Culture News

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Former Baby Vox member and actress Shim Eun-jin has suied her online haters who spread sexual rumors about her. And the popularity of K-POP has increased the interest of foreigners in learning Korean. This and more, on today's culture news

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Shim Eun-jin shared on her social media a photo of a commenter's malicious postings. The comments were sexually explicit rumors concerning the actress and actor Kim Riu. According to Shim, this online hater habitually posted malicious rumors on the internet over about two years. She claimed that she has some 180 photos of the comments and filed a lawsuit based on the captured evidence. Meanwhile, the comments included a man named "Kim Ki-duk," which caused some media outlets to make the mistake of reporting him as the famous filmmaker of the same name. The actress explained in several postings that the name Kim Ki-duk appearing in the comments with her is the real name of her fellow actor Kim Riu. The popularity of K-pop such as showcased by K-pop bands BTS and Black Pink is leading to increased interest in learning Korean by foreign fans. According to Statistics Korea, a record 58-thousand foreigners came to study in South Korea last year whether for a degree or language course. More than half of this total, some 30-thousand, came to study the Korean language. Statistics Korea attributes the sharp rise in their numbers to the Hallyu or Korean Wave phenomenon. BBC also reported this week that Korean is rapidly growing in popularity, in a language-learning boom driven by the popularity of K-pop stars. It said that Korean uptake in US universities is rising while overall language enrollment was in decline. For this reason, BBC said the desire to learn the lyrics of K-Pop hits has driven a global boom in Korean language lessons.