아무것도 알 수 없는 생명체

As all (healthy) South Korean men need to enlist into army, they have to do it sooner or later. Voluntary enlistment starts at the age of 18. That is, you can enlist as soon as you become of age. Compulsory enlistment takes place at the age of 20. That is why a lot of Korean boys take academic leave after their 1st or 2nd year to enlist in the army. Actor Yoo Seung Ho turns 20 this year, so he enlisted in the army, although a lot of celebrities usually postpone enlistment because of their career. Some people think that he enlisted really soon, but he actually did it at the same age as the majority of Korean men do.

Until 2011 military recruitment was limited to those until 31 years of age, however, after a few reforms the age limit was extended until 36 years of age. So, if for some reason, you can’t enlist when you’re 20, you can do it until you’re 35 or so.

Thus, the age limit for Korean army recruitment is 18-35 years.

I was going to ignore this question, because I have answered something very similar recently, but what caught my eye was “his own house”.

Minjun got a new house, but I bet all my money on it - it’s for his family. Even if any member of 2PM would get a new house or an apartment, it would definitely be for their families, not their own personal houses. Koreans are very filial piety-oriented, so parents come first, and I think that 2PM guys would get their own personal houses only before marriage, or at least a few years from now.

That depends on each TV stations’ rules, which I am not aware of. I recommend asking at wild2day forum or tumblr about it, because lately SNS and other support rules are so complicated, that even K-fans go @.@ at them.

Instead of naming a street, I would paste a plate with the its name on every other house on the street, because Korean street names are usually displayed only on pointers in crossroads, and sometimes it is really hard to find the place you’re looking for unless you have Google maps in your phone OTL.

I actually wavered before answering this question for a few hours, because I couldn’t decide whether you’re trolling me or not, but judging from the overall tone of your message, you seem to be absolutely serious, so I shall answer the way I deem to be fit.

First of all, Incheon International Airport is one of the best airports in the world, and all of the main staff speak English.

Have you been to another country? Have you tried taking a taxi there? You do not really need to speak the language to travel around. You simply say your destination, and taxi drives you there. There are so many taxis in Seoul, that to catch one, you simply stop it in streets. Raise your hand and they will halt in front of you.

I don’t know anything about your budget and how much you can afford to spend within 5 days. Where you come from, how long it takes for you to reach Korea and so on. Personally, I can stuff myself with food at Kimbab Cheonguk for 10 USD a day, and be perfectly fine. While other people spend 10 bucks a day on coffee alone.

How much you spend on taxi would depend on where you would be staying and how far and where you would be going. Personally, I would take a subway to save money. Taxis aren’t expensive in Korea, but I don’t see why one should take a cab all the time. And before anyone says anything, Seoul subway has all the station names written and announcements broadcast in English as well. It’s virtually IMPOSSIBLE to get lost in Seoul subway.

As far as hotels are concerned, I don’t know what kind of hotel you would like to stay in. 4 stars? 3 stars? Motel? Guest house? Goshiwon? Where? Close to Jamsil stadium? Further from it? Close to JYPent? There are so many variables that need to be taken into account that I can’t say anything exact. My advice would be just to Google Seoul hotels and see which one suits your needs the best, because honestly, I’ve never stayed in a hotel in Seoul.

Hi.

I talked about buying 2PM concert tickets before.

•  For international (European) fan is it possible to buy ticket for k-pop concerts? 

Yes, it is possible. I think the easiest buying method for foreigners is through Yes24, because this site has English booking option, and you can pay for the tickets with your credit card. I haven’t bought tickets for 2PM concert back in 2011, because when the tickets sales were open I was still in Europe, but as far as all the other concerts are concerned, I bought the tickets via Yes24 or Interpark, after having registered there.

•  What about fansign events, music shows recordings or other events?

Err… I think I mentioned this before as well, but just to have it all in one post.

Fansign events - fansign events are organized in collaboration with a particular offline music records store. Usually the fansign event announcements are posted on official daum cafes and the home pages of those music shops. Once the event is announced, you have like a week or so, to go and buy a CD at that one particular store, and enter your name into the lottery. The amount of the CDs you can buy is not limited, so you can imagine that some fans buy literally HUNDREDS of CDs to get in. If you get picked, you receive a text message or a call.

Music shows recording - Unfortunately, it is practically impossible to get into pre-recordings unless you are an official Hottest (I’m talking only about 2PM here right now). Usually, you need two main things to get in - Hottest Fanclub membership card and a CD (Hands Up CD for Hands Up activities, Sexy Lady CD for Sexy Lady activities and so on). Although it does state that having CD only would make you eligible for getting into pre-recording as well, you have to keep in mind that all those people who have the fanclub membership card would get the priority against you, plus you would probably need to get your name on the pre-recording list like 2 days before the show, and they have roll-calls and everything. I’m not saying it’s impossible, just… very hard.

Music show live recordings are also lotteries. You sign up at the broadcasting station’s official homepage, and then apply for music show attendance online. If you get picked, you’ll get a message or a call. I’ve heard that some fans actually buy tickets from “muggles” (ordinary people) to get in, but I suppose you need to know Korean for that, and have some connections.

I don’t know, maybe it sounds that I got picked quite often, but I actually won lotteries only for You & I filming and God of Victory.

In fact, there are other ways for foreigners to get in, or so I’ve heard, but I’ve never used that, because I really hate it when someone uses the “foreigner” card. I’ve seen the way K-fans react to it, and it is really unfair from their perspective.

Hi.

Well, the war would break out only if North Korea was completely suicidal. The crisis itself is more of a political game that North plays in order to pluck out more money from the international community.

Even if there was a military conflict, it wouldn’t be long, because the North would be sedated immediately. They do have a mutual help agreement with China, but it has a sub-clause which says that if the main aggressor of a military conflict is North Korea itself (meaning, it is attacking something), then China is not obliged to help.

To say it in other words, I would go to Korea myself right now, if I had the money =]

Also, I saw this post from my Korean university on my Facebook timeline a few days ago about the current situation in the country:

Current Situation in Korea

Well, K-fans don’t like 2PM being next to other women in general, lol. So there’s no need to take it personally as in “K-hottest hate JYP girls”. In fact, K-fans are relatively fine with other girls from JYPent, and that reaction you saw in fancams, it’s usually temporary. Like I said, it’s not like they focus their hate towards that one girl. They just don’t like the idea in general (they are definitely jealous though lol).

As far as liking other JYPent acts are concerned, it really depends on a person. There are people who like 2PM only, and don’t even want to see any other JYPent band ever. There are people who are ok with other bands, and even send supportive mentions on Twitter. Like, most of my Korean timeline is pretty much ok with 15& (but that’s probably because they are so young lol xD).

But it’s not like they go to watch their performances or something like that. Most of their attention is focused mainly on 2PM.

Hi!

To be honest, I’m seriously considering whether I should go to Korea for 2PM’s concert or not x..x It would actually make sense if I lived in Japan or Thailand, but now it’s so far away, that me CONSIDERING it alone is very crazy. When you live that far away from Korea, going there requires you to save for a year at the least.

In general, I do think that from now on I would be going to Korea at least once a year, but I don’t think I would be residing there for a long time, unless I would be studying again, or I would be offered an interesting job. I could apply via general system, because I have a TOPIK certificate and all, but I would not want to work at a Korean office. Their office rules are not something I would comply with.

If I were to live in Korea, the longest I could stay there would be 5 years I think. Afterwards I would need to go back to Europe to recharge, because no matter how much you like it, it’s still so different, that sometimes you just wanna get an axe and chop them all xD

Another reason why I wouldn’t want to live in Korea for good, would be family. I don’t believe it is happening, but just in case I get to have kids one day, Korea is not the country I would like to raise my kids in.

If I were to live in some other country I would choose Germany. I’ve been there twice and I really LOVED it. I also have this fangirl’y feels about Scandinavian countries, but the things is, I neither speak German, nor any of the Scandinavian languages, so even though it is possible to communicate in English over there, I would always feel this huge pang of conscience for not speaking their language because of that ^^;;

In a perfect world, if I were well-off enough, I’d spend half a year in Europe and half a year in Korea :)

First of all, DO NOT ABSOLUTIZE EVERYTHING I SAY.

Not knowing and not caring are two different things. General public knows that such band as 2PM exists. It would be hard not to. The thing is that general public seldom FOLLOWS Kpop bands activities. So if they do not know what is happening with 2PM, chances are they do not care about other bands as well. It’s not 2PM’s problem, it’s how society works.

Winning #1 on music shows is still an important deal, and considering that they are coming back after 2 years, the Hottest want to give them that as a present (after all, it’s the FANS not the BAND that actually hogs #1 on music programs). And yes, some Hottest do worry about the fact that there are many other artists coming back in May, but at the same time, there are also people who are glad about it. They think that it would be worse if 2PM came back during a very calm season in Kpop, took all the awards and left, making people think that they won only because no other major group was present. I’ve even read opinions saying that it would not be THAT bad if 2PM didn’t win anything, “at least the boys and us would have a great fun together”.

And that is actually what it is. International fans actually miss out at least 70% of what is going on during your band’s comeback. Korean fans LIVE it. They see them, they follow them from station to station, you stay with other fans, you talk about the events, you wait for hours to get in, you basically communicate with the boys when they are on stage, inside jokes are made and so on.

Like someone said, even though some International fans thought that Wooyoung’s Sexy Lady didn’t fit him, you know, when you’re there, watching him perform, you don’t care about it. It’s really a PARTY.

Ah, this question would actually need an explanation on Korean demographics, if I were to answer it to the fullest -_-;; Naturally, being on dramas and variety shows does boost the popularity, but it’s not like just being guests, one would need to be a regular for the general public (people who simply tune in the TV from time to time) to notice you.

However, here I want to ask YOU ALL something. Why does it seem to me, that you are really very concerned with such things as 2PM’s popularity in Korea, their exposure to general public and so on? You do realize there is nothing internantional fans can do about it, right?

With the upcoming comeback there is just one thing we can help them with - buying their album. I know I sound like an angry aunt, but as a fan, the main thing you can help your artist do is get to the top. So buying an album, or donating to a joint album purchase fund (something Korean fans always do) is within our capacity.

Also, since now charts have the SNS ratings too, mentioning 2PM, 준케이, 닉쿤, 택연, 우영, 준호, 찬성 in your tweets also helps to boost up the keyword count. I guess I went slightly off topic with this one, but I just wanted to say that I don’t concern myself with things that are beyond my power. So I can’t provide an in-debt answer as to what 2PM should do to accumulate the awareness of the general public.