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		</div><p>South Koreans have reacted with rare collective joy after director Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite won the Oscar for best picture and three other awards.</p>
<p>The good news came as the country struggles to guard against a new coronavirus and counter North Korea’s nuclear threat.</p>
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<p>The movie’s wins made history in both the Hollywood and South Korean film industries.</p>
<p>The class satire is the first non-English-language film to win best picture in the 92-year history of the Academy Awards, and is the first South Korean movie to ever win an Oscar.</p>
<figure id="attachment_149275" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-149275" style="width: 600px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img class="size-full wp-image-149275" src="https://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/4F2A7C2D-58A2-4610-8D46-1796DB9AAF5D.jpeg" alt="" width="600" height="400" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-149275" class="wp-caption-text">Parasite actor Jeong Hyeonjun celebrates at his house in Seoul as he watches a live broadcast of director Bong Joon Ho receiving an award at the Oscars</figcaption></figure>
<p>“Can you believe that Parasite won the Academy best picture?” South Korea’s biggest newspaper, Chosun Ilbo, said in a headline.</p>
<p>“It rewrote the Academy’s 92-year-old history.”</p>
<p>South Korean social media sites were overwhelmed with congratulatory messages.</p>
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<p>Bong, Parasite and other Oscar-related news also dominated search terms throughout Monday at major internet portal sites, which had been preoccupied with the outbreak of a virus in China that has killed more than 900 people and sickened tens of thousands of others, mainly in China.</p>
<p>Worries about the virus have been growing in South Korea, where 27 cases have been reported, though no deaths have occurred.</p>
<p>Sales at tour agencies, restaurants, cinemas and department stores have sharply declined, raising worries about the impact on South Korea’s already lagging economy.</p>
<p>Opposition parties are accusing the government of ineffectiveness in coping with the outbreak.</p>
<figure id="attachment_149278" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-149278" style="width: 600px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img class="size-full wp-image-149278" src="https://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/D714C3F1-EC41-4002-A585-C69C58410279.jpeg" alt="" width="600" height="400" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-149278" class="wp-caption-text">People watch a TV screen showing images of South Korean director Bong Joon Ho during a news programme at Seoul railway station</figcaption></figure>
<p>But the concerns about the virus and political warfare eased on Monday to celebrate Bong’s wins.</p>
<p>“It’s happy news, like welcome rain, to the Republic of Korea, which is depressed, stagnant and thrown into despair due to Wuhan pneumonia,” the main opposition Liberty Korea Party said in a statement.</p>
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<p>Wuhan is the Chinese city at the centre of the outbreak.</p>
<p>President Moon Jae-in and his advisers began a regularly scheduled meeting by clapping their hands to celebrate Bong’s wins.</p>
<p>Mr Moon later tweeted that he is proud of Bong and his staff and “particularly grateful to them for giving courage and pride to our people who are overcoming difficulties”.</p>
<p>“I think this was a great opportunity to let the world know the true value of Korean movies,” said office worker Cho Sung-ho, 54.</p>
<p>“I think it is very meaningful that the Academy Award this time has acknowledged the superior quality of Korean films.”</p>
<figure id="attachment_149277" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-149277" style="width: 600px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img class="size-full wp-image-149277" src="https://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/2C9CFE1B-30E0-4A07-97B8-831005E97071.jpeg" alt="" width="600" height="414" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-149277" class="wp-caption-text">Bong Joon Ho accepts the award for best international feature film at the Oscars</figcaption></figure>
<p>US ambassador Harry Harris, who watched the Academy Awards ceremony with embassy staff, tweeted, “Wow! Congrats Director Bong, Team #Parasite &; ROK cinema!”</p>
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<p>At Bong’s alma mater, Seoul’s Yonsei University, students belonging to a school film club watched the Academy Award ceremony together.</p>
<p>“It’s deeply meaningful for Korean movies and this will open the path for further development. It’s such a great honour. I’m speechless,” said Kim Nam-hoon, 21.</p>
<p>Jeong Ho-cheol, a 26-year-old student, praised Bong for pleasing both film critics and crowds.</p>
<p>“His way of dealing with the underside of Korean society and problems such as rich-poor gaps and the way he expresses those issues are very expressive,” he said.</p>
<p>Park Chan-wook, a prominent South Korean film director who is regarded as Bong’s main rival at home, joined the congratulations.</p>
<p>It is a “huge blessing to work in the same industry as a person as talented as Bong and being able to call him a friend”, said Park, who won the Grand Prix at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival for Oldboy.</p>
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