BTS & the “Parasite” Connection!

It’s not much of a stretch to say that two of the hottest Korean entertainment exports right now are BTS and Director Bong Joon-Ho‘s Oscar-nominated film, “Parasite.”

ARMY is excitedly awaiting “Map of the Soul: 7” — BTS’ new album slated for a February 21 release. But just as most of Korea tuned in when Kim Yuna won her gold medal in figure skating at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, it’s inevitable that Koreans will be tuned in to see how many awards the critically-acclaimed “Parasite” wins at the Academy Awards on February 9. The psychological thriller is nominated in the following six categories: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Foreign Language Film, Best Original Screenplay, Best Production Design and Best Film Editing.

Bong and eight of his cast members are attending. The director, Lee Jung-Eung and Cho Yeo-Jeong are already in Los Angeles.  They’ll be joined by Song Kang-Ho, Park So-Dam, Lee Sun-Kyun, Jang Hye-Jin and Park Myung-Hoon. And contrary to earlier reports that  Choi Woo-Shik would be a no-show (due to the production schedule of “Past Lives,” the movie he’s currently shooting), it has been confirmed the actor will be flying in on the day of the Oscars. (Thank you international time zones for making this possible!)

South Korea is a relatively small country and the arts community is fairly close knit. When one Korean does well on the international scale, everyone rejoices.

After “Parasite” won the best motion picture cast at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards — a first for any foreign language film — V (who also was in Los Angeles with BTS) tweeted out a couple of videos of himself and his friend, Choi Woo-Shik, the next morning. No big deal. Just a member of the world’s biggest boy band eating lunch on a park bench with an actor from the most-talked about film of 2019…

V and Choi aren’t the only ones who have a friendship. Park Seo-Joon, who makes a pivotal cameo in “Parasite,” starred in “Hwarang: The Poet Warrior Youth” with V. The trio have been friends for quite a while.

They celebrate birthdays together, with other members of their posse, including actor Park Hyung-Sik and musician Peakboy.

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BTS’ admiration of Bong is no secret. In their song “Spring Day,” they reference the filmmaker’s 2013 movie “Snowpiercer.” They’ve all praised “Parasite,” with fans sighting V and Jungkook catching the film at a Busan theater prior to their fanmeet there.

And look at how delighted BTS looks when Park So-Dam re-enacts s the famous “Jessica Jingle” at the Golden Disc Awards.

Bong seems to admire BTS as much as they idolize him. While on the red carpet at the Golden Globe Awards, Bong said, “Although I’m here at the Golden Globes, BTS has 3,000 times the amount of power and influence that I have. I think Korea produces a lot of great artists cause we’re very emotionally dynamic people.” And when he was a guest on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” Bong graciously complimented the host and added, “I particularly enjoyed the episode when BTS was here.”

If you want to catch some of the “Parasite” actors’ work in K-Dramas, you can check them out by subscribing to KOCOWA:

Park Seo-Joon: “Fight for My Way,” “Hwarang: The Poet Warrior Youth,” “She Was Pretty,” “Kill Me, Heal Me”

Choi Woo-Shik: “Fight for My Way,” “Rooftop Prince”

Park So-Dam: “A Beautiful Mind”

Lee Sun-Kyun: “Coffee Prince,” “Behind the White Tower Remastered,” “Miss Korea,” “Golden Time,” “Pasta,” “Triple”

Cho Yeo-Jeong: “Woman of 9.9 Billion,” “Babysitter,” “Love in the Moonlight,” “Ms. Perfect”

Jung Ji-So: “May Queen,” “Hyde, Jekyll, Me”

Jung Hyun-Joon: “The Nokdu Flower,” “Queen for Seven Days,” “You are Too Much”

You can watch these and many of your other favorite K-Dramas by subscribing to KOCOWA.