Ha Ji Won 1st Asia Tour In Singapore: A Very Compassionate Angel

The 3-hour session started with the beautiful Ha Ji Won dressed in fushia on stage singing That Woman, the OST from her famous kdrama Secret Garden, which she starred with Hyun Bin. The actress then greeted her fans in English, putting her classes to good use, since she's learning the language for her debut in Hollywood! Having just completed her movie Heosamgwan (Chronicle of a Blood Merchant) which is slated for release on 15 Jan 2015, the high-spirited actress was grateful to be in Singapore.

Having casted as the main lead in more than 10 shows (dramas and movies), Ha Ji Won is aware that many fans in this region enjoyed and remembered her as Gil Ra Im in Secret Garden.  As a stuntwoman in that drama, it was fortunate that that she likes exercising and loves action scenes, otherwise it would have been tough to endure the injuries that came with the role.

As part of the fanmeet, the feisty actress re-visited some of the locations where her dramas were filmed. She was surprised to see the sticky tape still fastened on the door of Gil Ra Im's house and took a memorable walk along the rough pebbled-path up to the garden where the lead character would sit and ponder over her problems in the 20-episode show.

At the action school, she had a reunion with a fake Kim Joo Won (Hyun Bin's character) preparing to re-film the sit-up scene, which Ha Ji Won earlier claimed to feel very shy during the actual shoot when Hyun Bin's face was within inches from hers.

While the actress did not re-do the sit-up, she filmed a scene where she was hauled up high by wires for the short videoclip specially prepared for the fanmeet. It was then revealed that she actually has acrophobia, hence to overcome her fear of heights, she puts in more practise in order to perfect the actions and present cool scenes to her viewers.

When asked who her best partner was, she coyly replied "for me, I think I've worked well with everyone; however in Secret Garden, I need to switch role with Hyun Bin, hence we had to work closely in order to keep up my pace with him; I've also acted with Lee Seung Gi (in King2Hearts) where the atmosphere was really positive even though there were times that I had difficulties during filming, I enjoyed that show very much".

Her close friend Lee Seung Gi recorded a message stating that Ha Ji Won is kinder than any other actresses that he's worked with, and requested the fans to give her more support and lots of strength! They apparently became close as both are food fanatics "during filming, we go out for meals together, whenever I asked him if there are any famous food near the filming site, he'll always lead me to good restaurants".

The fans screamed when Hyun Bin's message was broadcasted, he praised "till now, she is still very pure and innocent, a very kind person who's in a league of her own; one who can show lots of different colours compared to others, a very outstanding actress indeed".

The star was thankful that both her friends, despite busy filming schedule, still contributed time to prepare the short messages for her fanmeet, claiming "I'll be happy to buy them dinner once I'm  back in Korea".

Although she was sharp enough to query the MC who asked when was the last time she met Hyun Bin, she gamely responded that they met last year. She considers him a very nice friend whom she usually contacts via text messages. While he's busy filming his drama, Hyde, Jekyll, and I, Ha Ji Won disclosed that he'll visit her at her filming site in Korea, 2 days after this fanmeet, generating cheers from the crowd.

For the next segment, a board with images of her 6 male co-stars were pushed onstage, where different game rules were written behind every image for the fans to participate. Hyun Bin's image was first peeled to reveal 'anyone who wants to challenge the Cappuccino Kiss' game - the fan with the most foam on his / her upper lips will get a solo polaroid photo taken with the star. Not one to disappoint, Ha Ji Won requested to take a photo each with all 4 contestants, thereby displaying her kindness.

Next to be peeled was the image of Ji Chang Wook, her co-star from Empress Ki. The fan whose arrow hits the varied target ('please find the person who can shoot the arrow better than Empress Ki') will receive different rewards from her, ranging from staring into her eyes, a handshake and a warm hug. The star started the shooting session and accidentally shot the eyes of the fake Seung Nyang who was holding the target. The shooting scene reminded her of naughty stunts when she made fun and hit Ji Chang Wook, while he was wrapped with a towel on his head, during their drama filming. In the end, she happily gave away all the 3 prizes to her fans who came from Malaysia and China to attend this event. 

The clip next showed her visit to the Palace where Empress Ki was filmed, she particularly liked the romantic bridge, the location where she comforted a depressed Emperor Ta Hwan. She was also excited to be riding the same horse she rode in the 51-episode period drama.  She revealed that she had close to 100 elaborate costumes made for Empress Ki, providing much choices to make her look elegant and gorgeous although "it was really very cold during that period, I had more than 20 heat packs all over my body to prevent any frost bite while filming; I like Singapore because the weather is so warm here".

After her performance of 对面的男孩看过来 (a chinese song), she went backstage for a costume change, while her 4 accompanying dancers, who were actually her managers were interviewed by the MC for their opinions of the star:

(1)    She is a vampire, not a human being, as she does not seem to age at all, over the 10 years that the manager has known her

(2)    Even when there are lots of NGs (no-goods) during filming, she'll still smile and make others happy, a mood maker on set

(3)    Being a perfectionist,  her script is always by her side; her unique way of memorizing her script is to record it in her phone and continuously listen to it during her break time

(4)    She is an angel, one with invisible wings

This was the first time in her fanmeet that her managers had been questioned, and their impromptu answers gave everyone some insider information on this well-mannered and kind star, earning more appreciative nods from the fans.

While showing the next clip where Ha Ji Won visited her aunt's house to season 270 big cabbages to make into kimchi, with the help of many relatives and friends, she professed that it was a good gathering, as the whole family spent time for a meal after the kimchi were stored. The foodie, who's most confident in cooking kimchi fried rice and tteoboki (Korean rice cake), then informed that she enjoys eating laksa, chilli crab, chicken rice as well as all sorts of deserts (especially those with coconuts) in Singapore, giving ideas to the fans on potential presents for her next visit.

Her warmth and sincere personality was clearly demonstrated when she walked down the stage into the crowd with her personal selfie stick to record a video of all her fans present at the event. Everyone waved at her phone camera, while being informed that she'll upload the recording to her instagram account hajiwon1023.

Her last performance was a cover version of Lenka's The Show which she sang in perfect English before thanking her fans "with your actions and enthusiasm, I'm really very touched and very thankful; as much as you all love me, I'll be back again, thank you very much" prior to going backstage.

The crowd clearly wanted her back and she did not disappoint, encoring with the song To Butterfly, an OST from Empress Ki. In between, she broke down a few times and teared, visibly overwhelmed by her fans. She ended gracefully with "yeorubun (everyone) saranghamida", after which all her fans queued to hi-five with the amazing actress on stage before leaving the hall. Each fan was given a Chic and Chick soap from Ha Ji Won, once again exhibiting her sincerity and kind nature, which will remain in the fans' memories for a long time.

Get to experience the action with this recap reel of the event:

Special thanks to KMTV Asia for inviting KpopStarz.com to cover Ha Ji Won 1st Asia Tour In Singapore.

Writer: Wang | Photo and Video Credits: Ong Melin

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