[Aju News DB]
The Handmaiden, a lesbian thriller from director Park Chan-wook, has been selected as Google's most popular Korean keyword this year, reflecting a trend that internet users in South Korea are more interested in cultural contents than social and political issues.
The thriller about a young orphan girl hired by a con man to win the trust of a wealthy heiress has become the best-selling Korean film of all time, beating out the previous sales record of Bong Joon-ho's sci-fi feature "Snowpiercer".
Google Korea said The Handmaiden (Agassi in Korean) was the keyword most frequently searched this year in South Korea, followed by Descendants of the Sun, a popular TV hit drama which gained explosive popularity in Asia.
The name of K-pop star Yoochun stood third in this year's online search on Google Korea using keywords.
In August, police arrested a woman who sued disgraced Yoochun of raping her in the bathroom of a private membership bar. She was accused of committing calumny and trying to blackmail Yoochun of his money. Yoochun was cleared of rape allegations but he was charged with buying sex.
TV drama "Reply 1988" starring Park Bo-gum was fourth, and the fifth place went to Choi Soon-sil, a longtime friend of President Park Geun-hye, engulfed in a corruption scandal that sparked candlelit rallies.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
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