Extracts from the article:

Be it politics or pop, country wants to play a bigger role in the region.

South Korea is looking to boost its prescence in the region and exploring more ways to strengthen relations with ASEAN, whether is it in bond markets, trade – or pop stars.

At the ground level, it is called the ‘Korean wave’ – an incoming tide of Korean drama, Korean pop and Korean culture that has swept into the region.

Yesterday, South Korean President Lee Myung Bak related the account of a Cambodian minister who had visited him.
“They (Cambodians) don’t know me,” The minister told Mr Lee, “But they know the names of all the Korean actors.”

Meanwhile, the push for the Korean Wave to hit more shores goes on.

Members of teenybopper pop bands Super Junior and Girls’ Generation told reporters that they were ready to take on the challenge of breaking language barriers in reaching out to ASEAN audiences.
Continue reading →

Popular female group SNSD tries out to be super moms.

On KBS JOY cable channel, SNSD will be on a childcare variety show called ‘Hello Baby’

On SNSD’s ‘Hello Baby’, SNSD members will visit college students, a dual-career family, celebrity couples,

and multinational families and babysit their kids for a day.

SNSD’s ‘Hello Baby’ is expected air in June. With this childcare variety, SNSD will show their mature image instead of their usual cute, bright image.

—————

Source: segye.com

Translated: cathode @ soshified.com

Edited: Soy @ soshified.com

Continue reading →

It has been revealed that the 9-member girl group SNSD have been a huge hit on online music stores this first few months of the year.

According to documents that the music portal site KTF Doshirak revealed to MoneyToday StarNews on the 19th, SNSD’s Gee has placed first in the total number of overall pop song downloads between January and April.

SNSD’s Gee, which has been presented online beginning of January, was the number 1 download in January and February. In March, the song was third, and between January and February, it was placed number 1 overall. SNSD’s minialbum with Gee has sold over 100 000 copies (their company’s standard total) and it has reeled in a fairly large sum offline, as well.

On the other hand, according to KTF Doshirak, the female duo Davichi’s “8282” was in first place in March and BigBang&2NE1’s “Lollipop” was first place in April.

Also, for the total download listings following SNSD from January to February, Super Junior’s “Sorry Sorry” was 2nd, Davichi’s “8282” was 3rd, Afterschool’s “Ah” was 4th, SS501’s “Because I’m Stupid” was 5th, Hwayobi’s “Half” was 6th, BigBang&2NE1’s “Lollipop” was 7th, Wax’s “Can’t Call Even Once” was 8th, Gavy NJ’s “Love Story” was 9th, and Big Bang Seungri’s solo song “Strong Baby” was in 10th place.

——————-

Source: Reporter Gil Hyesung from StarNews

Translation: mishybear@soshified.com

Continue reading →