Strong Heart: Kara Controversy and Jang Woo Hyuk

This is a mini-cap (mini recap) that contains the highlights from this week’s Strong Heart (Episode 77). Jang Woo Hyuk and Kara were the two highlights of the show. It was Kara’s first appearance on TV as a group and they briefly talked about the whole controversy that had occurred.

Jang Woo Hyuk did several things for his appearance

He showed off his “finger popping.”

He talked about his appearance on “I want to know about that” for his UFO sighting.

He showed off his new type of dancing called “Urbanimation” which is a mixture of urban hip hop and animation popping.

Kyuri described how she was a big fan of Jang Woo Hyuk. Then she talked about her voice dubbing for an animation film involving wolves (She appears with Shin Dong).

Kyuri showed off the different sounds she made when the wolves were moving.

But, because their characters were wolves and there were a lot of running scenes, she had to breathe heavily with Shin Dong and this embarrassed the both of them. (The show had captions saying the sound was “odd” but *cough* it was odd in that PG-13 kind of way)

Seung-yeon briefly talked about her thoughts of Japan. Even though she couldn’t speak the language well, the Japanese fans and media appreciated and loved even the little things that she could say.

She then went on to show her imitations of mosquitos and ravens that was popular in Japan.

In an elevator in Japan Kara ran into MatsuJun who appeared in the Japanese “Flower Over Boys.” Kang Ji Young was a big fan and MatsuJun already knew this fact.

Ji Young expressed her disappointment at not having been there because in Japan if you are a minor you’re not allowed to work after 9pm.

Finally Goo Hara talked about Kara and their recent controversy which almost lead to their breaking up.

Goo Hara explained that because of their work schedule they had to move back between Korea and Japan. All of the members were already in a sensitive state and because they were so busy they didn’t have a chance to talk. They also had to become more accustomed to Japan and as this situation continued there were misunderstanding between the members. But, now she explained they are fine.

Kang Hodong asked if there was a moment where they realized they were one group with one heart. On the set of a drama filming the five members sang a ballad song together and they had cried. Then Goo Hara thought, “When was the last time we had been on stage together.” This was after the breakup controversy and Goo Hara had many sad thoughts as in, “when will we get to sing together?” “I really want to stay as a group,” etc. Goo Hara thought that all the other members would probably feel the same.

Goo Hara argued that even after all of the press release regarding Kara and their agency problems, all of the members continued to talk to each other. The news really had exaggerated most of the facts and made the members uncomfortable.

Seung-yeon stated that because five girls were living together and performing together as a group, conflict would always arise. However, through the controversy they got to know each other better, and have become closer.

Baek Ji Young was asked to give advice to Kara. She said that singers are always being watched and because you become wary of that you sometimes lose the chance to take care of yourself. She wished that Kara could use this opportunity to look back into their selves and also love their selves more.

It was fitting because Baek Ji Young herself had a hard time because of a controversy surrouding her and an alleged sex tape in 2000. Korean celebrities in Korea are judged even more harshly as subjects that need to be “role models.” This is an issue that I often have trouble with, of course, celebrities worldwide are the subjects of attention. However, I don’t believe that celebrities and their personal lives need to be issues brought up as an ethical issue. Also, even if Kara was having contractual problems with entertainment agencies there was no need for them to be walking around feeling like people that commit a crime. (Which was shown on this episode)

Anyways, after Baek Ji Young gave her advice Gyuri gave Kara fans a formal apology and thank you. 

Afterwards Kara performed a medley of their hit songs, “Honey,” “Mister,” “Jumping.”