Famous Koreans Trivia Quiz

Answer: Dear Respected Leader

Born in 1984, Kim Jong-un is a grandson of Kim Il-sung, North Korea's first Supreme Leader. In 2011, he became the third Supreme Leader of the country after the death of his father, Kim Jong-il, Kim Il-sung's eldest son. While his grandfather was known as "Great Leader", and his father as "Dear Leader", Kim Jong-un has been given the informal title of "Dear Respected Leader". He also holds the distinction of being the first leader of North Korea to have been born in the country after it was established in 1948.

Like his grandfather, Kim Jong-un has been pursuing a policy - known in Korean as "byungjin" - of simultaneous development of the economy and the military, promoting a consumer culture that was hitherto unknown in the totalitarian East Asian country. The object of a cult of personality like his father and grandfather before him, Kim is suspected of having ordered the assassination of his half-brother, Kim Jong-nam, in 2017; he has also ordered the purge and execution of a number of government officials. His expansion of the North Korean nuclear weapons programme has also led to increasing tension with South Korea and the US.

Kim Jong-un is believed to be extremely wealthy, owning luxury residences, cars, a private jet, a yacht, and even a private island (as reported by former American basketball player Dennis Rodman, who visited North Korea and befriended the dictator in 2013). He is married to Ri Sol-ju, the "Respected First Lady", with whom he has at least two children.

LadyNym directed the writing of this question with an iron fist.

Answer: United Nations Secretary-General

Ban Ki-moon has been a South Korean diplomat and politician, including the country's foreign minister (2004-2006). In 2007 he became the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations (UN), having been elected to the position by the General Assembly in October 2006.

Ban served two terms as the UN's secretary general. He was involved with the UN's peacekeeping endeavours and took a leadership role with global warming initiatives which saw the 2015 Paris Climate Accords ratified. Ban's role there ended in December 2016. Since then he has held a number of high-profile positions, including chair of the International Olympic Committee's Ethics Commission, Distinguished Professor at Yonsei University and chair of the Global Green Growth Institute.

Phoenix Rising's psnz negotiated this section of the quiz, with unanimous approval.

Answer: Founder, Unification Church

Sun Myung Moon was born in Japanese Korea (now North Korea) in 1920 with the name of Moon Yong-myeong, one of the eight children of a farming family. The whole family converted to Christianity and joined the Presbyterian Church when Moon was around 10 years old. When Korea was divided between the Soviet Union and the US at the end of WWII, persecution of religious figures began in North Korea. In 1947 Moon was convicted of spying for South Korea, and sentenced to five years in a labour camp; in 1950, during the Korean War, he was able to escape to South Korea. This experience turned him into a staunch anti-communist, who viewed the conflict between democracy and communism as a struggle between God and Satan, with Korea as their battleground.

In 1954, Moon founded the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity (also known as the Unification Church). This new religious movement - with a strongly conservative, family-oriented bent - attracted many young followers, who helped Moon in the creation of a veritable business empire. The Church, which is nominally Christian, though some of its tenets (such as the nature of Jesus) deviate from Christian orthodoxy, is known for its blessing ceremonies, labeled in the media as "mass weddings".

In 1971, Moon moved to the US, where he became involved in politics, supporting Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal, In 1982, he was convicted of filing false income tax returns, and served a 13-month prison sentence. In the same year, he founded the conservative newspaper "The Washington Times". A keen supporter of the reunification of Korea, and an advocate of world peace and interfaith dialogue - as well as a very wealthy man who had bestowed the title of "Messiah" upon himself - Moon passed away in Seoul in 2012, at the age of 92.

This question was written by LadyNym, who is not really a fan of such movements.

Answer: Soccer

Born in July 1992 in Chuncheon, the capital of the Gangwon province in South Korean, Son Heung-min was a soccer prodigy as a teenager. He joined Hamburg's Youth Academy as a 16 year old and two years later became the youngest player in league history to score a Bundesliga goal. In 2013 he transferred to Bayern Leverkeusen and then in August 2015 he joined Premier League team Tottenham Hotspur for 30 million Euro on a 5-year deal. He became a prolific and consistent scorer for Spurs, including winning the 2021-22 Premier League Golden Boot award (shared with Liverpool's Mo Salah) for his 23 goals. He was the first Asian winner of this award. Son has played many times for South Korea including the World Cup, Olympic and Asian Games.

This question was driven into the back of the net by Phoenix Rising member and Spurs fan, MikeMaster99, who has thoroughly enjoyed watching Son's scoring feats and his ability to set up his team mates.

Answer: Music

Park Jae-sang, also known as Psy, is a singer, rapper and record producer from South Korea. He's best-known for his 2012 K-pop song "Gangnam Style". The "Gangnam Style" term is associated with the lifestyle of the South Korean capital Seoul's Gangnam District. The song and music video were global viral hits in 2012, setting many records including being the first video to garner over one billion views on YouTube.

Phoenix Rising's psnz's "Kiwi Style" saw him rewatching Psy's video as he crafted this section of the quiz.

Answer: Golf

Pak Se-ri, born in 1977, was originally taught to play golf by her father when she was in grade 3. She progressed quickly and was the best golfer at her high school. She turned professional in 1996 and won six tournaments on the Korean tour before moving to the USA in 1997, where she made an immediate impact. In 1998 she became the youngest ever winner of the US Women's Open after already winning another major that year (the LPGA Championship). By the time she announced her retirement from professional golf in 2016, Pak had won 5 major championships and 20 other tournaments on the LPGA tour as well as many more on the Korean tour. She qualified for the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2007 (at the age of 29), the youngest player at that time to earn the elite accolade. Another interesting accomplishment was her making the cut in a men's tournament on the Korean Tour in 2003 (and eventually finishing tenth), the first player to do this since multisport athlete, Babe Zaharias, in 1945.

This question was lobbed softly into the quiz by very amateur golfer, Phoenix Rising member MikeMaster99.

Answer: Nobel Peace Prize

Kim Dae-jung (1924-2009) entered politics in 1954 during the incumbency of South Korea's first president, Syngman Rhee. This outcome seemed unlikely in 1950 when he was captured and sentenced to death by North Korean communists during the Korean War. Fortunately, Kim managed to escape. Political life was difficult; Kim was defeated four times at elections over his first six years and was also arrested during the 1961 military coup. Nevertheless by 1967, he had become an opposition leader. Further turmoil was ahead including an assassination attempt in 1971 and a kidnapping in 1973 in response to his criticism of the policies of President Park Chung-hee, after which he was exiled and placed under house arrest on his return to Korea from Japan. Further instability including the assassination of President Park saw Kim move to the USA. He returned to South Korea in 1985 and lost at the free election two years later. He lost again in 1992. Finally in 1997, he was elected President and then embarked on a program of major economic, labor market and social reform as well as encouraging the development of cyber capability. Another major policy change was the pursuit of rapprochement with North Korea including an historic summit in 2000 with Kim Jong-il. Later that year he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for these efforts and for promoting social justice in his own country. He showed extraordinary magnanimity to the two previous presidents who had sentenced him to death and gave them both pardons. He concluded his presidency in 2003.

This question was brought in from the cold by Phoenix Rising member MikeMaster99 who was astounded to learn of the massive highs, lows and tribulations of this eminent Nobel laureate.

Answer: Film Director

Bong Joon-ho took home four Academy Awards in 2020 for his 2019 movie "Parasite": Best Director; Best Picture (with co-producer Kwak Sin-ae); Best Original Screenplay (with Han Jin-won) and Best International Film (as Director of "Parasite"). The latter category replaced Best Foreign Film in 2020.

Bong's movies have won critical acclaim. His first, "Barking Dogs Never Bite" (2000) was invited to the San Sebastián International Film Festival. It also won awards at the Slamdance Film Festival and Hong Kong International Film Festival. Bong's second film, "Memories of Murder" (2003) earned a list of local honours including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Lighting prizes at the Grand Bell Awards (South Korea) in 2003. At the San Sebastián International Film Festival, it won three awards including Best Director.

"The Host" (2006) was an ambitious move for Bong and the entire Korean film industry as it was a big budget monster movie with special effects by San Francisco's "The Orphanage". Boon's first English language movie, was "Snowpiercer" in 2013, a sci-fi action film that received universal acclaim. Boon's other full length features, "Mother" (2009) and "Okja" (2017) have also received internal recognition.

This question was filmed on location within Team Phoenix Rising's virtual headquarters by 1nn1.

Answer: Actress

Born in 1947, Youn Yuh-jung dropped out of college and gained her first acting role on TV in 1967. More than 50 years as an actress then followed. She came to the attention of international audiences for her role as Soon-ja in the 2020 American film, 'Minari' - a story of a Korean immigrant family who move from California to rural Arkansas. The film earned many award nominations including six for Academy Awards. From these six, Youn was awarded the 2021 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and many other international awards for her role including a BAFTA. She was the first Korean to win an Academy Award for acting. However, her talents were recognized decades earlier when she started earning many Korean and Asian awards for her complex, often unconventional movie roles. She has also acted in many Korean TV shows. Youn was also listed by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of 2021.

Phoenix Rising member MikeMaster99 slipped this question into the script for this quiz and thoroughly enjoyed Youn's simple but moving Academy Award acceptance speech.

Answer: Baseball

Chan Ho Park was born in Gongju, 200km south of Seoul, South Korea, in 1973. He excelled at baseball in high school and was a member of the 1992 and 1993 South Korea national baseball team whilst at university. In 1994 he was signed as an amateur free agent by the Los Angeles Dodgers. He played two games for the Dodgers in 1994 but played mainly with affiliates San Antonio Missions and the Albuquerque Dukes in 1995. His first full season was in 1996 and became a full-time starter in 1997. Whilst he was always seen as a fine pitcher he will also be remembered for surrendering two grand slams to Fernando Tatis of the Cardinals in the same inning in 1999. In 2000, he ranked second in the National League in strikeouts in 2000 with 217. He played with the Texas Rangers in 2002-5, the San Diego Padres in 2005-6, the New York Mets and Houston Astros in 2007, then back to the Dodgers in 2008 and the Philadelphia Phillies in 2009. In 2010 he played for the New York Yankees and the Pittsburgh Pirates before moving to Japan where he signed a one-year deal with the Orix Buffaloes of the Nippon Professional Baseball League for 2011.

He returned to Korea for 2012 where he played for the Hanwha Eagles of the KBO, Korea's premier league. He retired from baseball in November 2012 to concentrate on business interests in Korea. When he retired Park was the 'winningest' Asian-born pitcher in Major League history with 124 wins. In 2005 he married Korean-Japanese Park Ri-hye, a celebrity chef. They have three daughters.

This question was pitched into the quiz as a curveball by Phoenix Rising team member 1nn1.