Idol Features: Baek Ji-young

Korean singer Baek Ji-young, whose career was temporarily derailed but not destroyed, by a sex video scandal in late 2000, was recently presented with the song of the month award at the Cyworld Digital Awards show in Seoul, much to the surprise of some, who thought her male competitor would easily walk away with the honors.

I've always admired her for the way she bounced back after the video of her having sex with her former manager hit cyberspace just a year after her debut, rather than go into hiding like other celebs would have chosen to do (such as 1989 Miss Korea Oh Hyun-kyung did after her infamous "Miss Oh" video made the Internet in 1999).

Yours truly saw Ji-young in concert less than a year after the scandal broke, and despite the many empty seats in the house, she gave a dynamic performance. Even though she was criticized by many Korean netizens for coming back "too soon" after the scandal, the posters for that concert were boldly worded; "Baek Ji-young Strikes Back."

With her latest album being her 7th, it's good to see that she's still going strong. (Take note, Hoang Thuy Linh.) Oh, and for those of you who are curious to learn more about her sex video scandal, her Wikipedia entry here covers it as well as the rest of her career, very accurately. Oh, and yes, I've seen the infamous video but no, I won't post it.