Beacon Hill Church Provides Sanctuary for Former Korean Boy Band Star
Over the past few days you may have seen an airplane circling the area with a huge sign in tow that reads "J. What Time is It Now?"
It turns out what's behind that sign includes an international boy band, a MySpace scandal, and legions of heartbroken fans focused squarely on a Beacon Hill Church.
Think of them as the Korean equivalent to Jonas Brothers: they're called 2PM and these guys have every teen, tween and pre-tweet in South Korea entranced.
Jay Park is one of the most popular members, but he's also Korean American and told KBS World Radio in June he auditioned for the group in the US where he grew up.
"I used to break, like b-boy and I used to rap. So my mom said go audition for this thing," Park told the radio interviewers.
Park made the cut and for months was one of the most popular members of one of the most popular boy bands in southeast Asia.
In early September however, a fan discovered that before auditioning and while living in the US, Park apparently wrote a few disparaging sentences on his MySpace page regarding Koreans.
Those sentences were made public and Park abruptly left the group and went into seclusion.
Now fans believe they've found Park living at his parent's home in Edmonds. In response, the church Park is believed to have grown up attending, Glory Presbyterian on Beacon Hill, has begun accepting gifts and letters sent by fans begging him to return to 2PM and Korea.
KOMO News has been unable to independently verify whether Park is in the area.
One Korean music news website has an English translation of a statement reportedly issued on behalf of Park from his pastor, "Very thankful. This has given strength and bravery. Jaebeom [Jay Park] has revealed that he will live in the love and sincerity that everyone has showered on him."
Over the last few days some fans even hired a pilot to circle the Puget Sound area exactly at 2:00pm trailing that banner.
The author of another widely circulated internet post claims to be a close family friend.
The friend writes, "I asked him, Jaebeom, do you wanna go back to Korea?"
"Yes..but I'm not sure."
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Comments
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Monday, September 28th, 05:39pm.
Stop writing "disgraced"!
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Monday, September 28th, 05:43pm.
Stop writing nonsense. Don't make it seem like hes disgraced. Hes just trying to live with his family and friends in peace. Why are you trying to make it hard for him? What do you have against him?
Stop writing something when you don't know much about it. So what if he's receiving gifts? Its cause fans care about him. You wouldn't understand because your not a fan. Leave the church alone. So what if he grown up attending the church? If he wants to live there he can. He has the rights too. Leave him alone and back away from your nonsense story.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Monday, September 28th, 05:45pm.
Stop trying to dig info about him. Hes just a regular person like me and you.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Monday, September 28th, 05:46pm.
Back away from his life. He's just a normal person who wants to be with his family and friends. The banner was to support him.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Monday, September 28th, 05:47pm.
Are you serious? Stop writing more dam articles about this. Just drop it and stop bugging into our business.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Monday, September 28th, 05:48pm.
jay isnt a disgrace idiot!!! if you L2FCKREAd you would f#cken know that he wrote it because he was in a situation that u would never be able to compare anything u have done to it. oh and if this is what u did to fix the other report maybe u should try reading alllllll the f@cken comments first so u know what is fcken wrong with u u morong... omfg are u like stupid or something?? perhaps a grade 5der?? or soemthing?? idiot!! maybe if you try reading and searching in google... omfg...
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Monday, September 28th, 05:50pm.
Stop trying to add a specific places. Thats not helping the situation.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Monday, September 28th, 05:51pm.
As a big fan of 2PM, I am deeply INSULTED by your article.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Monday, September 28th, 05:51pm.
They're nothing compared to Jonas Brother, FYI. And its 2PM not 2-PM. When will you ever learn your mistakes?
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Monday, September 28th, 05:52pm.
WTH. Hes not disgraced? How would you like it if sometime titled you as "disgrace"? How would you feel?
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Monday, September 28th, 05:53pm.
Honestly, you got to back away from our business. If you don't understand what's going on, don't write about it.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Monday, September 28th, 05:53pm.
Write about something else jeez. .__,
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Monday, September 28th, 05:54pm.
This banner was to support Jay.
If you don't understand it, don't write about it.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Monday, September 28th, 05:55pm.
If you didn't know, there are many fans around the world who are supporting this banner for Jay Park. Its INTERNATIONAL.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Monday, September 28th, 07:21pm.
(insult to 2PM of course)
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Monday, September 28th, 08:28pm.
agreewith you..2PM is waaaayyyyy better than Jonas Brothers..WTF man~~~it sounds like you try to insult Jay and his fans, us Hottest..stop writing lame article if you have NO IDEA what's goin on
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Monday, September 28th, 07:25pm.
What the hell? Disgraced? You don't even know what you're writing about. Please..just stop.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Monday, September 28th, 07:28pm.
a quote from what's-his-name
LEAVE JAY ALONE!
FRICK . HE DOESN'T NEED YOU PEOPLE TO SPAZZ AT HIS FACE . HE'S HAD HIS SHARE OF THAT.
LEAVE. HIM. ALONE.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Friday, October 23rd, 10:53pm.
sorry..
can't leave him alone..
i realy miss him..
he not a normal person..
he is an idol..
his fan is around the world and still waiting for him..
anyone kow his address?
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Monday, September 28th, 07:29pm.
this blog is BULLSHlT hes not disgraced
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Monday, September 28th, 07:30pm.
If you don't have a full understanding of the situation, please don't write an article about it.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Monday, September 28th, 07:31pm.
We are all offended.
Please take down your article. He needs time to himself to heal and this article is making it much harder for him and his fans.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Monday, September 28th, 07:32pm.
Stop writing about things you know nothing about! It's painful to read.. and utterly disgusting. First, this was by international fans, not koreans. Secondly, 2pm is NOTHING like Jonas bros. They have fans ranging from teens to the middle aged. Third, DISGRACE?! Fourth, how could you even try to locate him?! Wth are you trying to do.
DAMN. Why did I even come to this site!
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Monday, September 28th, 07:32pm.
Disgraced? please get your facts straight!~
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Monday, September 28th, 07:33pm.
Please stop writing articles like these. Please just stop.
Submitted by Lisa (not verified) on Monday, September 28th, 07:34pm.
What an incredibly rude blog. It would have been better leaving the poor man alone. Stay out of his business. =/
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Monday, September 28th, 07:34pm.
Hello,
As a reader of Komo news.com, I'd like to help keep this site as respected as possible, in doing this I ask that an article entitled "Fans Beg Former Korean Boy Band Member To Return" written by Travis Mayfield be taken down. Not only is this article written by a misinformed writer but it is upsetting and disrespectful to those that the article talks about. It is in the interest of the station to weed out misinformation and low class journalism that is displayed within this article.
I hope my words reach you and your actions are swift.
You have my thanks in advance!
- A reader
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Monday, September 28th, 07:35pm.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA... 2PM owns the Jonas Brothers ass...wtf? This is the dumbest thing I have ever read.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Monday, September 28th, 07:35pm.
do some research before posting an article... this story is bigger than you think, it's international (not just in korea and seattle)... and for the record TWEENS AND PRE-TWEENS ARE NOT JUST "ENTRANCED" WITH THEM! I'm well over the age of an adolescent and I'm a huge fan of theirs. Also please don't compare these to the pre-pubescent jonas brothers 2PM are a hell of a lot better than them!
Submitted by panamakira (not verified) on Tuesday, September 29th, 08:15am.
OMG....exactly!! I don't know about Jonas Brothers nor I care to be honest but I am 22 years old and a hardcore fan of 2PM. I'm well past the age of boy bands but I'm definetely sure these guys have something special. Don't be writing articles when you HAVE NO IDEA what you are writing about. What a FAG!
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Monday, September 28th, 07:36pm.
This is a distastefully written article. Please do not write about a situation that you have absolutely no knowledge about.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Monday, September 28th, 07:37pm.
he is a reporter guys he doesn't know anything about 2pm so there is no need to keep bashing the guy maybe this will get other people interested in the story behind it
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Monday, September 28th, 07:38pm.
EXACTLY. He knows nothing about 2PM and their current situation. Therefore, why would he write an article about it without doing his research?
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Monday, September 28th, 07:39pm.
as a reporter isn't it his job research and know what the full story is instead of writing a story that has more holes than swiss cheese???
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Monday, September 28th, 07:41pm.
If they don't know anything about 2PM, obviously they shouldn't be writing about them since it's inevitable they're going to get the facts messed up.
Reporting false information without completely being knowledgeable of the situation is just poor journalism.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Monday, September 28th, 07:37pm.
Wow, how about you write an article on something you actually know about?
This article was hastily thrown together without checking any of the facts. Pathetic.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Monday, September 28th, 07:38pm.
Please take this article down...
This is offending many of the readers, including myself.
Submitted by AA (not verified) on Monday, September 28th, 07:38pm.
Wow.. what a nice way of trying to get attention ON your article huh?? Hah... such a wrong move that you're writing this article. I would not be surprised if people gives you a lot of hate messages for writing such a crude, and misinformed article.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Monday, September 28th, 07:38pm.
AH?STOP!!
what the crap is this??
Travis Mayfield, seriously, this article is "disgraceful"
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Monday, September 28th, 07:38pm.
This article is full of FAIL.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Monday, September 28th, 07:39pm.
why would you file this under weird? take this damn article down, it doesn't even have correct info.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Monday, September 28th, 07:39pm.
Just stop.
This is a sad attempt to bring life to your comment-less blog.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Monday, September 28th, 07:39pm.
Precisely.
Why write something he knows nothing about?
Advice: Take the article down.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Monday, September 28th, 07:39pm.
Leave Jay ALONE. He doesn't need this added stress. You do not understand the situation AT ALL. Korean Fans are well aware that he's in the Seattle area with his parents. Quit trying to get an interview with him. It's not going to happen. American media is nothing like what they have in Korea. You people have crossed many boundaries by invading his privacy. This whole scandal happened because someone invaded his privacy. As if Jay isn't hurt enough from being stripped away from his DREAMS, now you people have to go and be nosy about a situation you don't even understand?
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