Why Donghae Speaks Casually to 2NE1's Sandara Park, Who Is 2 Years His Senior

Super Junior's Donghae and 2NE1's Sandara Park have been on informal, first-name terms since they were teenagers, and the story behind it came out on the YouTube channel Donghaemul and Baekdueunhyuk on August 3rd.

During the episode, Donghae's Super Junior bandmate Eunhyuk asked the two whether they really do speak to each other in banmal, the informal speech register in Korean typically reserved for close friends and people younger than you. Donghae confirmed it without hesitation: "We go way back. We met in high school. That's when we dropped the formal speech."

The detail is notable because Sandara Park, born in 1984, is two years older than Donghae, who was born in 1986. In Korean social custom, speaking casually to someone your senior signals a genuinely close relationship, not just professional acquaintance.

Donghae added that the familiarity has not gone unnoticed by their respective fanbases. "Among fans, there are many who think we dated," he said. Eunhyuk nodded along, recalling that the K-pop industry of that era had a way of turning any visible closeness between an idol man and idol woman into a dating rumor almost immediately.

Sandara Park, for her part, said their bond deepened after the show that first brought them together had already wrapped. "We became closer after it ended," she said. "We dropped the formal speech while having a meal together with Jun-oppa." The reference is to Leeteuk, Super Junior's leader, whose given name is Park Jung-su.

The episode offers a small window into how K-pop friendships from the mid-2000s generation were formed: shared schedules, overlapping variety appearances, and group meals that gradually dissolved the professional distance. Donghae and Sandara Park have both been active for roughly two decades now, and it sounds like the friendship has held.