We can’t get enough of the Hallyu wave, from the top K-dramas to the best Korean fried chicken in town – and this extends to the who’s-dating-who in the Korean entertainment scene. From newly minted lovebirds to those who have been married for years, these famous K-couples sure got us starry-eyed with their heartwarming love stories.
While a certain Song-Song couple had left many fans shocked and devastated when their marriage ended, there’s now a Lee-Lee couple to obsess over in the Korean entertainment industry.
Recently, actors Li Seung-gi and Lee Da-in made headlines when their relationship was officially announced, and had in fact started their romance at the end of 2020.
Lee Seung-gi, 34, made his debut in 2004 as a singer, and has acted in several TV dramas including A Korean Odyssey (2017 to 2018), Vagabond (2019), and most recently, crime thriller Mouse.
Lee Da-in, 28, is the daughter of veteran actress and singer Kyeon Mi-Ri. She first appeared in TV series Twenty Years Old (2014) and more recently, the science-fiction television series Alice (2020). The pair were reportedly brought together by their love for acting and love for playing golf.
Fans of hit drama Crash Landing On You collectively swooned when the K-drama’s leading stars aka the BinJin couple made it official that they were dating IRL.
The drama portrays the couple, both 39, as star-crossed lovers, with Hyun Bin as a North Korean captain and Son Ye-jin as a rich South Korean heiress and entrepreneur who are separated by the countries’ boundaries.
At the start of the year, it was reported that the actors’ respective agencies had confirmed that the pair “met through their projects, and after the end of their drama, their positive feelings towards one another developed into a romantic relationship”.
Son Ye-jin also shared on her personal Instagram, that “I’m thankful to have met a good person and I’ll work hard (on the relationship).”
They might be super low-key about their relationship and marriage (you won’t find photos of their other halves on both their social media accounts), but that hasn’t stopped them from being one of the most popular Korean celeb couples and a power couple – they topped the list of richest Korean celeb real estate moguls last year with a combined 81.4bil won ($98mil) worth of real estate, and just this month, Kim made another 7.1bil won through the sale of her Gangnam building.
The two tied the knot in 2017, and even with their wealth, only spent S$1.6K on a simple cathedral wedding. They now have two kids. Rain, 39, reportedly also admitted that it took a year of wooing for Kim Tae Hee, 41, to accept him, and even wrote a proposal song titled ‘The Best Present’ for his now-wife. Too sweet!
It’s been six years since Shin Min-ah and Kim Woo-bin started dating in 2015, and their relationship looks to be going strong.
A source told Korean entertainment site Dispatch that the two “started to show interest from February (@015), when they were shooting ads together, and officially started to meet after May.”
They’ve also weathered storms together, what with Kim Woo-bin being diagnosed with nasopharyngeal cancer in 2017. Shin Min-ah was spotted alongside the actor on his numerous drug and radiation therapy treatments, which later ended in 2019.
The latest news for the loved-up pair? They’re in talks to star in a new drama together, which will also be their first drama collaboration.
It’s uncommon for K-pop idols to post about their love lives, but soloist and former member of girl band 4minute Hyuna hasn’t shied away from sharing photos of her and her beau, Dawn (Kim Hyo-jong). The latter is rapper and songwriter as well as a former member of K-pop group Pentagon.
On a variety show, Hyuna revealed that she already had a crush on Dawn, a former member of K-pop group Pentagon, while she was a trainee under Cube Entertainment. It wasn’t until a year and half later (and after one failed attempt) did she confess, and they ultimately got together.
However, in an industry where relationships are taboo, it resulted in both artistes leaving Cube Entertainment when they made their relationship public in 2018. Not that it stopped them from displaying their affection through social media. They also joined Psy’s record company P Nation in 2019.
A 13-year age gap didn’t stop veteran boy band Super Junior’s Kim Hee-chul and girl band Twice’s Momo from developing a romance. Momo’s whose full name is Momo Hirai, is a Japanese member of the nine-member girl group.
The two started with a close senior-junior friendship in the entertainment industry, before reportedly getting close after appearing together in a TV show in 2017. They later announced their relationship in January 2020. It’s also the first time that Hee-chul had ever confirmed a relationship.
It’s always aww-inducing to hear of someone marrying their first love and BigBang’s Taeyang (Dong Young-bae), 33, did just that when he tied the knot with actress Min Hyo-rin, 35.
The pair met in 2013 when the boy band member was on the search for a female costar to star in his music video for his hit single, 1AM. After allegedly dating on the sly for a year and a half, they made it public in 2015 and got wed in February 2018 with a star-studded church wedding and reception.
Not only has he openly declared her his muse for his songs, in his documentary White Night, he also made a sweet declaration: “Even now, she’s the only person who continues to change me as a person. And those changes always make me into a better, more solid person. That’s why I decided to walk along with her for the rest of my life.”
After meeting on the set of Korean variety and game show Running Man in 2016, actress Lee Sun-bin and Lee Kwang-soo, 35, subsequently became friends and later took things to the next level, confirming their relationship in 2018.
They weren’t shy about expressing their interest in each other as well. On the show, Sun Bin had shared that Kwang Soo was her ideal man and actively expressed affection for him. Kwang Soo reciprocated the gesture, and even joked they would get married in a week.
In other news, after 11 years of appearing on Running Man, Kwang-soo is leaving the show due to an injury he suffered last year.