Sujan Ratna Shakya (; born 10 March 1988) is a Nepalese television personality based in South Korea. He was a cast member in the talk show ''

Non-Summit ''Non-Summit'' (), also known as ''Abnormal Summit'', is a South Korean television program on JTBC which first aired on July 7, 2014. The show features a panel of non-Korean men, living in South Korea, who debate on various topics and "Korean cu ...

'' and reality-travel show ''

Where Is My Friend's Home ''Where Is My Friend's Home'' () is a television show on JTBC in South Korea which features the cast members of another JTBC show, '' Non-Summit'', as they visit the home countries of the ''Non-Summit'' non-Korean members and their friends. The ...

''.

Personal

Shakya is from

Kathmandu Kathmandu () is the capital and largest city of Nepal, situated in the central part of the country within the Kathmandu Valley. As per the 2021 Nepal census, it has a population of 845,767 residing in 105,649 households, with approximately 4 mi ...

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

. He arrived in Korea in 2010 to study

urban planning Urban planning (also called city planning in some contexts) is the process of developing and designing land use and the built environment, including air, water, and the infrastructure passing into and out of urban areas, such as transportatio ...

Dankook University Dankook University (commonly referred to as Dankook), abbreviated as DKU, is a private research university in Yongin and Cheonan, South Korea. The university was established in 1947. It was the first university established after the National Lib ...

, where he graduated, and is a Sales and Marketing Manager of a

parachute A parachute is a device designed to slow an object's descent through an atmosphere by creating Drag (physics), drag or aerodynamic Lift (force), lift. It is primarily used to safely support people exiting aircraft at height, but also serves va ...

products company in Seoul where he has worked for over five years.

Career

On 5 January 2015 he interned as a guest representative from his home country Nepal, on Episode 27 of the

JTBC JTBC (shortened from Joongang Tongyang Broadcasting Company; ; stylized in all lowercase) is a South Korean nationwide pay television network. Its primary shareholder is JoongAng Holdings, with a 25% stake. It was launched on December 1, ...

South Korean talk show Non-Summit, that is made of a cast of young men from different countries, living in

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

, who debate and discuss issues, in the

Korean language Korean is the first language, native language for about 81 million people, mostly of Koreans, Korean descent. It is the national language of both South Korea and North Korea. In the south, the language is known as () and in the north, it is kn ...

, with perspectives they bring from their various cultures, from their native countries. He was immediately selected to be a permanent cast member for the next episode on 12 January, and joined, along with two more previous guest interns from

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. In a taped video, as to his expectations for his appearance on the show, he said he felt awkward, but would try his best, and hoped to bring awareness to Nepal and teach others about his country On the show, Shakya responds to questions about his country and religion, in one instance, as presented by the show's host

Sung Si-kyung Sung Si-kyung (; born April 17, 1979) is a South Korean singer, entertainer and television host. He debuted in 2001 and has released eight studio albums in Korean and two studio albums in Japanese. He has also hosted and appeared on numerous So ...

, that 90 percent of the people of Nepal are

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

and revere the "

cow Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are called co ...

" animal, with fellow talk show member

Guillaume Patry Guillaume Patry is a Canadian professional StarCraft player who plays under the alias Grrrr... He is from Quebec City, was a StarCraft world champion in 1999. He dominated the scene as a random player before he arrived in Korea, where he then f ...

, from Canada, responding with a joke, that he likes "beef". In discussions about an "angry society," he said rather than getting mad, people suppress anger by doing

yoga Yoga (UK: , US: ; 'yoga' ; ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines that originated with its own philosophy in ancient India, aimed at controlling body and mind to attain various salvation goals, as pra ...

. Another time he discussed the pace of life in Nepal as compared to the city life in Seoul. In March 2015, after participation on Non-Summit, he became part of the cast of the spin-off reality and travel show ''Where Is My Friend's Home,'' for a visit to the country of

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

, with other cast members, on their second country's visit. In April 2015, he hosted the trip to Nepal, the third country visited by ''Where Is My Friend's Home.'' While filming there, he said, "I hope people remember Nepal as a beautiful country of mountains," and "I wanted to show Nepal’s traditional culture where gods and humans exist together." He said he was happy to visit family and friends he hadn't seen in over a year and a half. During the broadcasting of pre-recorded episodes of ''My Friend's Home'', the

April 2015 Nepal earthquake The April 2015 Nepal earthquake (also known as the Gorkha earthquake) killed 8,962 people and injured 21,952 across the countries of Nepal, India, China and Bangladesh. It occurred at on Saturday 25 April 2015, with a magnitude of Moment magni ...

occurred on the same day that the second episode of the Nepal trips aired, on 25 April 2015. He was interviewed and said that his family was fine and the family home had not collapsed. He posted a poem and the message "#prayforNepal" on his

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

account.

Filmography

Television series

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shakya, Sujan 1988 births Living people Nepalese television personalities Nepalese expatriates in South Korea People from Kathmandu Dankook University alumni