This week's headlines

By Kwon Ji-youn

The entertainment industry is rarely quiet, and last week, like any other, featured a number of controversies that ranged from drunken frenzies on flights to hygiene matters in the kitchen. Here’s a roundup of issues that made headlines last week.

Song apologizes for wife’s Facebook post

Actor Song Il-gook, father of adored triplets Dae-han, Min-guk and Man-seh, apologized for his wife’s Facebook post.

Song’s wife had responded to a dispute that had been raised six years ago which alleged that the Song in 2009 had had his road manager registered as a lawmaker’s aide, and was paid his monthly due with taxes.

To this, Song’s wife Jung Seung-yeon stressed that the manager had been her mother-in-law’s intern -- Jung’s mother-in-law is Rep. Kim Eul-dong of the ruling Saenuri Party. As an intern, Jung said, the manager was not restricted from taking on an additional job, and because Song had suddenly been left without a road manager, they had decided to hire him part-time. Song had provided all payments, she said.

But netizens pointed out that her word choice bordered on inappropriate, slamming her detractors for seeing and hearing only what they want to see and hear, and adding that the part-timer had been a “mere part-timer.”

To this, the 43-year-old actor issued an apology.

Through his agency, Song said that Jung had uploaded the post in a state of anger, and that the incident had been handled poorly. Jung, on Tuesday, also apologized on Twitter.

Jewelry calls end to 14-year career

K-pop band members have often brought their group careers to spiteful ends with lawsuits and revelation wars, so girl group Jewelry’s disbandment last week was, in comparison, harmonious.

Star Empire, which represented the group, announced on Jan. 7 that the members will part ways, ending a 14-year career.

“Jewelry has been officially disbanded, as of January 2015,” the agency said in a press release. “We thank all those who have given us their support. Members Ha Joo-yeon and Park Se-mi, whose contracts have expired, have left Star Empire and will begin afresh elsewhere. Kim Ye-won will continue to work with us.”

In November, Star Empire had confirmed that contracts were on the brink of expiring for several members, and that the group’s future had yet to be decided.

Jewelry, the longest-running girl group, debuted in 2001 with founding members Park Jeong-ah, Lee Ji-hyun, Jun Eun-mi and Jung Yoo-jin.

Two members were replaced prior to the release of their second album. Of the two new members, Seo In-young received a lot of attention, both positive and negative, for her powerful moves on the stage. Their fourth album, “Superstar” became a huge hit.

In 2009, founding members Park and Seo announced their departure to worries that the group was falling apart. From 2010 to 2011, two new members, Park Se-mi and Kim Ye-won, joined the group, but a dwindling demand for their music resulted in their break up.

But the aftertaste was a little bitter -- one former Jewelry member, Cho Min-ah, got caught up in controversy for overpricing goods at a bakery that she runs.

It began like this: customers who visited her bakery complained that the costs were extravagant at Cho’s bakery, with sweet bean jellies priced at 10,000 won per piece and squashed cakes priced at 40,000 won.

But that was just the tip of the iceberg.

In several photographs, Cho looked to be cooking without a baker’s cap. Her nails looked long and had been painted a bright red.

As criticism mounted, Cho explained on her blog that the jellies had been handmade with red beans that had been boiled and cooked over two days, and that the cost of these jellies never exceeded 100,000 won.

About her nails and hair, Cho said that the problematic photographs had not been taken in her bakery’s kitchen, but in a cooking class studio.