2PM member and actor OK Taecyeon grew up in the U.S. and The Kpop celebrity had a U.S. permanent residential visa. But he gave it up at one point and enlisted for Korean mandatory military service. The Vincenzo villain recently revealed the reason behind him giving up the privilege of U.S. permanent residency visa.
Taecyeon said: "Having promoted a long time, I received love from so many people. I felt that this was an obligation that I had to do." He added, "When we had concerts in the U.S., I used to be able to just go, but now I have to stop by the embassy and do an interview to get a visa." Thus after becoming a Korean celebrity, Taecyeon decided to give up on his privilege in December 2010.
Taecyeon's Loyalty to South Korea
Revealing the news, Taecyeon's former agency JYP Entertainment had said: "Taec-yeon would like to give up his American permanent residence visa and recently, on December 1 [2010], he received his official confirmation for his permanent residence cancellation." Before the recent amendment was made to the military law, South Korea had given the option to Koreans, who had a permanent residence visa of any other country, to forgo mandatory military service.
But Taecyeon showed his loyalty to the country that had given him the celebrity status and decided to join military. He not only enlisted in military as an active duty soldier but also also took part in various Winter Olympics events as one of the volunteers under the command of the Ministry of National Defense of South Korea in 2018.
He also revealed an interesting fact about his weight when he was in the military. "I ate a lot because there was a lot to eat at the military. My muscles continued to grow and I reached 99 kg (~218 lbs). I have currently lost about 18 kg (~39 lbs)," said Taecyeon.
Embarrassing Encounter
Taecyeon revealed some of his secrets during the recent episode of variety show Knowing Brothers. He spoke of an embarrassing encounter with Sasaengs [crazy fans who are even termed as stalkers] inside a hotel room.
Taecyeon said, he and 2PM member Chansung were sleeping without any clothes inside their hotel room in Singapore, when their room was invaded by Sasaengs in the middle of the night. The singers heard their room being unlocked. Both heard noises of giggling noises and whispers, and even wondered if they were some kind of ghosts. But soon Taecyeon spotted a sasaeng and let out all kinds of curse words in English, seeing that the fans were also non-Koreans.
He revealed that they were invaded by a group of 5 to 6 women. At last the incident came to an end with hotel staff apologizing to Taecyeon and Chansung with a bottle of complementary champagne.
