[Letters] Leave the celebrities alone

It was interesting to see how the Britain got instantly buzzed with enthusiasm when the royal couple’s engagement was announced and then all geared up for the special royal occasion.

The fascination started with the appearance of T-shirts and tea accessories featuring the smiling faces of the happy couple at gift shops around the country. Then there were numerous TV documentaries about Kate Middleton’s childhood, her personal life to date and most of all, both well-known and lesser-known stories about how the lives of Prince William and his fiance had been intertwined as their school friendship at St. Andrews University in Scotland blossomed into royal romance.

Strange to say, what crossed my mind while watching all this happening in Britain was what is currently going on in Korea over the most shocking news ever in its entertainment world - the unveiled relationship (a secret marriage and then a secret divorce) between the nation’s legendary rock star Seo Taiji and top actress E jiah.

It was not necessary for me to be in Korea to know every bit of news about them from Day 1 since I could get ceaseless updated news on the internet.

All the local newspapers and broadcasters were making frantic searches for more information, if any, about the two and their relationship. It took just about a week for the nation to get to know about almost every possible detail of what was going on with the two celebrities, plus Jung Woo-sung, another actor who had just started to openly date E just a month ago.

For whom and for what this is all about? If everything people want to know is revealed, then will everybody be satisfied and happy? It is often said that celebrities live off people’s attention and indeed cannot do without it, which is somewhat true, but too much is always as bad as too little.

The relationship between Seo and E are is a private matter and likewise, the marriage of William and Kate is also fundamentally about the two people who love each other and thus are now wedded to have a happy life together just like any other married couple. It appears, however, that the Royal couple cannot surely be just another married couple. They decided to postpone their honeymoon until sometime in the future when things will hopefully have calmed down because of fears about expected invasions of privacy during their most intimate moments.

Expecting an additional economic boost of about 600 million pounds ($990 million), Britain now seems happy and confident that the Royal wedding was a success and greatly helped boost the country’s brand and image around the world, which was actually possible thanks to enormous attention of the media and public around the globe. On the other hand, the couple, who played the leading role in the drama, now face their life together being sought and watched by the very same media and public for years to come.

Celebrities are human beings, just like us, not mere objects of attention. Leave their personal matters to Seo and E so that they can settle on their own and carry on with their lives and leave William and Kate alone once in a while so that they can actually “live happily ever after,” as Britain and an estimated 2 billion people across the world who reportedly watched the British royal wedding on their TV screens on the day, had hoped for them.

I sincerely wish the new Royal couple, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the best of luck and happiness for the rest of their lives.

*Letters and commentaries for publication should be addressed “Letters to the Editor.” E-mailed letters should be sent to eopinion@joongang.co.kr.

Park Sun-young, former KJD reporter and now a resident in London.