I had to share this video Lynn49 posted on the forum. This is one amazing man, his story brought tears to my eyes. It makes you really realize how lucky we are. I haven’t seen such a moving contestant on one of these shows since Susan Boyle.
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Wow!!!
OMGoodness that was amazing. Thanks for posting on here as I do not You tube and would have missed seeing that. It moved me to tears.
OMG! That’s just… wow. I hope he has a place to stay or someone had offer him some place
Thank you so much for sharing, I would have never seen it otherwise. It also brought me to tears!
amazing…truly amazing…i still have tears in my eyes!
Amazing story and voice. thanks for posting.
I did not understand a word he sang but his story and his voice/song touched me. Thanks for the share!
Lived on the street by himeself since 5 years of age- really?! Did I hear that right? Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against unfortunate ppl. And if his story is true then I applaud him for getting this far. But does his story sound a little far-fetched? Sleeping on stairs and in public washrooms. A normal 5 years old can’t tell hot from cold not to mention having to earn money to survive. That just doesn’t add up. He’s 22 now so that was in 1993. Really?! Conspiracy, anyone?
Me: I wouldn’t take that story literally (plus unless you’re Korean the translation might not have been good). But I guess what he meant was ever since escaping from his foster home he never had a place he called home nor people he called family. It’s probably rare here in Canada for things like this to happen but in Asia there are people who do fall through the cracks and just scrap by whatever they can get.
Crazier things have happened in the world than a 5 year old living on the street.
i’m skeptical too.
he says he can’t sing that well, then sings like that?
and the lady is going to question him about the blank family space on his application, in front of all those people and on tv?
perhaps he did have a rough life and perhaps he was homeless – but i think there was a ratings boost thrown in there for sure.
@slide: you’re right. sadly, there are underprivileged people that barely make it through each day.. hence why the lyrics of Nella Fantasia – or rather the understanding/meaning of the lyrics – could make the audience and judges tear up. i guess he’s trying to express his feelings and the story of his life thru those lyrics..
Thank you for posting. He said many bad things happened to him through his life including being sold by someone. I guess he was picked up by wrong people and became a swingman. I do not think he sold drugs on the street because he said he sold gums but who knows. I believe what he said because the Children’s Aid Society of Korea is still developing. What a great life story!
have me bursting tears out of my eyes so early in the morning.. Geezz… but keep em coming!
Ricky/ No no, kids don’t go selling drugs on the street in Korea. Drugs aren’t that common there. And they wouldn’t let ‘kids’ deal them.. the mobs there don’t trust kids with those sorts of stuff haha.. it’s more of a ‘high class’ behind the closed door thing…. anyways.. i believe that he sold gums because there are these bad ppl (usually high-teens~20s) who “provide shelters(protection from the streets/etc.)” and then force these young kids to sell gums. (yes gums. bubble gums) and all the money goes to these bad guys.. it doesn’t happen much any more but back in the days (when that singer was young) you could see many of those little kids/really old grandmas begging ppl to buy gums from them…
True/ I totally agree with you. However, Korea has been changed a lot. If you see the Korean movie ‘the man from nowhere’ 2010, you would understand him more.
p.s. When he said ‘manual work’, he used a slang word in Korean which ppl normally do not use on T.V.. That’s why ppl laughed.
So let me get this straight, these forum FREAK when SC post questions or content not related to saving money and post all the negative feedback…but when SC shares a heart warming video NOT related to coupons or svaing money…everyones ok with that?? SC, next time you want to post a question open to discussion, please do so and when they give you hell for it, just quote this video. Good job, keep it up. coupons are not everything.
The pre-performance interview revealed that the man had a desire for a better life.
I do not think it tactful of the judge (popular actress Song Yu-na of On Air fame; she became a mother last fall) to ask about the man’s blank family section on his application because family is a big deal in South Korea. It was immense for the man to enter the competition to see if he get closer to his better life goal.
Thank you for sharing the video. I see that the UK opera singer (former salesman Paul Potts) has some new competition coming up.
Wow! What a beautiful voice. I wish him all the success in the world and hope that his life has done a 180 since this aired!
He was amazing…thanks for sharing. I do want to say we do have similar stories in Canada and the US. I do foster care advocacy and work with homeless youth….and was a foster kid myself. Foster kids are abused and regularly run away preferring to live in the streets to the maltreatment they receive in strangers homes.
I remember doing this training for foster parents and foster parents asking if they don’t bruise the kid can they at least hit them…like on the feet or hands. I wanted to cry but had to address that you are never allowed to hit a foster kid bruise or no bruise. Aged 5 runaways is very uncommon but not 10 or 11. I work with 14 year olds regularly who won’t go back to foster care and can’t go home.
His story is amazing as are all orphans and street kids stories. He’s quite resilient and I wish him a lot of success.
The next time you see a street kid know they were probably in foster care (or they should have been) and never found a solid family. I’m not saying to give them money or anything but food and compassion sometimes goes a long way.
all i can say is AMAZING!!! good job, I hope he go’s on in his life with his talent…his story could make millions & hopefully he doesn’t get used over it
Really great.
I’m sitting at my desk with tears in my eyes – oh boy lol! He is incredible and I wish him the best!!!
THANKS FOR THE VIDEO !!! Made my day, what a great story. And to all the ignorant people who think its a “fishy” story for whatever reason, EAT A **** ! You should be thankful that you were privileged to have the life you do now and understand that there ARE less privileged folks in the world. You think because he was homeless at 5 years old that the story is not true ? There are 5 years old child war soldiers all over Africa.
Very true OP there are 4 year old kids out there that know how to use machine guns and are killers, there are children all over world at 5 raising themselves,it’s not far fetched imo. Sometimes the world is a digusting place.
Hi there, I am Korean but was born and raised in Canada. About 15 years ago, I went to Korea to teach English and to all those skeptics out there, poverty in Korea (as well as many other countries) is shocking. I often saw children selling gum and other trinkets on the subway, on the streets, etc. One time, I saw a young girl (probably around 7 years old) piggybacking her baby brother (wrapped in a blanket around her body) and holding her other brother’s hand while selling gum on the subway. Unfortunately, this is a way of life for many people. I believe this guy’s story and from the way he was speaking, believe that it’s real.
Thank you for posting. I too, never go on YouTube and wouldn’t have seen this otherwise. AWESOME clip, hope he does well in life!
I totally agree with Sally. Believe it or not, in a lot of countries children younger than 5 are sent out to pick up scrap metal, sell candy or even fight wars. My family is from Vietnam and I can tell you that my younger cousins have been working since the age of 4 or 5. And it’s unfortunate to say, but really young children living on the street is a lot more common outside of canada. We should consider ourselves lucky to be here.
I don’t know if it’s better if this was true or not.
Hoping this man’s story is true is hoping he actually did have a tough life.
Hoping this man’s story is false means he’s imitating someone who’s had a tough life for his own benefit, which is unacceptable.
He has a great voice (natural), but his technique (trained) wasn’t quite there, so my guess is there is some truth. It is TV after all, so there is absolutely no doubt that there are chunks of details missing and some planned acting on the judges’ part, but it does creates an opportunity for people to be thankful for what they have.
🙂
There’s a report and the guy admitted it too. He lied.
The site states:
“It may have seemed like he had a tough childhood, but when netizens researched and found out that he actually was musically trained from attending the Dae Jun vocal department, controversy arose. His side defended this by saying that he had already revealed this information previously.
Although he had also revealed that he took the qualification exams for elementary school and junior high school before graduating from an arts high school, this statement was edited out of the broadcast. ”
I found out about this post yesterday and I just thought I would share it. Im seriously not hating. It’s just that I found a relevant post and thought I might as well share it.
this was an amazing singer with such a sad story I cried.
Thanks for sharing!
maybe i’m getting cynical but he seemed too self-effacing to be real. i hope he didnt lie to get on the show and gain audience sympathy.
I don’t know. There will be rumours out saying he lied and there will be ones saying it’s true. I’m trying to keeep a bit of faith left in humanity.
Amazing!!!! Even though I donot understand a word, I am highly touch by his singing !!!! Thanks for sharing 🙂
@ME and other skeptics: life is very easy in Canada. Don’t think it’s that same everywhere in the world.
Because living on welfare in a fully subsidized house and complete healthcare is considered being under the poverty line, in many places that is considered luxury.
Now do not know if this particular man’s story is true but children 5 and younger do live in the streets and sleep in the dumpsters. It’s especially true for Asia, Eastern Europe and many other places.
My friend is a highschool teacher in Ukraine. Her mother is a child psychologist. They live in a ONE room (not just one bedroom) apartment with no toilet, bath/shower or hot water. And that is a a major city. They both make official salary of $150 and $100 respectively. Just to compare their electricity and property taxes are $120 a month and pork is $20/kg. Go figure how they even survive.. The teacher is my highschool classmate.. I made more a day then her a month when was doing waitressing part-time during my university. so sad..
I guess when people are living in such fortunate situations, they cannot realize that thousands and thousands of children are living on the streets every day world wide.
One of my parent’s neighbours started living on the streets when he was 5 in El Salvador. This is reality. This is what globalization, colonialization (etc.) have done to people.
Thank you for posting this here…at the very least it initiates a conversation regarding the less fortunate who don’t really ‘live’, but merely survive in this world. Such poverty is real. Children that age in many countries are just ignored..just so much trash. As I mentioned in the original thread…one of my friends is living in Nairobi, in a very privileged manner, yet volunteers in a near-by orphanage with just such throw-away children. Others just turn a blind eye and count their money. So terribly sad….
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I thought this little boy on China’s Got Talent was very touching too – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lY7ChkI6c8A
what an amazing young man. i got sent the link by a friend and opened it while i was siting in a cafe! after i watched it the manager came over to ask if i was alright…i have a son that’s about the same age who has been given so many opportunities which you give them cause you love them. for this boy to have started off his life the way he did and still have the will to carry on is no less than inspirational. i hope he achieves his dreams and has an amazing life…