Hallyu Romantic Festival 2007 Sweeps Japan

The Hallyu Romantic Festival 2007, which opened in Japan June 23, has drawn the spotlight from the Japanese media.

Fuji TV covered the festival in-depth on June 25, lauding it as a gathering of the top Korean stars and a "dream show."

Influential Japanese dailies also reported on the festival, with the Asahi Shimbun calling actor Ji Jin-hee a "trustworthy man" and the "ideal man for working women." The daily also conducted an in-depth interview with actor Cho In-sung, which will be published in July.

Japanese fans also showed great interest in the festival, giving it rave reviews on major portal Web sites. Some wrote on Yahoo! Japan that the festival was a dream come true because they could see so many top Korean stars at once. Others said the four-hour festival ended too soon and that they had the time of their lives at the event.

Japanese fans also praised Korean stars for showing consideration for the audience by descending from the stage to mingle with the audience during the finale of the festival

source: kbs grobal


Related Tags: Hallyu Romantic Festival/korean star/korean actor/Cho In sung/Ji Jin hee/Cha Tae Hyun/Jang Hyuk/Gong You

Rain to Star in CNN Commercial

Korean singer Rain will be the main model for a special advertisement on the world's biggest news channel CNN.

This special type of ad that restrains the sending of commercial messages has appealed more to customers and has actively been used by public US corporations in recent days.

The Korea Tourism Organization has been airing an ad utilizing its slogan 'Korea Sparkling!' with Rain as the model since April to 17 countries worldwide. The ad's visual is considered to promote Korea's energy and softness.

A CNN official, after watching the ad, proposed that the tourism organization produce another ad in a different style, which is how the latest deal came about.

KNTO director Cha So-hee says the new ad has been made exclusively for CNN and is expected to significantly promote Korean tourism during the months of July and August.

Singer Rain has previously appeared on the CNN talk show 'Talk Asia' and also made it on the world's top 100 influential people list by Time magazine in 2006.

source: kbs global

Related Tags: Korean singer Rain/ rain/ Bi/ korean star/ korean actor

[ photo ] Korean Celebs At Their College

Kim Jung Hoon


Kim Tae-Hee

Credit: yahoo korea and Thanks jadu@soompi

Related Tags: Kim Tae Hee/Kim Jung Hoon/korean star photo

Hacker Busted for Blackmailing Pop Stars

Police arrested a college student who hacked into the website of pop singer BoA. The hacker, Seo, extorted W35 million (US$1=W938) from BoA's agent by threatening to leak private photos and e-mails between the star and another singer to the press.

An information and communications major, the student hacker stole photos featuring BoA and the singer together. Seo was arrested while demanding an additional W65 million from the unnamed singer on June 2. He was found to have also hacked into the e-mail account of singer Lee Hyo-lee.

source: Chosun ilbo

Related Tags: k-pop singer/BoA/Lee Hyo lee/korean singer

Lee Hyo-lee to Launch Volunteer Work in Ethiopia

Singer Lee Hyo-lee will visit Ethiopia June 18 for ten days to provide help to needy people in the country wrought by drought and poverty.

Lee will be joined by actor Cho Min-ki. Their efforts will be shown on the KBS TV1 program "Request for Love." The two will also launch a fund-raising campaign to help African children.

Sources say that it was actress Shin Ae-ra who suggested that Lee go to Ethiopia to do volunteer work. Lee willingly accepted the offer from Shin, who has been helping children from poor families for years.

source: kbs global

Related Tags: Lee Hyo lee/korean star/korean singer/Cho Min ki/Shin Ae ra

Bae's Tokyo Restaurant Prepares Korean Culture Event

A traditional Korean food restaurant that actor Bae Yong-jun opened in Shirokanedai, Tokyo last August will hold an event themed on the actor's first title film 'Scandal.'

Celebrating Dano (the fifth day of the fifth month of the year according to the lunar calendar) on May 19, the special event featuring "Korea's food, clothing and housing via cinema" lasting through the 25th will provide customers a chance to "observe, feel and enjoy traditional Korean culture."

Korean food, traditional Korean attire called 'hanbok' and traditional Korean housing and music will be introduced through the film 'Scandal' while visitors enjoy food that appears in the movie.

The designer of the movie costumes will also be invited to the Tokyo restaurant on the 19th for a reenactment of a traditional Korean wedding ceremony.

source: kbs global

Related Tags: Bae yong joon/korean actor/korean star/Korean food/hanbok/Korean restaurant