Korean Wave

‘Squid Game’ star Jung Ho Yeon shares impression of the Philippines, places to visit

Deni Rose M. Afinidad-Bernardo - Philstar.com

November 14, 2022 | 11:34am

MANILA, Philippines — “Squid Game” star Jung Ho Yeon, who recently joined Alfonso Cuarón's upcoming Apple TV+ series “Disclaimer” together with Hollywood icon Cate Blanchett, shared at her Manila press conference last Friday why it is important for her to visit the Philippines.

At the event, Ho Yeon narrated via translation from TV and events host Sam Oh that it was her first time to travel to the Philippines for work, as she had her first ever solo fan meet in the Philippines last Friday, but she had been in the country for personal leisure.

She said she had been wanting to return to the Philippines, so she is grateful to IAM Worldwide, a local brand of food supplements where she is the first and only Korean endorser, for making her wish possible.

Ho Yeon said it is important for her to return to the Philippines because she owes her Filipino fans a lot.

“Since ‘Squid Game’ and the success of the show, things kind of took off for my career,” she professed.

“My following also skyrocketed and I became like the most followed Korean actress and I noticed that of all my followers, my Filipino fans are ranked at no. 2… And so, I always thought that I wanted to go to the Philippines and meet my Filipino fans because of all of the support.”

If given the chance, she would want to explore the country’s islands.

“I heard that there are a lot of islands in the Philippines, a lot of them where there are no people. So I’d like to go on one of those and just do nothing – lie on the sand, look at the sky, get into the boat, get into water, and still look at the sky and just do nothing. Because I really, really need a break right now and that’s what I want to do.”

Sam recommended Amanpulo, a private hideaway in Palawan popular among Hollywood stars like Britney Spears, Robert De Niro, Madonna, and Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie (when they were still together).

“Amanpulo – please write it down!” Ho Yeon quickly instructed her staff.

When asked what she was looking forward to at the fan meet, she said: “This might be an odd answer, but I really want to see a lot of things. The Korean expression is I wanna ‘contain a lot of things in my eyes’ so I want to see many different things, whether that’s a place that I’m going to, a restaurant that I’m going to.”

If there’s no more pandemic, she would have loved to embrace her fans as well.

“I’m taking a lot of pictures, because I want them to stay on my mind. So it could be even little plates, little facial expressions that I’m seeing here. So that’s what I would like to do – just save memories and I also want to really give hugs – but of course, the concern now is the virus – but I really do want to give a lot of hugs on this trip.”

Ho Yeon vowed to return to the country and closed the press conference with “Salamat po!” and “Mahal ko kayo,” accompanied with Korean finger hearts, of course!