CNN reports "South Korea K-pop takes off in the west"

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America's popular media CNN reported that SNSD had spread k-pop all over the world.

Some excerpts from the article:

When pop sensation Girls' Generation recently provided the grand finale to the Late Show with David Letterman, a top slot on US television, it signalled that South Korea's entertainment industry had broken out of Asia and is now looking to make it big in the west.

Just days after making their first appearance on US network television with their hit single "The Boys", the band of nine telegenic women this week returned to France -- where tickets for a 2011 concert sold out in 15 minutes -- to sing on prime time television.

Asia is still crucial and the most effective managers continue to target export markets there. Park Jin-young, the impresario who runs JYP Entertainment, created the band Miss A with two Korean and two Chinese singers, so they can record their hits in both Korean and Mandarin. Girls' Generation sing in Korean, English and Japanese.

"The next phase is for the music industry to introduce western singers to globalise the boy and girl bands further," said Han Koo-hyun, president of the Korean Wave Research Institute.

Koreans have been surprised by the enthusiasm for K-Pop in the west, where Korean culture receives scant attention in mainstream media. Korean newspapers splash photographs of packed French concert halls or British fans greeting Girls' Generation with signs in Korean.

These European fans have largely discovered K-Pop through social networking sites, Facebook and YouTube.

Many commentators have also observed that K-Pop's novelty to outsiders comes from the years of training -- sometimes in tough quasi-boot camps -- that stars endure to ensure their songs are accompanied by immaculate group choreography that is rare in other pop music.

Article Credit: CNN website

Photo Credit: CNN

To read the full article: https://www.edition.cnn.com/2012/02/10/business/soth-korea-kpop/index.html

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