Jung Il-woo invited to Korea-Japan diplomacy festival

 

Actor Jeong Il-woo will be the main attraction at this year’s fourth annual Japan-Korea Friendship Festival on April 8, headed by the nonprofit corporate body Japan-Korea Cultural Exchange Association.

The star from the hit MBC drama “The Sun and the Moon” is currently decorating the organization’s Web site, which is promoting the event ahead of the date.

Other entertainers to attend the festival will be the groups Monday Kiz and the Japanese string orchestra Baradan. The two will perform theme songs from Hallyu dramas together.

The Japan-Korea Cultural Exchange Association was founded in 2008, and its event takes place every April. The theme for each year has always been based on Hallyu period dramas, and previous guests have included actors Choi Soo-jong and Song Il-kook.

Meanwhile, Jeong was in Japan earlier this year on Feb. 3 to promote the drama “49 Days”. Jeong starred in the drama last year and attended a fan meeting for the show alongside co-stars Jo Hyeon-jae and Nam Gyoo-ri.

By Carla Sunwoo [carlasunwoo@joongang.co.kr]

Source : koreajoongangdaily.jo… ( English Korean ) ; hancinema

SM Entertainment clears up Jessica’s plastic surgery rumors

 

Girls’ Generation member Jessica has been surrounded with plastic surgery rumors recently, and her agency attempted to put the rumors to rest.

A set of photos recently surfaced on an online community site with the title, “Jessica put on a little weight while taking a break from work, looks good.”

One photo was from when Jessica was filming KBS2‘s ‘Wild Romance‘, and the other was taken at Girls’ Generation’s recent concert in Malaysia.

Comparing the two, Jessica looked noticeably thinner in the ‘Wild Romance’ photo, causing some netizens to speculate whether or not she had undergone plastic surgery since then.

In regards to the speculation, Girls’ Generation’s label SM Entertainment remarked, “She definitely did not have plastic surgery.”

SM continued to explain that while filming her drama, Jessica was juggling a very busy schedule and became very thin as a result, but is feeling much better now and gained back some weight while taking some time to rest.

Does it really make any sense that someone as beautiful as Jessica while filming for ‘Wild Romance’ would get plastic surgery afterwards?

Source & Image: TVDaily via Nate + Newsen via Nate ; allkpop

MBLAQ members reveal the celebrities they keep in touch with

 

 

Girls’ Generation recently drew interest for revealing the top celebrities they keep in touch with, and idol group MBLAQ‘s own social circles are also garnering new attention.

The members of MBLAQ previously filled out a ‘resume’ for Mnet‘s ‘Wide Entertainment News‘, and the things they wrote down by hand caused netizens to explode in laughter.

The members revealed their real names, wrote down what kind of assets they have to their name, some of the hilarious ‘concerns’ they had, and in which ways they thought they were superior to their fellow members.

G.O. felt that he was good looking and therefore had an advantage in the group, while his concern was also that he was a bit too good looking. Meanwhile, Mir hilariously wrote that he had an advantage over the members because he owned a lot of land, and Thunder‘s biggest concern was whether he should eat pork belly plain or to eat it with kimchi.

The boys also wrote down the names of top celebrities they were close with.

Seungho wrote that he was close with 2AM‘s Seulong and After School‘s NaNa, and under the ‘top star’ category, he scribbled the names of Rain & Se7en. G.O. wrote down 2PM‘s Junsu and 2AM’s Seulong, while also writing Rain in the ‘top star’ box. Lee Joon wrote that he kept in contact with Onew and Yonghwa, and sure enough, also wrote Rain under ‘top star’. Thunder played it safe by simply writing the number of celebrities he was close to, while Mir proved to be the socialite by writing numerous names such as Jinwoon, Key, Dongwoon, Nicole, NaNa, Jae Jin, Minho, Rain, Mighty Mouth, and hilariously, his sister Go Eun Ah.

Netizens who reviewed the boys’ ‘resume’ remarked, “They are all blood type A, interesting,” and “They have a wide circle of friends,” as well as “Mir has a lot of land?”

Source & Image: Newsen via Nate ; allkpop

Infinite to broadcast first K-pop concert

 

Infinite

On April 1, boy band Infinite will set a new record for becoming the first K-pop band to broadcast live.

The concert “Second Invasion – Evolution” is being held at Olympic Park in Songpa District, eastern Seoul, and is an encore performance of the first concert by the same title which took place in February.

In the upcoming concert, the band will join forces with YouTube to stream five live performances from the event, along with some behind-the-scenes footage.

The package, billed “Exclusive! Infinite Special”, will be streamed online at real time for fans worldwide.

“Although the whole concert won’t be streamed live, we planned the event in order to treat the fans worldwide”, said a representative from Woollim Entertainment.

Meanwhile, YouTube representatives said that starting with Infinite, it hopes to expand into K-pop by having more such artists utilize its site to stream live concerts online.

By Carla Sunwoo [carlasunwoo@joongang.co.kr]

Source : koreajoongangdaily.jo… ( English Korean ) ; hancinema

Sulli celebrates her birthday with a fanclub name for f(x), ‘Plus’

 

Despite having debuted in 2009, fans of f(x) never had an official fanclub name given to them, that is until today, right in time for Sulli‘s birthday!

On March 29th, f(x)’s Sulli shared a celebratory photo of her birthday cake given to her by KARA‘s Jiyoung along with a special message for what seems to be f(x)’s fanclub, ‘Plus‘.

Along with the picture, she wrote, “Jiyoung, thanks for making me this acke… It was so touching, I love you~~~♥ All you Plus, I’ll see you later~.”

Happy birthday to Sulli, and congratulations on your new fanclub name, Pluses!

Source + Photos: Sulli’s Official Me2day ; allkpop

Lee Soo-geun drops ‘Invincible Youth’ in order to take care of his wife

 

Comedian Lee Soo-geun has given up his role on the second season of KBS2′s “Invincible Youth” in order to take care of his wife, who is recovering from a severe case of toxemia.

The host of the show recorded his final shoot yesterday, but said that he would continue appearing on “One Night, Two Days”.

“I want to become a better husband by being there for my wife, who is unwell”, Lee said. “Also, I thought I’d like to devote myself wholly to filming ‘One Night, Two Days’.?”

Lee’s wife, Park Ji-yeon, recently uploaded a picture of her family on her Web site where she could be seen wearing a face mask.

Last year on an episode of “Lee Mi-sook‘s Bad Scene”, Lee Soo-geun shed tears while talking about his wife. Her health deteriorated after she gave birth to the couple’s second child. Park received a kidney transplant but suffered from side effects of the procedure.

By Carla Sunwoo

Source : koreajoongangdaily.jo… ( English Korean ) ; hancinema

KARA celebrates their 5th year anniversary since their debut in 2007

Girl group KARA makes a remarkable achievement as they celebrate their 5th year anniversary today since their debut last 2007. On twitter, Nicole updated her account saying, “I was 17 years old back then, Now its suddenly 5 years later, Its like walking down memory lane, We made lots of memories, Let’s make a brighter future”.

Kang Ji Young also shared her thoughts on their 5th year anniversary and said, “It’s KARA’s fifth anniversary! Congratulations! Today is also my dearest friend Sulli’s birthday! Im celebrating two occasions today”. Leader Park Gyuri also shared some words saying, “It’s KARA’s 5th year anniversary since our debut, Time flies by so quickly, I can believe it, Thank you so much for supporting us these past 5 years, thank you so much for the memories” giving her thanks to her fans.

KARA debuted in March 29, 2007 in m!countdown where they debuted with their first album “The first blooming”.

credit : dkpopnews

Yuri’s ‘Fashion King’ beats YoonA’s ‘Love Rain’ in TV ratings

 

Before SBS‘s ‘Fashion King‘ and KBS‘s ‘Love Rain‘ even aired, people were highly anticipating both dramas because they would each be starring a member from Girls’ Generation.  At the same time, there were all sorts of predictions flying around the internet on which drama would come out on top in ratings.  TV ratings of both series from AGB Nielsen were recently revealed, and according to the results, ‘Fashion King’ triumphed over ‘Love Rain’–big time!

On March 27th, AGB Nielsen revealed that the first episode of ‘Love Rain’ recorded 5.8% in viewer ratings, much lower than what most had predicted.

On the other hand, ‘Fashion King’ drew in 9.2% in its latest episode, and did a good job hooking its audience with a fast paced story and an interesting plot.  It also needs to be taken into account that ‘Fashion King’ aired a week before ‘Love Rain’, which could have been one of the factors behind its higher rating.

It’ll be interesting to see how the ratings will change as the two dramas go on.

Meanwhile, MBC‘s ‘Light and Shadow‘ recorded a whopping 20.6%, grabbing first spot in this time slot.

Source + Photos: Sports Seoul via Nate ; allkpop

Who is the first K-Pop male group to surpass 40 million views on Youtube?

 

 

Just two years ago, chances of seeing a K-Pop related video on the front page of Youtube was so slim that it was considered ‘lucky’ just to see one pop up every three months.  That’s not the case anymore.  It’s mind blowing how immensely popular K-Pop has become.  K-Pop music videos appear on the home page weekly now, not to mention the tens of millions of views accumulated by several of them.

You know you’ve achieved something great when you become the first male K-Pop group to collect over 40 million views on the internet.  That day has come for one of the most well-known male groups in the K-Pop industry– Super Junior!

On March 25th, Super Junior’s hit track, “Mr. Simple” surpassed the 40 million view mark, becoming the first male K-Pop group to achieve such a high level of view status.

ELF have been rejoicing over this accomplishment in the comment boxes, leaving comments like: “Super Junior fighting!“, “Congratulations“, and “Let’s keep at it until we reach 100 million!”

On another note, Girls’ Generation‘s “Gee” stands as the most viewed K-Pop video with an astounding, 69.5 million views!

credit : allkpop

CNBLUE releases “Hey You” MV!

 

 

Check out the MV below!

credit : cnblue @youtube