Comparing Hallyu stars seems one of the hazards of being a celebrity in South Korea. Now that there are reports of some fans in favor of “Descendants of the Sun” actress Song Hye Kyo being paired with Lee Min Ho, the star of “Bounty Hunter,” to replace Song Joong-ki as love team partner because he appears to see Song Hye Kyo as an elder sister and not a potential wife, expect more comparisons between the two.
Actually, in April, the two were compared financially after the China Internet Information Center wrote that the 30-year-old actor earned a total of 2.8 billion won, or $2.46 million, over a six-month period. The center attributed the rise in Song Joong-ki’s endorsement deal values to his talent fee skyrocketing following the phenomenal success of “Descendants of the Sun” in South Korea and China.
It added that the half-year earnings of Song Joong-ki is higher than what Lee Min Ho and Kim Soo Hyun earned, combined, reported AllKpop. Blossom Entertainment, Song Joong-ki’s agency, said reports on Song Joong-ki’s pay are guesswork but declined to provide the actor’s actual income. However, Blossom confirmed that Song Joong-ki is getting a lot of offers from global brands, domestic and international, to endorse their products.
But beyond his current popularity, insofar as reaching the Chinese audience is concerned, Song Joong-ki appears to have an edge over Lee Min Ho. That’s because the “Descendants of the Sun” actor was influenced by his older brother, who is studying in China, which led Song Joong-ki to also learn the language which he demonstrated in fan meets in China.
On the other hand, Lee Min Ho admitted he has difficulty expressing ideas and opinions in Chinese language. “I wanted to communicate with my fans, so I tried memorizing several lines but it was so hard. So, now I just use Korean,” quoted Atimes. In contrast, another Korean star who held her first fan meet in China, Im Yoona of Girl’s Generation, impressed the audience with her Chinese language skills that she did not need a translator to communicate and sang as well Chinese songs.
Now with Lee Min Ho expressing interest with being paired with Song Hye Kyo, it is inevitable that he would be compared by fans with Song Joong-ki.