Good Morning Panda

The first Hallyu Star I fell for, Song Hye-kyo, has been appointed as Asia's first panda goodwill ambassador by the Chinese government in June. Song will shed the light on the pandas' hidden world and the threat of their extinction during the documentary, 'Good Morning Panda,' co-produced by South Korea and China. It will be broadcast through EBS TV's Docu Prime Wednesday.

Song, who visited a panda habitat in Sichuan Province after becoming a goodwill envoy, has been working to publicize the need to preserve pandas across Asia while calling for international support for the project.

(source: Korea Times)

'Bump Bump!'

BoA has released her 28th single, "Bump Bump!" in Japan on Oct.28, a dance with jaunty rhythm. She plans to hold Christmas concerts in Tokyo Dec.4-5 and in Osaka Dec.8.

Here is BoA with her fresh look, some says her short hair cut just looks like Utada Hikaru's style.

Hallyu Festival in Tokyo

The craze for Hallyu stars has spread all over Asia and especially in Japan, some Korean stars have huge number of fanatic fans since the success of Winter Sonata which triggered the Korean wave culture in Japan. In recent years, the wild success of Korean dramas driving up the popularity of Korean actors in Japan.

Four Korean drama stars: Lee Byung-hun, Jang Dong-gun, Song Seung-hun and Won bin will take part in a special 'Hallyu' festival in Tokyo in this December. The event, to take place December 17 at Tokyo Dome, will be directed by renowned Japanese writer-producer Yasushi Akimoto. The four actors will give a theatrical performance set to an audiovisual piece by acclaimed Korean director Hur Jin-ho. The top stars will also introduce fans to their latest films and TV dramas and take part in an interview session.

(source: Korea Times)

2009 Mnet Asian Music Awards

2009 Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA) is the new form of KM Music Festival previously organised by two cable channels, Mnet and KM. This year, Mnet Media announced that they are creating a new event that would attract not only Korea's most popular singers, but those from around the world. MAMA will be held at Jamsil Indoor Stadium on Nov.21, 2009. The six-hour event will be aired live on Mnet.

Mnet also enabled foreign fans to vote for their favorite singers and groups through a separate web site. Those who have overseas IPs will only have the chance to vote through this particular web page.

Talented artists will compete in 29 categories divided into five different sections, including singer, genre, music video, grand prizes and others. The nominee for the Best Male Singer are Drunken Tiger, Rain and G-Dragon, among others, while the Best Female Singer category includes Bada, Baek Ji-young, and Son Dam-bi.

Who would you vote? For me, definitely I'd vote for one of my favorite singers, Son Dam-bi!

(Picture courtesy of: Korea Times)

(Source: Korea Times)

Winter Sonata Anime

Winter Sonata was the second part of the KBS TV drama series Endless Love. This original hit drama was broadcasted in 2002 in Korea, and the 2004 Japanese broadcast triggered the ongoing 'Korean wave' of pop culture in Japan. Winter Sonata has been a major part of the Korean wave both there and throughout Asia.

I am not really into the teary drama though but I did enjoy this drama with the beautiful locations of Nami island. One of my favorite scenes is where the snow falling on Jun-sang and Yu-jin (two main characters) when they held hand while walking down the pine-line road of Nami island. The white snow, redwood trees, nice songs and every bit have perfectly created the favorite romantic scene of the series! This big hit drama made me decided to visit Korea in winter time almost three years ago and eventually visited the beautiful Nami island where many scenes were shot.

Now the anime version has been confirmed to be aired in Japan in mid October with 23 members of the original cast voicing the characters.

Bae Yong-joon and Choi Ji-woo pose for photographers during a news conference in Tokyo to promote the anime version of Winter Sonata. (picture from: Japan Today)

The screen shot from Winter Sonata anime official website.

And here is the Winter Sonata Anime MV I found on youtube:

Girls' Generation as Digital TV's Ambassador

Girls' Generation or known in Korea as SNSD (So Nyeo Shi Dae) is a nine-member girl group formed by SM Entertainment and since their first debut in July 2007, they have become one of South Korea's top pop idol group.

The Korea Communication Comission has appointed the girl group as the PR ambassador for its plan to launch digital TV broadcasting in 2013. The comission said Girls' Generation was selected because its lively impression corresponds with the clear image of digital broadcasting and that the group has been loved by a wide spectrum of people from youngsters to the elderly. Member of Girls' Generation were quoted as saying that they will make efforts to publicize digital broadcasting, which will provide high-quality, value-added services for viewers. (source: Korea Times)

Digital Television is the sending and receiving of moving images and sounds by discrete (digital) signals. An innovative type of broadcasting technology that enables a dramatically clearer picture and better sound quality.

SNSD perform at a ceremony to promote digital broadcasting in Seoul

(Picture courtesy of The Chosun Ilbo)

Lee Young-ae got married!

This news may break your heart! Lee Young-ae finally walked down the isle with Mr. Jeong, a Korean-American businessman secretly in the US on Monday, her legal consulting firm said on Tueday. News reports said Mr. Jeong, 54, studied at University of Illinois and is currently engaged in IT-related telecommunication business. Lee, 38, is planning to settle in the US but will continue her activities as an actress in Korea, Dongin said.

(Picture courtesy of Korea Herald)

Those who love Korean drama would definitely know Lee Yong-ae, one of Korean Top acctress who gained popularity for her performance in Korean famous drama 'Jewel in the Palace (Dae Jang Geum)', which drew attention not only from Asia but all over the world.

(Source: Korean Herald)

Made in Korea

Made in Korea? which one or which part?..... :)

It's a picture used to promote Lee Hyori's third album 'It's HYORISH' released on July last year.Yes.. I am one of her big fans!

Lee Hyori or Lee Hyolee is one of 'Korean Divas', fell for her most famous song 'Just ten minutes' in 2003 which was nicknamed as "The Year of Hyori" when she won more then seven including three of the four most prestigious Daesangs (Korean awards for 'Artist of the Year').

In February 2006, she released her second album "Dark Angel" and the first single 'Get Ya' with its raunchy MV has labelled her as a 'Sexy Popstar' since then. In Novemver 2006, she signed a three-year contract with M-Net Entertainment for 2.2 billion Won which made her the highest paid female singer in South Korea.

In 2007 she starred in If in Love.. Like them and one of the sountrack 'Toc Toc Toc' released in digital in March 2007 was the best selling album of the month, the song itself still is categorised as 'sexy R&B'. Despite all the controversy and penalty on the movie due to some advertising gudilines, one of its ballad song has proved that Lee Hyori is not only good on sexy dancing but she also could make you cry with her voice.

Here is her touching song from If in Love.. Like Them:

What is Hallyu?

Hallyu or Korean wave is a term used to refer the increasing popularity of South Korea culture all over the world since around 2000. I still remember the first time I fell for Korean culture was when I watched a popular Korean drama series 'Autumn in My Heart' by Song Hye Kyo back then almost ten years ago. Since then, I become addicted to Korean movies and series as well as K-Pop (Korean Pop music).

Hallyu has been expanding rapidly beyond Asia and Korea has become one of the world's top ten culture exporters. Talking about Hallyu is not only about entertainment industry but also about fashion which known as a trendsetter style icon in the youth-dominated market.

Long story short, I decided to pen down my experiences and sharing my thoughts and anything I come across about Hallyu through this blog.

As for 'Autumn in My Heart', here is the MV I got from Youtube:

Autumn in My Heart, the first installment of Endless Love drama series produced in 2000 by South Korean TV network KBS, starring adorable Song Hye Kyo, Song Seung Heon and Won Bin.