By Ko Dong-hwan
South Korean soccer star Hwang Ui-jo and long-time K-pop star Hyomin signed up as the first high-profile celebrity couple to break in the New Year in Korea.
Paparazzi photos released by Korean entertainment news outlet Dispatch showed the striker, a national team player signed to France’s Ligue 1 club Bordeaux, and the singer, the main rapper from T-ARA, in front of a luxurious hotel in Basel, Switzerland, in December. Each carrying a black travel carrier, the couple were seemingly talking to each other through their masks.
They met during the French football league’s brief break that began in late December and ends on January 6, according to the outlet.
Photos from Hwang’s Instagram also showed shots of the 30-year-old athlete travelling on the Jungfrau railway in the Swiss Alps and in other parts of Basel. The photos, dated the last week of December, hinted the couple were dating.
Reports said Hwang and Hyomin, 33, have been long-distance dating for about three months. While Hwang was booming in the French soccer league, being ranked sixth in scoring with 16 goals in 2021, Hyomin was promoting the four-piece girl band’s new album Re:T-ARA in November with its title songs All Kill and Tiki Taka.
Friends of Hwang and Hyomin told Dispatch they were just starting to get to know each other, while respecting each other’s professions.
Hwang, who debuted with Seongnam FC in Korea’s K League in 2013 and moved to Bordeaux in 2019 after a spell with Gamba Osaka of Japan’s J League, is expected to play in the World Cup in Qatar this year. Hyomin rose to stardom with T-ARA’s debut in 2009, and has since expanded her talents to acting and being a YouTube influencer.
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