For This Birthday Spotlight, WowKeren Specifically Reviews Super Junior’s Leeteuk Who Celebrates His 39th Birthday (40 Years According To Korean Count) On July 1.
Idol birthdays are special moments not only for the idols themselves but also for their fans. There are various ways that fans do to celebrate the idol’s birthday, starting by donating, placing advertisements in popular and strategic locations to simply creating special hashtags and making them trending topics on Twitter.
For this Birthday Spotlight, WowKeren specifically reviews Super Junior ‘s Leeteuk who celebrates his 39th birthday (40 years by Korean reckoning) on July 1. This birthday is also a special moment for him and his fans.
Park Jungsoo known professionally as Leeteuk, is a South Korean singer, songwriter, presenter, radio personality, and actor. He debuted as the leader of Super Junior in November 2005 and has since participated in the subgroups Super Junior-T and Super Junior-H . He started his career as a television presenter on the music show ” M! Countdown “. He is best known for his roles in ” Strong Heart “, ” Star King “, ” The Best Cooking Secrets “, ” I Can See Your Voice “, and ” Idol Star Athletics Championships “.
1. Pre-Debut
When Leeteuk traveled to Apgujeong-dong for sightseeing in early 2000, a talent scout approached him and recommended him to audition for SM Entertainment’s Starlight Casting System. After several test recordings and performances, he signed with SM Entertainment and became a trainee.
The same year, he appeared as an extra in the drama ” All About Eve ” which aired on MBC, and briefly modeled for Pepsi in 2002. In 2003, he was included in the five-member boyband Smile with his future bandmates. , Lee Dong . The project was cancelled, and they were put into Super Junior’s rotation group along with ten other trainees. Being older than other trainees, Leeteuk became the leader of the group.
Leeteuk has explained that he used the stage name because of his desire to have a name with the same effect as Kangta, and to prevent confusion between veteran actress Park Jung Soo and himself. His stage name is Leeteuk, meaning “special”. He previously turned down two stage names assigned to him by his agency. The agency’s leader at the time, Lee Soo Man , called him a “special kid” and said that the name Leeteuk suited him better.
2. Debut
Leeteuk officially debuted as part of the twelve-member group Super Junior 05 on November 6, 2005. They had their debut stage on the music program ” Inkigayo ” and promoted the debut song “Twins (Knock Out)”.
In 2006, SM Entertainment recruited a new member for Super Junior, namely Kyuhyun , who was introduced through the single “U”. This also changes the format of Super Junior, which was previously a rotational group, into a permanent group with a total of thirteen people.
3. Peak Career
After releasing their second album “Don’t Don” in 2007, Super Junior released their third album, “Sorry, Sorry” in 2009 which became the moment where their popularity peaked since their debut. The song “Sorry, Sorry” made their name known throughout the world, especially China and Southeast Asia.
Super Junior also consistently holds concert tours titled “Super Show” which stops in various parts of the world. The group is also cited as paving the way for K-pop in the Latin American market. Until now, Super Junior is still producing works, with the latest one being their comeback album entitled “The Road: Keep On Going”.
4. Solo Activities
Apart from Super Junior’s activities, he has hosted several television shows. In 2005, he hosted the weekly music show, ” M! Countdown “, which eventually made him his first solo host on the reality show ” Leeteuk’s Love Fighter ” which aired on the cable television channel Mnet in 2008. Leeteuk became a radio DJ for KBS “Super Junior Kiss The Radio (Sukira)” from August 2006.
Between 2008 and 2009, Leeteuk hosted several television programs including ” Road Show Quiz Expedition “, ” Challenge! Good Song “, and ” Challenge! Golden Ladder “. From 2009 onwards, Leeteuk was a regular guest on SBS’s ” Strong Heart “.
In 2010, Leeteuk appeared as one of the many hosts of ” Waving the Taegukgi [ko ]” and since 2009, he has been a frequent guest on ” Star King “. From September to November 2011, Leeteuk played the role of a father in ” Hello Baby ” season 4. Leeteuk was also a part of the MBC reality show ” We Got Married ” with actress Kang Sora .
After returning from military service, Leeteuk was often invited to MC awards events. He also hosted Mnet ‘s ” I Can See Your Voice ” and from February 2015, he became the idol’s annual sports event, ” Idol Star Athletics Championships “.
Leeteuk appeared as the host of several other programs in 2015 such as ” Match Made in Heaven Returns “. In 2016, he hosted the entertainment programs ” Hidden Camera Shot Battle ” and ” Reform Show “. He returned as radio DJ Sukira in April 2016, replacing Ryeowook who had enlisted in the military. He celebrated the radio show’s 10th anniversary in August before leaving the program in October 2016.
Leeteuk joined Super Junior as part of the main cast of ” Super TV “, which aired on the new television channel XtvN from January 28 to April 13 2018. He played a supporting role in the web drama commercial ” Secret Queen Makers ” in June 2018. In August 2018, he joined the cast and hosted the second season of ” Real Life Men and Women “.
In January 2019, he appeared as a special host on the twelfth episode of the reality show ” Under Nineteen “. He also appeared on the Japanese travel show ” Leeteuk’s Solo Travel “, hosting the Thailand-based talk show ” Beauty No. 9 “. He starred in the YouTube Original series ” Analog Trip ” with Eunhyuk , Donghae and Shindong , as well as TVXQ ‘s U-Know Yunho and Max Changmin in September 2019.
5. Controversy
In 2007, Leeteuk had revealed that he followed figure skater Kim Yuna on his Cyworld social media account but was not followed back by the athlete. This caused Super Junior fans to vent their anger on Kim Yuna’s website and made Leeteuk criticized by netizens. In 2012 on the show ” Strong Heart “, Leeteuk apologized to Kim Yuna for the incident, saying, “I was shocked and apologized on the radio, but the fans are still angry. That’s why I met with Kim Yuna and apologized personally. Fortunately. , he accepted my apology and replied that he was sorry. That’s how it was resolved.”
On another occasion, Leeteuk put a cake on BoA ‘s face which irritated the singer and quipped on Twitter. When BoA began to be criticized by fans, Leeteuk wrote, “Kekekeke aigoo, how cute… You reap what you sow…” apparently aimed at BoA and made BoA unfollow her. Then Leeteuk tweeted again, “Sob, I got caught…” and “But now that this is happening, I can’t do anything…”
6. Future Projects
Leeteuk will still be busy with activities with Super Junior with the promotion of their 11th album, “The Road: Keep On Going” and the concert tour “Super Show 9: ROAD” which will be held in various countries. Apart from that, Leeteuk is also certain to stay busy with a series of solo activities.
