Park Bom's Real Age in Question by Korean Media - Miscalculation or Not?

Jul 03, 2014

Korean media is abuzz with questions of 2NE1 Park Bom’s real age, following the release of the newspaper article from 2000 that reported on the death of the 2NE1 member’s childhood soccer teammate and an article from 1998 that announced her (Jenny Park) winning the junior varsity coach’s award.

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The two newspaper clips were released following the controversy surrounding Park Bom’s 2010 attempt at mailing prescription amphetamines to Korea, after which YG head Yang Hyun Suk released a personal statement explaining the Park Bom’s childhood trauma and why she was taking the medication.

(See: [UPDATE] Yang Hyun Suk Releases Statement Regarding 2NE1 Park Bom’s 2010 Drug Incident)

But, her respite was short. Soon after the release of these clips, netizens began questioning the 2NE1 member’s real age. The 1998 article states Jenny Park as a sophomore. According to a report by Korean news outlet MyDaily, among other sources, this makes Park Bom 17 years old in 1998, which the report then calculated as making the singer currently 34 years old. They then said that this contradicts her current age on her profile, which states that, born on March 24, 1984, she is currently 31 years of age.

However, this has yet to be confirmed. Depending on whether the Korean reports were taking into account the Korean standards of calculating age or if Park Bom had been kept back a year upon moving to the States due to her English ability, which international transfer students often are, Park Bom’s age in 1998 could be anywhere from 14 , as her reported birth year suggests (maybe if she had skipped a grade, as the average sophomore in high school is 15-16 years old), to 17, as was reported in Korean media.

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[EDITED: 07.03.14]

Update: