Song
Ji Hyo of “Running Man” fame, graced the opening event of Shoopen’s first
outlet in Malaysia last Saturday. Shoopen
is one of South Korea’s leading footwear fashion and accessories brand. Anxious fans waited
patiently outside the mall from as early as 6.30 am to catch a glimpse of this
affable, humble and pretty celebrity. Song (her second visit to our shores) was
clearly bolwed over by the warm and enthusiastic response from her fans. It’s
not difficult to see why she is so well loved. She has such an endearing
personality…kept bowing to fans and media throughout the meet and greet, greeting
lucky fans with hi five, hugging fans who got a chance for group photo with
her, doing the heart shape sign with another fan. In
person, she is gorgeous and projects a cute bumbling image. Song mentioned that she did not have a chance
to try out local dishes (me thinks majority K-Pop stars are usually not
adventurous with food. They rather play safe and stick to Korean cuisine) and
the emcee recommended “bak kut t eh”. This is definitely one of the best organized
events I have been, too. Everything was
done very systematically and on-time. The only “blemish” of this otherwise
perfect function is the organizer made the grave mistake of engaging the two
lousy emcees from MyFm (Joe and Emily) who are extremely incompetent in hosting
event in English. It is torturing to my ears, listening to their mostly “syok sendiri” (full of oneself) banter in broken English. Song was on the same flight as Big Bang (minus GD). Oct is truly a busy month for K-pop
followers. After Song, Big Bang, next to meet Malaysian fans are Kim Rae Won and Park Shin Hye (from “Doctors” drama). Let's also not forget that Song's fellow Running Man team mate, Lee Kwang Soo will be here on Nov 26 to participate in the 100 Plus Running Man challenge. Never ending stream of celebrities from Kimchiland this month !
