Park Yoo-chun
Park Yoo-chun, formerly known as Micky Yoochun and better known by the mononym Yoochun, is a South Korean singer-songwriter and actor. He is a former member of the South Korean boy bands JYJ and TVXQ. He has starred in dramas Sungkyunkwan Scandal, Miss Ripley, Rooftop Prince, Missing You, Three Days and The Girl Who Sees Smells.
On April 23, 2019, Park's agency announced his retirement from entertainment industry after he tested positive for drugs.
Early life
Park Yoo-chun was born on June 4, 1986 in Seoul, South Korea to a wealthy family. His family moved to the United States in 1998. He lived in Fairfax, Virginia, where he attended Holmes Middle School, Rocky Run Middle School, and Chantilly High School. Later his parents divorced.In 2001, he won award at American Music Festival and then returned to Korea to prepare for his debut. After a relatively short training period of one year and five months, he made his debut as a member of the five-member male group TVXQ through SBS BoA & Britney Spears Special Stage on December 26, 2003.
Park Yoochun graduated Hanam High School in 2007 along with fellow members Kim Junsu and Kim Jaejoong. He is attending Kyunghee Cyber University. His father, who died on March 14, 2012, of an undisclosed illness, was a businessman. He has a younger brother, Park Yu-hwan, who is also an actor.
Musical career
TVXQ
In 2003, Park returned to South Korea after he was scouted by Brothers Entertainment. He was later signed as an artist by S.M. Entertainment.From 2003 to 2009, Park performed as a member of the best-selling K-pop boy band TVXQ. In July 2009, Park and two of his TVXQ bandmates, Jaejoong and Junsu, filed a lawsuit against their South Korean agency S.M. Entertainment. Through their lawyers, the members stated that the 13-year contract was excessively long, schedules were held out without the confirmation or permission of the members, contract terms have been extended and changed without their knowledge or consent and that the group's earnings were not fairly distributed to the members. After TVXQ's Japanese label announced a group hiatus in early 2010, they formed a new three member group initially known as JUNSU/JAEJOONG/YUCHUN in Japan.
On November 28, 2012, the legal battle between JYJ and S.M. finally ended. Both sides agreed to retiring every judicial accusation against each other and not interfering in each other's actions.
JYJ
In September 2010, JYJ released extended play The..., which debuted at number one on Japan's Oricon album charts. However, Avex had announced the suspension and when in Japan, the same month that year.JYJ proceeded to release The Beginning, a global album which was sung in English. JYJ promoted the new album via a worldwide showcase tour throughout October and November with dates in South Korea, Southeast Asia and the United States.
On January 25, 2011, JYJ released Korean extended play Their Rooms "Our Story"." JYJ's second group album and first full length Korean-language album In Heaven was released September 28, 2011.
Starting from April, Park toured Asia and North America for JYJ's first Worldwide Tour. The tour was then extended to Europe and South America, adding another four stops in Spain, Germany, Chile and Peru.
Solo career
Park is featured in "Tokyo Lovelight" from DJ Makai's mini-album, Stars. He was also one of the featured rappers on the song "Heartquake", a track from Super Junior's third album, Sorry, Sorry.For Miss Ripley, Park sang "너를 위한 빈자리 ". It appeared in the ninth episode of the drama and was released on the Miss Ripley OST.
Songwriting
Park has written and composed several songs that have appeared on TVXQ's Korean and Japanese albums. As a member of SM Town, he contributed to the 2007 winter album Only Love with his composition "Evergreen". Park also wrote and composed "사랑 안녕 사랑 ", featured on the group's fourth Korean studio album Mirotic. For the Trick project, he wrote the lyrics to his solo "My Girlfriend", entirely in English."Kiss the Baby Sky", one of the A-side's for TVXQ's twenty-fifth Japanese single, marked the first time that one of the songs both written and composed by Park was released on a Japanese single.
With TVXQ members U-Know Yunho and Xiah Junsu, Park wrote the rap lyrics to "Love After Love", which appeared on their second Korean studio album, Rising Sun. For the group's Japanese releases, Park wrote and co-composed "Kiss Shita Mama, Sayonara" with Hero for T, TVXQ's third Japanese album. In September 2009, he and Hero released a self-written duet, "Colors /Shelter", which was used as the image song for Hello Kitty's 35th anniversary.
Park has also written songs for JYJ's albums. "I Love You", a track featured in JYJ's 2010 album The Beginning, was penned by Park. In January 2011, Park was the lyricist/composer in JYJ's music essay called Their Rooms "Our Story" for the song "이름없는 노래 Part 1 ". In addition, he also composed the rap in bandmate Junsu's song, "Xiahtic". For In Heaven, Park co-wrote "Get Out" with bandmate Jaejoong.
2018–2019: Japan activities and first studio album
Park confirmed to hold a fan meeting and mini concert titled "Reunion: Remember the Memories" on March 10 and 11, 2018 as his first public appearance after being discharged as a public service worker.Park released his first studio album, Slow Dance, on February 27, 2019. Park had his first solo concert in Seoul on March 2, 2019 called 'Slow Dance in Seoul'
Park's Slow Dance concert tour in Japan began in March 2019.
2020-present: Return to the industry
On July 31, 2020, it was announced that Yoochun was working on a new album, which would be followed by a fan signing and mini concert in Thailand.Acting career
Park's starting minor roles were with TVXQ, in Banjun Theater and Vacation.In June 2010 Park began his official acting career by appearing in the Japanese BeeTV mobile drama Beautiful Love ～君がいれば～ as Young-soo, the runaway heir of a conglomerate.
Two months later, Park made his Korean debut as an actor in the hit 2010 KBS drama Sungkyunkwan Scandal. He portrayed Lee Seon Joon, a wealthy, passionable and studious nobleman, who falls in love with his fellow schoolmate—a woman disguised as a man. He received the "Rookie of the Year" Award, "Netizen Award" and "Best Couple" Award at the 2010 KBS Drama Awards ceremony. He won "Best Newcomer Award" and "Most Popular Actor in a TV Drama" at The 47th Baeksang Arts Awards, the most prestigious entertainment awards in South Korea. Park also won "Best Actor" and "Most Popular Asian Actor" at the 6th Seoul International Drama Awards.
In 2011, he starred in the MBC drama Miss Ripley with Lee Da-hae, Kim Seung-woo, and Kang Hye-jung. His character as Song Yoo-hyun has him playing a half-Korean, half-Japanese second-generation director who will falls blindly in love with the antiheroine. At the 2011 MBC Drama Awards, Park won "Best Newcomer" for his role as lead male in "Miss Ripley."
In 2012, he starred in the SBS drama Rooftop Prince with Han Ji-min. Park's third role was Lee Gak, a Joseon era prince who time-travels 300 years to the present day, and also as Yong Tae-yong, third generation of conglomerate. The drama started airing on March 21, 2012. On August 30, Park won "Most Popular Actor in TV Drama" at the 48th Baeksang Arts Awards, crowning him as the most popular actor for two years in row.
On November 7, 2012, Park returned to television by participating in his fourth drama, MBC's Missing You, in which he portrays homicide detective Han Jung-woo who, in the past when he was fourteen years old, was separated from his first love.
Having played the main character in a SBS and a MBC drama during 2012, Park attended both networks' drama award shows. At the MBC Drama Awards on December 30, the actor won the "Excellence Actor in a Mini-Series" Award for his role in Missing You. At the SBS Drama Awards the following day on the 31st, he received four more awards--"Excellence Actor in a Drama Special", one of the "Top 10 Stars", "Best Couple", and the "Netizen Popularity" Award—at the SBS Drama Awards for his performance in popular drama Rooftop Prince.
He has since achieved a so-called "Grand Slam" by having won trophies from each of South Korea's three major television channels, SBS, MBC, and KBS.
In 2014 and 2015 he won the title of "Best New Actor" for his performance in Haemoo at numerous entertainment awards, including the Baeksang Arts Awards, the Blue Dragon Awards, the Daejong Film Awards, the Busan International Film Festival and the SACF Beautiful Artists Awards.
Legal issues and scandals
Sexual assault allegations and lawsuits
In June 2016, while in the middle of his two-year mandatory military service, Park became a subject of a number of sexual assault allegations from four women. Park's agency denied all allegations. On July 14, 2016, all charges against Park were dropped by the police, and then he countersued the accusers for defamation and blackmail. On January 17, 2017, Seoul Central District Criminal Court ruled in favor of Park, pronouncing a guilty verdict for the defendants and giving full term sentences as demanded by the prosecution. One woman, Miss Lee, was sentenced to two years imprisonment, her accomplices; the boyfriend to one year and six months and the gang member to two years and six months.The second accuser, a Miss Song, was indicted by the prosecutors and charged with False Accusation and Defamation on March 13, 2017. The first trial was held at Seoul Central District Court on April 4, 2017, where the defendant requested for a public trial. On October 25, 2017, Miss Song received a final ruling of not guilty for alleged false accusation and defamation in both her first and second trials. Though the prosecution filed for an appeal on the verdict, the supreme court denied the request on December 22, 2017. In December 2018, Miss Song filed a lawsuit against Park for the damages. On July 15, 2019, the court held a mandatory arbitration to settle the case and ordered Park to pay 100 million won to Miss Song. On July 30, 2019, police stated that they were investigating Park over bribery allegation in his sexual assault investigation which resulted all charges against him were dropped by the police back in 2016.
On January 17, 2018, Park was sued by an acquaintance for 1.2 billion won for the charge of negligence resulting in injury caused by a dog bite that occurred seven years prior.
Drug use and retirement
On April 11, 2019, Park denied the connection with Burning Sun scandal in which his former fiancée, Hwang Ha-na, was arrested on drug use charges. Hwang's connection to the case came after a Burning Sun employee mentioned her name while undergoing his own arrest for drug use. On April 24, 2019, police sought an arrest warrant for Park after a drug test on a sample of his hair came back positive for methamphetamine. Park was suspected of buying 1.5 grams of methamphetamines on three occasions and taking it on five occasions with Hwang in early 2019. He was also suspected of attempting to destroy evidence by dyeing and shaving the hair from his body before undergoing the drug test. It was later announced by Park's representative agency, C-JeS Entertainment, that his contract would be terminated and he would retire from the entertainment industry. On April 26, 2019, Park was arrested on suspicion of purchasing and using methamphetamine. Park reversed his earlier claim of innocence and admitted the drugs charges against him. On May 17, 2019, Park was indicted on charges of using drugs. On June 14, 2019, prosecution requested one year and six months prison sentence and a fine of 1.4 million won for Park. On July 2, 2019, Park was sentenced to two years probation with ten months in prison if he violate probation, and a fine of 1.4 million won.Despite his former agency announcing his retirement from entertainment industry, Park resumed his activities by holding a charity fanmeeting for the LOVE ASIA foundation in Bangkok, Thailand on January 25, 2020.
Personal life
In April 2017, it was confirmed by Park's agency that he will be marrying Hwang Ha-na, heiress to Namyang Dairy Products Company, in the fall. However, their wedding was postponed twice. On May 15, 2018, the couple was reported to have split.Discography
Solo appearances
| Year | Album Title | Release Date |
| 2016 | How Much Love Do You Have In Your Wallet | January 18 |
| 2019 | Slow Dance | February 27 |