[INTERVIEW] Bae Yong-joon (Part 1)

Since some time ago, we started to think of Bae Yong-joon as a set face. During the two years after MBC TV series “The Story of the First King's Four Gods” aired, what reminded us of his presence were a few commercials and the frequent tourists who visited from across the ocean.

Therefore, the opportunity to have a conversation face-to-face with Bae Yong-joon, the guy with the exact same smile on panels in the streets of Myungdong, was all the more interesting and rare.

This is a record of the interview held after the event celebrating the publication of his photo essay "Discovering the Beauty of Korea" at Tokyo Dome on September 30. What was originally a short tea-time talk turned into an interview that lasted much longer than an hour.

The whole time, Bae created moments of "actual communication” -- those which cannot be written down but only expressed through either a smile, question, joke or a serious look. We hope this record becomes the first key to opening the door to the “human Bae Yong-joon” that we all thought we knew but, in fact, did not.

10: There are people who expect you to expand your career into the global market and everything in our generation is flowing toward digital. But when we look at you, we get a feeling that you are rather going against such currents. Why are you more interested in Korean things rather than global ones, and in working on a book which is, in nature, closer to analog than digital?
Bae: I always felt bad when my family [meaning his fans] would visit Korea to see me and all they would see is the set. And after I finished shooting “The Story of the First King's Four Gods”, I was lying in the hospital when I started to wonder about several things including 'What is it that surrounds me that got me where I am today?' The present is a sum of the past and I reflected back upon that past because I wanted to learn how I had spent that time and what got me where I am now. Also, I don't think there is anyone who is not interested in their own culture, but I thought, if we expand just a little bit more on that interest, we can enjoy our culture and even improve on it too. Ultimately, I think looking back on the past is the answer to creating something new.

10: What I realized here in Japan is that your presence is so much greater than it is in Korea.
Bae: Honestly in Korea, (pointing to journalists) people here don’t give me the credit. (laugh) I think the public can only react to how the press makes them react. The reason I started to ask that the word “Hallyu” not be used is that I think it’s better to go in the direction where it seems we are exchanging our cultures rather than using a one-sided word like that. The articles written in Korea are all read and written in Japan also. So if we think a little more about what’s best for our country, and for ourselves, I think we'll be much happier.

10: But there seems to be some difference in your popularity in Korea and Japan.
Bae: You mean to say that I'm not popular in Korea, right? (laugh) But I have enough family [fans] in Korea too. In fact, I teared up because I felt so sorry and heartbroken for people who came to the Tokyo Dome event from Korea.

10: You wrote postcards for your fans at the Tokyo Dome event celebrating the publication of “Discovering”. Are such events your own ideas?
Bae: Yes, I can’t dance or sing for them even though my heart wants to because I don’t have the ability to deliver [my feelings] in such ways. And I can’t show them my acting. So the postcard was one of the tools I used to deliver my feelings and express my thoughts. I actually wanted to talk to them in Japanese, but when I got sick with a fever running as high as 40 degrees, I forgot everything I had studied.

10: Besides the fact that you published a book, it was impressive how you set traditional Korean performances on stage at the event, like the haegeum, samulnori and traditional dances. But you probably need to have some sense of duty or responsibility in order to promote traditional Korean culture and encourage cultural exchange in such ways.
Bae: Without a doubt, I think someone may be leading me on to do this in some parts. And the funny thing is, it’s my families that make me think those thoughts and have those feelings. When I hear people say, “You are really incredible because you did such and such”, I feel like I both want to and have to do more. When I first came to Japan a few years ago, a Korean-Japanese person started crying and thanked me, and at that moment I thought, “There must be something I can do, however meager it may be. There’s going to be stuff that I need to do and do more of.” I know I actually don’t have to feel that way, but I do and I can’t help it. Nobody is making me -- I think it's just in my nature.

10: Even so, you couldn't have written what you wrote in “Discovering” if you didn't have a close interest and affection for traditional culture. What was most difficult for you while writing it?
Bae: If you count the time I studied, it took about a year and a half to complete the book. I started with buying all the books in every field that were out in stores and studied them. I had to research everything and wonder whether it was all accurate information and whether the information was told differently elsewhere. So for those parts, I met with the masters from each field and wrote what I learned from them, based on the trust that what they said is accurate. I always carried a recorder with me to record their ideas and thoughts, and I would listen to them again when I got home. But since I am not a writer, it was very hard to express my feelings and thoughts. I didn't get much sleep for about three months, and the publisher ended up having to proofread and revise it in three days because I was holding onto it until the very last minute. So there are some typos in the book.

10: Despite all that trouble you went through, did you feel a different sort of joy from writing compared to when you act or take pictures?
Bae: When I’m acting, there definitely are times that I really feel something is there, although it’s not very often. I think it’s the same with writing. There are times when I look at what I wrote and go, “Wow, how did I think up something like that?” (laugh)

10: Which part, for example?
Bae: The passage I recited at the Tokyo Dome event about the random thoughts that came to mind at Miruksa Temple. And the part where I wrote that the emotion of “human affection” is deeply penetrated into our food, clothing and shelter. I actually said to myself, “Wow, did I really think that!” (laugh) But I don’t think I'll be able to write another book in the future. It's so hard. That's why I said I'd focus on photographs if I publish another book but it's also because with this book, I’m quite disappointed with the photos. I took the photos first and wrote later while working on the book. But when I started writing, I realized I needed certain photos. So I wrote down which photos I needed, but I stayed up night after night writing and couldn't go back to take those pictures.

10: You included a lot of photographs that you took yourself in the book but it's necessary to do a certain amount of studying to reach the level of becoming a photographer with professionalism.
Bae: The technical aspect of photography isn't actually that difficult. What I feel is important, is the sensibility. I use the camera to take pictures, but it’s my really heart and not my fingers that press down on the shutter. When my heart allows that moment to be captured, that brief moment is when I click on the shutter so I think sensibility is more important than technique. And I don’t do much digital work. I use film because when I use a digital camera (pointing to a photographer in front of him), I press away on the shutter like that. Thinking that one of them would turn out alright. (laugh)

10: You usually don’t really expose yourself but in the book, there are many pictures of you joking and goofing around with people.
Bae: I could never write this book without exposing myself. I’m not a professional writer, so I couldn't make that stuff up. So who I am on the inside came out just as it is. After I had stayed up all night, I would send a text message to my staff and colleagues saying, “I’m going to sleep now. Feel like throwing up.” Or sometimes I would just text, “Barf!” (laugh)

Editor in Chief : Beck Una one@10asia.co.kr
Reporter : Choi Ji-Eun five@10asia.co.kr
Photographer : Lee Jin-hyuk eleven@10asia.co.kr
Editor : Lynn Kim lynn2878@asiae.co.kr, Lee Ji-Hye seven@10asia.co.kr