronaut" released last October 28.

Jungkook, meanwhile, was tapped to sing a theme song at the quadrennial FIFA World Cup. He also performed live during its opening ceremony last November.

The remaining six members are expected to enlist in the coming months. BTS is expected to reconvene in 2025 when all of the seven members have finished their two-year mandatory military enlistment.

Second-generation girl group 2NE1 had a wonderful surprise for Blackjacks when they reunited for the first time in over six years since being inactive at last April's Coachella.

Blackpink made a comeback with the release of its second studio album, "Born Pink," last September. The quartet is also the first K-pop group to host an in-game concert on PUBG mobile back in July.

Both Red Velvet and Enhyphen released their first Japanese albums.

"Bloom" is Red Velvet's first Japanese album released last April. It is also the girl group's most recent studio album that came out after "Perfect Velvet" in 2017.

Boy group Enhyphen, meanwhile, released its debut Japanese-language album and second studio album "Sadame" last October.

Jebbies were treated with the presence of Jessi in less than five months with the South Korean singer recently back in the country for the "Head In The Clouds" music and arts festival earlier this month. The "Zoom" singer first held her concert in the country last September.

Super Junior and Seventeen also held their concerts this month. Filipino Carats also were treated to the sight of their favorite 13-member boy band last weekend, December 17, for a concert. Seventeen had previously been in the country to stage a two-night concert back in October.

Super Junior finally staged its two-day "Super Show 9" or SS9 concert last weekend, December 17 to 18, to the delight of ELFs. It was supposed to be held last August but was postponed due to several reasons.