Girls' Generation most popular among foreign K-pop fans

SM Entertainment

South Korean group Girls' Generation was the No. 1 choice for foreigners participating in a South Korean contest for emulating the choreography of popular K-pop groups, the organizer said Tuesday.

After analyzing video footage sent in by the participants of the "2012 K-pop Cover Dance Festival," contest organizer Korea Year Committee said that Girls' Generation was emulated in 155 instances, the largest number.

A total of 1,350 teams from some 50 countries submitted videos of their cover dance performances via the committee's Web site, it said.

Participants could send in their videos from April 26 until Tuesday.

K-pop boy band SHINee came second with 98 instances, followed by girl groups Miss A and SISTAR with 79 and 75, respectively.

Another girl group, 2NE1, came in fifth place with 70, according to the civilian-government committee working to draw more foreign tourists to the country on the occasion of the 2010-2012 Visit Korea Year.

By region, Girls' Generation was the most favored group among foreign fans in Asia and Europe while SHINee was the most popular in the Americas. Boy group TVXQ was the favorite among fans in Australia and New Zealand and another boy group, Block B, took the top spot for Africa.

Teams who pass the online preliminaries will attend second round competitions to be held in about 10 countries, including Japan, Russia and Spain, through September. The final round for the second K-pop cover dance festival will be held on Sept. 21 in the southeastern South Korean city of Gyeongju, according to the committee. (Yonhap News)


<관련 한글 기사>

소녀시대, 가장 선호하는 댄스커버 1위!

한국방문의해위원회 조사

소녀시대가 전세계 한류 팬들이 가장 선호하는 '커버 댄스' 가수로 나타났다.

10일 한국방문의해위원회에 따르면 '한국방문의해 기념 K팝 커버 댄스 페스티벌'의 홈페이지를 통해 지난 4월 26일부터 이날까지 접수된 참가자들의 K팝 커버 댄스 동영상으로 '롤 모델 스타 랭킹'을 분석한 결과 소녀시대가 155건으로 1위에 뽑혔다.

6개 대륙 50여개 국에서 총 1천350팀이 참가 신청을 했으며 소녀시대의 뒤를 이어 샤이니가 98건으로 2위, 미스A가 79건으로 3위, 씨스타가 75건으로 4위, 투 애니원이 70건으로 5위를 차지했다.

지역별로는 소녀시대가 아시아와 유럽, 샤이니가 북미와 남미, 동방신기가 오세아니아, 블락비가 아프리카에서 각각 1위에 올랐다. 

한국방문의해위원회는 "올해는 씨스타가 'K팝 커버 댄스 페스티벌' 홍보대사로 위촉됐다"며 "씨스타는 해외 활동을 본격적으로 시작하지 않았지만 유럽과 오세아니아에서 각각 2위, 북미에서 3위, 아시아에서 5위에 올라 고른 인기를 나타냈다"고 전했다.

지난해에 이어 2회를 맞는 'K팝 커버 댄스 페스티벌'은 홈페이지를 통해 1차 온라인 예선을 통과한 팀들이 국가별로 오프라인에서 2차 본선 경연을 치른다.

국가별 본선 우승팀은 한국에 초청돼 오는 9월 경북 경주에서 열리는 결선 무대에서 기량을 뽐내게 된다. (연합뉴스)

Source & Image : The Korea Herald

KARA named most popular Korean artist in Japan

KARA (DSP media)

KARA, one of the most popular Korean pop groups in Japan, was ranked 6th in the “2012 First Half Talent Power Ranking” according to Nikkei Entertainment, a Japanese entertainment magazine. 

South Korean girl group Kara performs at the MTV World Stage Live in Malaysia, in Petaling Jaya, near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Saturday, July 14, 2012. (AP-Yonhap News)

The five-member girl group proved its popularity, ranking the highest out of hallyu stars in Japan. The result was a pleasant surprise for the group as it ranked after the five members of Arashi, a Japanese boy group, who took the top five spots.

The survey of teenage girls in Japan placed KARA as the only foreign group in the top ten, beating out popular Japanese girl group AKB48 as well. 

MTV World Stage Live (AP-Yonhap News)

In addition, the girl group set the record of having sold 1,000,000 copies of its album in 23 months, the shortest time for a Korean artist. 

MTV World Stage Live (AP-Yonhap News)

By Lee Hyun-jae, Intern reporter
(lhj137@heraldm.com)

Source & Image : The Korea Herald

Global popularity of Korean language surges

More than 10,000 were enrolled at King Sejong Institutes ― Korea’s state-run Korean language institutes operating overseas ― last year, double the number of students registered when the language school was established in 2009, according to the Culture Ministry.

The institute was founded in 2009 with 4,301 students enrolled at 17 branches in six countries in 2009.

According to Ahn Mi-jung of the Korean Language Policy Division of the Culture Ministry, the language schools, also known as Sejong Hakdang, was established to serve the needs of Koreans living overseas. 

Foreign students take TOPIK (Test of Proficiency in Korean) at Kyung Hee University in Seoul on Sunday. A record number of students ― 19,344 of them ― took the test on Sunday at 14 locations nationwide. (Park Hae-mook/The Korea Herald)

However, the number of non-Korean students has been growing rapidly in recent years as more become interested in Korean culture in response to hallyu, a Korean cultural wave including K-pop and K-dramas.

Sejong Hakdang’s L.A. branch, for example, did not receive many non-Korean students when it opened. At the time, 75 percent of its students were Korean-Americans. But this year, 74 percent of its students are non-Korean. At its basic-level classes, more than 90 percent of the students are non-Koreans.

“We hope to see those who are interested in Korea’s pop culture deciding to learn the Korean language, and those who learn the Korean language getting interested in Korea’s pop culture at the same time,” said a Korean Cultural Center Los Angeles official, who is in charge of running Sejong Hakdang’s L.A. branch.

“Aside from the hallyu effect, more people overseas are interested in learning the Korean language as many Korean corporations have entered the overseas market and therefore have created jobs for the locals,” the official said.

The institute currently has 76 branches in 35 countries, including 17 in China, five in Vietnam, four in the U.S., three in Russia and Turkey, and one in Nigeria.

The government plans to increase the number of Sejong Hakdang branches to 90 by the end of this year, and to 200 by the year 2016, the Culture Ministry said.

By Claire Lee (dyc@heraldm.com)

Source & Image : The Korea Herald