Lee graduated from Chung-Ang University (중앙대학교; literally Central University) after 9 years of studies, while Ivy from Dongduk Women’s University after 7 years.

Lee is a veteran singer and actress; she was already quite famous when she enrolled into CAU in 1999. Ivy is relatively new but was arguably the most outstanding Korean female pop star in 2007.

Ivy’s graduation… shiny shoes and expensive bag

Lee Jung-hyun’s graduation… (Image credits to Newsen and Spn)

Koreans in general give high priority to education; lots of Korean artists took their studies seriously as well despite their hectic schedule, and most of them obviously took a longer period to graduate.

Other big names that have high level education include pop star Lee Hyori; actress Lee Young-ae, Kim Tae-hee, Ha Ji-won; actors Lee Byung-hun and Kim Jeong-hoon etc.

[Update] Actor Yoo Ji-tae was graduating on Feb 22 too… his achievement is more remarkable than the above two as he has obtained his master’s degree instead of bachelor’s degree.

South Korean media was caught doctoring images of Japanese flag in published news.

Korean star Lee Byung-hun celebrated his 37th birthday with over 16,000 Japanese fans in Tokyo on July 12 [Stareastasia]. The below comparison shows that the red disc of the Japanese flag was wiped out by some Korean press…

The left is the original picture, with the Japanese flag clearly visible; the right is the doctored picture (the red dot was wiped out from the flag) published by some Korean media

I understand that there are serious disputes between the 2 nations in some serious issues, but this act by the Korean media is rather childish… you won’t expect to see this kind of gimmick from mainstream media, but it happens somehow.

[Source (Japanese) - Hat tip to Japanprobe and Zero]

[Update July 30] – it has been revealed that the doctored photos are released by the actor’s agency; the media published it without prior knowledge that the pics have been edited.