'Nudity race' on red carpet

By Park Si-soo

Mission: grab public attention.

Where: on a red carpet surrounded by TV cameras and photographers.

Actress Yeo Min-jung, 22, smiles sheepishly after the left shoulder strap of her gown fell twice to reveal her breast on the red carpet for the Pucheon International Fantastic Film Festivalon on July 18. She said that she only intended to show her black thong during her walk on the red carpet.

Actress Ha Na-kyung wears a revealing but glamorous black dress at the 3rd Blue Dragon Film Awards at this file photo. / Korea Times file

How: stroll elegantly wearing a skimpy dress and do whatever ― stumble or tamper with the dress in advance ― to get a private part of body exposed, and say with a bashful smile that it was a sheer accident.

Side effect: the feeling of post-event humiliation. But nothing grabs attention more easily.

Does it look like an idea for comedy program?

Entertainment industry insiders don’t completely deny the existence of such a fine-tuned scenario for red-carpet action. In addition, they don’t rule out the possibility that obscure or B-list entertainers ― mainly women ― with a strong zeal for success might actually put it into practice to make their names the talk of the town at any cost.

Obtaining a written scenario of such is all but impossible. But insiders suspect that there will always be “candidates” who are willing to put one’s physique and self-esteem on the line in their pursuit of fame.

Let dress fall

Actress Yeo Min-jung is the latest case in point. The 22-year-old made her debut in 2011 by playing a minor role in a cable TV drama. But she was hardly known to the public until she carried out her “mission” on July 18.

That night Yeo was invited to the Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival. Wearing a super skimpy sky blue-colored dress with a low-cut neckline that barely covered her breasts, she started walking on a red carpet leading toward the main venue of the event, with dozens of TV cameras and newspaper photographers shooting alongside it.

When she got halfway along the carpet, she “found” the left side of her dress falling to expose her left breast. She quickly pulled it up, but it fell again, exposing her body part again for the second time.

Photos and video clips of the “accidents” were instantly posted on major portal websites, making her name most-searched only in a couple of minutes. Her name ranked the top for nearly 24 hours.

Some claimed it was an accident caused by wardrobe malfunction, while others argued that the exposures were on purpose.

Video clips of the scene show that she actually touched a clear shoulder strap on her left shoulder both times before her dress fell. Some viewers claim it looked like she pulled down the strap herself.

Popular entertainers fueled the controversy by throwing their weight behind the latter. Comedian Nam Hee-suk indirectly criticized Yeo on his Twitter message, saying, “The red carpet has become a showcase for naked bodies. To prevent this, we need a blue or concrete carpet.”

Another comedian Kim Gura, known for his sarcasm, echoed the view, saying on a cable TV show, “Yeo proved that heaven helps those who help themselves.” Recollecting his past TV appearance with her, Kim said, “She has strong desire for success. Perhaps she has prayed numerous times to find her name the most searched on the Internet. Now look. She made it. I would say it’s neither wardrobe malfunction nor premeditated scheme. It’s a supernatural phenomenon.”

Amid growing suspicion, Yeo said in a statement that she touched the strap to “reveal my thong, but the chest exposure wasn’t on purpose.”

“From that morning the dress had been problematic, she said. “When I was walking the red carpet, I heard a snap so I grabbed the string, but when I did that it became even more undone. People are saying I did it on purpose, but I didn’t.”

She added, “I rented the dress but it didn't really fit, so I had to get it fixed. Since the dress is cut on the side and in the back, it kept slipping down. My mom sewed up the left side, but it became undone.”

No matter what the reason may have been, it’s clear that Yeo has promoted her name nationwide with the scandal and become a newsworthy figure.

The latest news regarding her is that a film, in which she appears naked for sex scenes, will have a nationwide release on Aug. 8, prompting further speculation that the exposures were part of promotional events for the film.

Stumbling

Other B-list actresses who allegedly promoted themselves in the way Yeo employed include Ha Na-kyung, Oh In-hye, Min Hyo-rin and Jo Gyeong-jin whose stage name is Jo An.

Ha, who attended the 33rd Blue Dragon Film Awards in Seoul in November wearing a flattering hourglass style black gown with a low-cut neckline, stumbled on the red carpet after tripping on her dress and ended up exposing her right breast.

The next day she apologized for the “accident” on Twitter. But many critics suspected that she deliberately fell to get attention.

One month ahead of the scandal, her debut film titled “House with a Nice View” was released in which she appeared fully naked in several sex scenes.

“Such an ‘accident’ on red carpet will keep taking place since it obviously carries promotional effect,” said Ha Jae-geun, a culture critic. “How to prevent it? I think it’s impossible.”