Artists dazzled the stage for the press conference for the much-anticipated Korea Festival 2013 in conjunction with Vizit Korea. These two events were held under one roof at the Singapore Expo Hall 5B from October 25 to 27. This event rides on the flourishing Hallyu wave and brings all things Korean under one roof and it is the only Korean focused consumer travel, food, lifestyle and entertainment event.

The event started off with a press conference on October 25 attended by various artists who were set to showcase themselves during the span of three days. The artist line-up for the day included, Sung Dong Il (Dad, Where Are We Going?), Lee Chae Young (Secretly, Greatly- as Ran), A-Pink and NU'EST.

The artists were greeted by the fans enthusiasm as they stepped onto the stage to start of the press conference. They said their greetings and how excited they were to be in Singapore. Sung Do Il even exclaimed, "My wife loves Singapore!" bringing in lots of laughter to the crowd.

"Thank you everyone for loving K-Pop and Korean movies," Sung Dong Il said and he expressed his wishes for more cultural exchanges between the two countries, stating that it will make way for more Korean celebrities to visit Singapore to meet their fans too. Lee Chae Young said "I came here to promote the Korean culture, drama and K-Pop. I hope you'll enjoy the three days Korean festival."

When asked what are the places that NU'EST and A-Pink would recommend fans to visit in Korea, Aron of NU'EST hugely recommended "Dongdaemun, for those who loves shopping!" Namjoo of A-Pink suggested Jeju Island, the biggest island in South Korea, exclaiming "The scenery is beautiful and there is a nice beach there so you can do healing there."

They were then asked which members have the best skills as a host and A-Pink's Hayoung complimented her group mate Bomi on her skills in variety shows, saying that "She is very good at variety shows and is very natural with her skills". The members of NU'EST also exclaimed their admiration of Ren as being the best. Aron said "He's very good at copying girl group dances and he's really funny. His personality really comes out in the show" while the other members nodded their heads in agreement.

We got an opportunity to ask actress Lee Chae Young if she is more comfortable with modelling or acting, being really popular for doing well in both fields. She then smiled and shyly replied, "I enjoy both acting and modelling but I prefer acting and would love to be recognized as a good actress."

There was then a question posed to Sung Dong Il about the advantages and disadvantages of having his son, Sung Joon, on the popular hit variety show, "Dad, Where Are You Going". Sung Dong Il laughed and said "The best thing about it is that I get to hang out with my son more during the show but the bad thing is that he's getting more spoiled (laughs)" reeling in much laughter to both the artists and the crowd throughout the venue.

When posed with the question on what are NU'EST's favourite songs in their recent album "Sleep Talking", the members each mentioned their own personal favourite. "Don't Dress Provocatively" is Ren's favourite with him saying "I love the melody and the lyrics, that's why it's a good song." Aron and Baekho both recommended "Beautiful Ghost", and shared that they really enjoyed performing the song. They are also going to introduce a new song, "Pretty" in which they would be performing for the first time especially in Singapore the next day.

Known for their innocent and cute concepts, one question directed to A-Pink was whether the girl-group will go for a change and adopt a sexy concept in the future. To this Eunji replied, "I respect those girl-group singers who have a sexy concept, but for now we love our cute concept so we will keep it", and reassured fans that the group will not discard their cute concept anytime soon.

The press conference of the event came to an end as Sung Dong Il jokingly reminded the audience "Please do love K-Pop and Korean culture if not I won't come back," and caused laughter to erupt from the venue. The press conference ended with a brief photo-taking session before the artists got off the stage. 

Fans of K-Pop can look forward to the star-studded line-up of performances during the three days of the Korea Festival 2013 - Vizit Korea event. A-Pink will be starting out the festival later on in the day with their "Secret Garden in Singapore", followed by NU'EST on the second day with "NU'EST in Singapore with LOVE". There will also be a special performance by A-Jax on the third and final day of the festival, which is an additional treat by the organizers.

Special thanks to MediaCorp VizPro International Pte Ltd for inviting KpopStarz.com to cover 'Korea Festival 2013 - Vizit Korea '.

Writer: Sri Ayuni  | Photo Credits: Leonard Lim