Park Jung Min

This is a Korean name; the family name is Park.

Park Jung Min
Background information
Birth name	박정민 (朴政珉)
Born	3 April 1987 (1987-04-03) Seoul
Origin	South Korea
Genres	K-pop, J-pop, Dance, R&B
Occupations	Singer, Dancer, DJ, MC, Actor, model
Years active	2005–present
Labels	DSP Media (2005 - 2010) CNR Media (2010 - Present) Pony Canyon (Japan) Sony Music Taiwan (2010-present)
Associated acts	SS501 (2005-present)

Korean name
Hangul	박정민
Hanja	朴政珉
Revised Romanization	Bak Jeong-min
McCune–Reischauer	Pak Chŏngmin

Park Jung Min (Hangul: 박정민, Hanja:朴政珉, Kana: パク・ジョンミン) was born on 3 April 1987. He is a South Korean entertainer and member of boyband SS501. He made his musical debut in Grease and was the first SS501 members to debut as a solo artist with mini album Not Alone.

Early life

Park Jung Min was born, and grew up in Seoul; he was raised as a Christian. He has two older siblings, a brother and a sister, neither of whom work in the entertainment industry. As the late child of the family (his brother is 14 years older than him), he receives great love from his parents and his siblings, who keep support him at whatever he does. His sister is now managing Park's online shopping mall Royal Avenue. Park's awareness of his health and body is largely influenced by his mother - a nutritionist who always takes great care of him.

In the TV show Jeong Bo-seok’s One o’clock in the Morning Chungdam Dong, Park openly told stories about an unfortunate family incident that occurred when he was young. When he was in primary school, the building which his family was living in had to be reconstructed so they were supposed to move out; however, since their financial status was rather poor, they could not find another place to live. Park and his family then had no choice but to live in an apartment where the power was cut off. After some time, they finally found a place to settle down. When he became a teenager, Park worried about his sister's security, so he even accompanied her to her school.

Career

Early career

When he was a high school student, Park Jung Min was offered a chance to audition from an agency when he was wandering on the streets in Apgujeong-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul. However, it was a fraud agency which Park will have to pay 4-month fees. Since he really wanted to become an artist and aid his family, Park convinced his mother to pay the fees. Because of the limited training and strange atmosphere, he left that agency with other students who were receiving training. Among these trainees in the fraud agency was actress Hong Soo Ah.

At first, he first had dreamt of becoming a policeman, but then changed his mind and chose to pursue the path of an artist. When he was 13 years old, Park was scouted by an agency and later on, he was casted into both DSP Media and S.M. Entertainment. At the time, SM told him that they were preparing a new group, but that the group consisted of many members (which according to Park, "it was probably Super Junior". I saw them rehearsing, too"). Park had to choose between one or the other, so eventually he chose DSP Media because he wanted to see himself on TV and believed that he would be able to debut faster through DSP Media. Even though he initially wanted to become an actor, Park chose to debut as a singer instead as he believed that his wish would be fulfilled later.

Before joining SS501, Park was seen VJ-ing and appeared in various commercials. He was the MTV Fresh VJ from March 2003 to November 2003.^{[citation needed]}

Park attended Dongguk University Teacher’s College High School, where he was the Student Council President with fellow SS501 member Kim Hyung Jun. However, because of Kim Hyung Jun's constant absence from school due to his training with DSP Media (which later became their agency), Park said that he had never met Kim before SS501 was formed.^{[citation needed]}

2005-2010: SS501

See also: SS501

He debuted with SS501 on 8 June 2005, and was the second to audition for the group.

Park along with the other members of SS501, except for Young Saeng, who was recovering from surgery, lent their voices to the Korean version of 2006 animated film Pi's Story.

In 2006, Park hosted radio programme SS501's Youngstreet on Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS) with fellow band member Heo Young Saeng beginning 1 May 2006. Then continue to host with Kim Kyu Jong, another of his band mates, when Heo left the programme on 21 August 2006, due to a throat condition requiring laryngeal surgery.

Park starred in two television programmes: Human Theater 2010, playing himself as the main character, and What Women Want. In 2008, he made his musical debut in Grease, playing the lead role, 'Danny Park'.

2010: Solo artist

In June 2010, upon the expiration of Park's contract with DSP Media, he signed with CNr Media on 10 August 2010, a company jointly set up by Taiwanese producer Comic-Ritz and Korean Roy Media, to embark on his solo career. CNr Media stated that SS501's activities are top priority in his contract and that they have not disbanded.

Park released his debut solo mini album, Not Alone, on 20 January 2011, and visited Taiwan and Singapore to promote it. His albums are distributed in Taiwan by Sony Music Taiwan.^{[citation needed]}

In April 2011, Park performed with Japanese duo Mihimaru GT at a UN Charity Concert in Yokohama, Japan to aid vitims of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.

Personal life

Aside from singing and acting, another speciality of Park Jung Min is tap dance, which he learned before joining SS501. He also enjoys composing songs and hiking.^{[citation needed]}

On MBC Golden Fisheries – Radio Star on 6 May 2009, Park admitted that he has not had a girlfriend since his debut in 2005 and said "since I haven’t been in a relationship in a long time, I feel like all the love cells inside of me are dying.", which he confirmed it once again on Jeong Bo-seok’s One o’clock in the Morning Chungdam Dong. Because of Park's long time single relationship status and Kim Hyun Joong's pranks, there were even gay rumours about him dating his fellow member Kim Hyun Joong from late 2007 until early 2008. He then cleared the rumours up stating, “I’m just a regular guy. I’m going to save a little more, and when I meet the right person, I want to get married.". He also revealed that his ideal girl was actress Ko So-young, who he has liked since his middle school, when she was on the TV drama Mother’s Sea.

Park went through an extremely hard time after SS501 ended their contracts with DSP Media and before he released his first mini album Not Alone. During the time he was starting his solo career, Park even thought about stopping everything and committing suicide. However, Park was able to get through these hard times because he knew that there were people who believed that he could be successful as one person, Park Jung Min.

Park's motto for his life is "Always be thankful". Because of the hardships he has gone through since his childhood, Park has always put in his utmost effort into becoming a son his parents are proud of and worked really hard without resting, which has raised the concern of his fans about his health. On 12 October 2010, Park was brought to the emergency room after he fainted due to fatigue, which accumulated during the time he was working on his first mini album Not Alone, and an overwhelming release of tension.

Discography

See also: SS501 discography

Solo

• 2007: "Here" - Kokoro
• 2009: 나 뿐인가요(Only Me?) - Taiwan SS501 1st Solo Album
• 2009: 하면은 안돼" (If You Can Not) - Solo Collection
• 2011: 그립다 (Missing You) - The Princess' Man OST (공주의 남자 OST)
• 2011: 君色 (Your Colour) - Love Song in August OST (八月のラヴソング OST)

Korean

Year	Information	Track listings
2011	Not Alone Released: 20 January 2011 Label: CNr Media Format: Mini album Genre: K-pop Language: Korean Sales: 17,233 Repackaged: The, Park Jung Min Released: 1 April 2011 Sales: 9,259	"Not Alone" "넌 알고 있니" (Do You Know?) "내 하루는 매일매일 크리스마스" (Everyday Is Christmas) "Not Alone" (instrumental) "넌 알고 있니" (Do You Know?) (instrumental) "내 하루는 매일매일 크리스마스" (Everyday Is Christmas) (instrumental) Repackaged "눈물이 흐를 만큼..." (Like tears are falling...) "가라 가라" (Go Go) "Not alone" "넌 알고 있니" (Do you know?) "내 하루는 매일매일 크리스마스" (Everyday Is Christmas) "눈물이 흐를 만큼..." (Like tears are falling...)(instrumental) "가라 가라" (Go Go) (instrumental)

Japanese

Year	Information	Track listings
2011	Wara Wara The, Park Jung Min Released: 25 May 2011 Label: CNr Media Format: Mini album Genre: J-pop Language: Japanese	"涙、流れるほど" "Wara Wara" "Not Alone" (リマスター) "君は知ってる？～届かないメッセージ～" "毎日クリスマス" "涙、流れるほど" (instrumental) "Wara Wara" (instrumental)

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2006	Pi's Story (Korean version)		voice only

Television, dramas and TV series

Year	Title	Role	Episode	Notes
2006	"Can Love Be Refilled"			KBS2 Sitcom
2007	Hotelier (TV series)	Cameo	Episode 7	with SS501 Cameo Ep 7 TV Arashi
2008	Elephant Sitcom	Himself	Episode 85
2008	Spotlight	Cameo		with SS501 Cameo MBC
2010	Human Theater	Episode 1-6	Park Jung Min himself
2010	Superstar: Meet	Episode 8	Detective Cha Min Seo	Mini Drama
2011	Love Song In August (八月のラヴソング)	パク・ジョンミン ("Pakujonmin" - Park Jung Min himself)		aka "8gatsu no love song"
2012	Sugarcake Garden (翻糖花園)	Park Hee Hwan		Filming

Musicals

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2009	"Grease (musical)"	Danny Park	Awarded "Golden Ticket Award" for Best Musical New Talent
2010	"Bonds Of Boys"	Park Jung Sol	Japanese Musical

Awards

Year	Award
2010	“Golden Ticket Award” for Best Musical New Talent

External links

• (Korean) Park Jung Min's official site
• (Japanese) Park Jung Min's official site
• Park Jung Min's official Youtube channel
• (Korean) Royal Avenue homepage