Produced over 100 videos, total views over 6.5 million, comments from over 40 countries
Pharmacist from the YU School of Pharmacology, currently working on master’s degree at graduate school
Produced videos while preparing for state examination for pharmacist, worldwide issue
[November 17, 2015]
“I just made the videos for the fun of others and myself. I did not know it would make such an issue!”
Koh Toe-gyeong (25) is a ‘Facebook Star’ with 350,000 followers. Koh’s videos on his Facebook account recently reached 1.6 million views and is enjoying celebrity-status popularity. He is receiving a great deal of interest not only in Korea, but also in the US, France, Japan and China. The video that received so much attention is a four minute video that Koh edited from the comic videos that he had been producing in the past.
His videos received so much attention that he is even called the ‘Second Psy’ on SNS. What is more amazing is that he is a pharmacist in his 20s who passed his state examination for pharmacists earlier this year. Mr. Koh graduated from the YU School of Pharmacology in February of this year and is currently working on his master’s degree majoring in pharmacology. The official name of the channel that Mr. Koh runs on Facebook and YouTube is ‘Toe-gyeong, Time for Medicine’. Mr. Koh said, “My friend made up the name because I am a pharmacist and my behavior in the videos are pretty crazy. I really like the name.”
Mr. Koh began to produce the videos and upload them on Facebook from last year while he was busily preparing for the state examination for pharmacists. He said, “I took breaks from studying for my state examination and produced the video. I worked hard on both the videos and my studies.” He also added, “I really enjoyed producing the videos so I was actually able to relieve some stress while preparing for the examination.”
Mr. Koh comes up with dances, behavior and outfits together with songs and films them with various facial expressions and then edits them according to his desired concept to make the videos. The videos Koh produced until now number over 100. On average he produced one video every three days and uploaded them to Facebook and YouTube. The total number of views of his videos surpassed 6.5 million and there were over 40 countries from which people left comments after watching his videos.
Koh said, “I think many foreigners enjoy it because of the music and the power of SNS', while adding, ”The reason for producing the videos was simple. I just wanted to make people laugh. It is very rewarding to see even foreigners saying that they felt better after watching my videos.“
Koh said that unlike the comic and off-the-wall image in the video, he is actually quiet and shy. He stated, “My parents did not know about this at all, but one day, a fan of mine noticed me on the street while I was walking with my mother in downtown Ulsan, and so she found out about the videos I made,” and added, “Perhaps it’s because of my personality, but my parents were very approving that I was living okay alone.”
This young pharmacist says that he still wants to study hard while making these videos. He stated, “When I was young I wanted to work with television. Just as there are many chefs appearing on various shows now, the diversity of SNS and media is making it possible for the general public to become stars.” He added, “I would also like to pursue my professional career as a pharmacist and also work with other media to entertain people.”
