S’porean-Korean couple survive 5-year long-distance relationship, 2-year separation by Covid-19 pandemic, now married

If you have been scrolling through TikTok, you’d probably recognise Hong, a Korean man who often tries out Singaporean ways of life, such as learning Singlish and ordering cai png at hawker centres, with the help of his Singaporean wife.

@feliciasongggg Korean boyfriend LEVEL UP 💪🏼Ordering cai fan for the first time #koreanboyfriend #sgtiktok #sgfyp #sgfoodie #caifan #caipng #singlish #korsgcouple #singaporelife ♬ Monkeys Spinning Monkeys - Kevin MacLeod & Kevin The Monkey

However, what is less known about the couple is that of the six years they have been together, they spent almost five in a long-distance relationship, with Hong in Korea and his wife, Felicia Song, in Singapore.

While Hong and Song would occasionally meet and stay in one place for a few months at a time, they were forced to be apart for almost two years during the Covid-19 pandemic, from February 2020 to November 2021.

Nevertheless, the 4,500km geographical distance between Korea and Singapore has not been an insurmountable obstacle for the couple, as they tied the knot officially in the second half of 2023.

First met on language exchange app

Speaking to Mothership, Song shared that she and Hong first met through a language exchange app.

Neither of them expected anything romantic to bloom: Song only joined because she wanted to make new friends to learn Korean, while Hong wanted to learn English.

In fact, right before they met, both Song and Hong were about to quit the app because “it was getting a bit repetitive talking to folks about the same few things”.

However, they ended up clicking and interacted more frequently until they eventually decided to meet in person.

First meeting became first date

As both Hong and Song preferred a casual and cosy place to meet, they decided to meet at a Udon restaurant in Korea in August 2017, shared Song.

There, they instantly clicked, and they continued their conversation at another Izakaya till almost 2am before ending their night at a coin Karaoke, one of Hong’s favourite forms of entertainment.

Since then, Hong and Song spent more days and nights sharing their lives and learning more about each other before the pair made their relationship official.

Focus on personality, not nationality

Before Hong and Song started dating, neither had entered a serious relationship with someone from a different country or culture, said Song.

While she was familiar with K-dramas’ portrayal of Korean men, she knew those depictions were “fictional and for entertainment purposes”.

Song also revealed that she was actually the first Singaporean whom Hong had ever met, which allowed her to share more about her hometown and culture with him.

“We didn’t think too deeply at the beginning as both of us kept an open mind and treated each other as our own persons and appreciated each other’s personalities, rather than focusing on the fact that I am a Singaporean and he is a Korean,” shared Song.

Likewise, Song’s family and friends were also very supportive and happy for Song when she told them about her relationship with Hong.

“They were not very concerned about Hong having a different nationality, but more so on whether he is a good person and whether he would care for us,” she shared.

Joys & hiccups of cross-cultural relationship

Because of their different backgrounds, Song shared that there have been “countless interesting, funny, and wholesome moments” throughout her relationship with Hong.

While Song gained experiences unique to Korean culture, such as drinking seaweed soup on her birthdays and eating sundaes (blood sausages), Hong was able to learn Singlish and its distinctive semantics.

“Although there are many small differences in how we go about our everyday lives, including how we interact with people, our habits, and the tasks we complete daily, they made our relationship interesting and allowed us to have many conversations on how and why we do certain things the way we do,” recounted Song.

With that said, Song shared candidly that their different backgrounds also meant that their relationship would sometimes run into small bumps.

One such hiccup occurred during the early course of their relationship when the couple was recycling household items in Korea.

Song shared that she was initially unfamiliar with the recycling practices of Korean households.

As Song eventually learnt, there are rules against putting trash into trash bags that are not meant for their category or into trash bags that are meant for other neighbourhoods.

There are other stipulations too: For instance, to recycle a pack of wet tissue that comes with a plastic lid, Korean households would need to separate the plastic lid from the plastic package first.

While Hong grew up learning and following the rules of sorting and recycling trash, they were a distant notion for Song.

As a result, the couple would sometimes end up in “small, little quibbles” over why Song threw trash in the wrong places when Hong had already explained to her previously, recounted Song.

Once broke up due to long-distance

In addition to cultural differences, the geographical distance between the couple had also once led to a breakup, revealed Song.

“We broke up a few months after we began seeing each other because I had to go back to Singapore, and we were not sure if we would work out.”

It was only a few months later that Hong reached out and the couple started talking again.

“Naturally, the conversation went on, and before we officially said anything, we both knew that we were somehow back together,” shared Song.

Since then, the couple held onto each other tightly in the face of roadblocks before Hong finally popped the question at a secretly planned proposal with Song’s close friends in the southeastern city of Gyeongju in April 2023.

Starting a life together in Singapore

After getting married, the couple was able to finally put an end to their long-distance relationship and move in together in Singapore, where they hope to settle down and secure their own place.

Song said she was very appreciative of Hong for leaving behind his life in Korea and taking the leap of faith to be together with her in a foreign country.

For now, she and Hong will focus on the positive aspects of life, including visiting Hong’s family in Korea as often as possible and sharing funny moments of their relationship with their followers on TikTok.

As of the time of writing, Hong and Song have some 15,800 fans and garnered 507,900 likes on TikTok.

Making connections easier with Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6

Song and Hong are one of the many international couples in Singapore who testify to love’s power in transcending cultural differences and bringing people together.

Now, couples like Song and Hong can jump through even fewer hurdles with new tools and technologies.

One powerful aid is the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6, which, amongst others, comes with a real-time interpreter feature powered by Galaxy AI.

Combined with the smartphone’s FlexWindow, the feature helps with in-person conversations in a foreign language as translations will appear on both the cover and main screens.

According to Song, if she and Hong had access to such a feature when they were dating, their lives would have been so much easier “without a doubt”.

“When our families met each other for the first time, my husband and I had to not only interact and take part in the conversation but also translate on the side for our family members so everyone could be included in the conversation. Such an AI-powered feature will definitely make it easier for both our families to connect,” shared Song.

Your durable and long-lasting travel buddy

Even if you are not in a cross-cultural relationship like Song and Hong, Galaxy Z Flip6’s Interpreter feature will come in handy, especially when travelling.

The smartphone is built with a durable FlexHinge and fortified with an Enhanced Armor Aluminum frame, as well as the newest, toughest Corning Gorilla Glass Victus.

It is also powered by a 4,000mAh battery, the biggest Flip battery to date, allowing you to watch videos for up to 23 hours, according to Samsung.

For solo travellers, you no longer need to worry about asking strangers to help take your photos with Galaxy Z Flip6.

With the new Auto Zoom feature, the phone’s FlexCam allows you to snap selfies hands-free by automatically framing you using Galaxy AI.

You can find out more about Galaxy Z Flip6 and how it can make life easier here. T&Cs apply.

This sponsored article by Samsung was done while BTS’ “Don’t Leave Me” was playing in the background.

Top images courtesy of Felicia Song; some quotes are edited for clarity