Actor Cho Yeon-woo Will Tie Knot With Collegian

Popular actor Cho Yeon-woo, 38, is set to tie the knot on Dec. 15 with a college student 16 years his junior, his agency said Wednesday.

His wife-to-be, 22, identified only as Cha, is a senior dance major at the Korea National University of Arts. They have been dating for about two years since meeting in 2007 through a blind date arranged by their colleagues.

Cho first announced the wedding plan at a gathering of his colleagues to celebrate the final taping of an MBC TV drama.

``I have been very cautious about the marriage because of the wide age gap. But now I really thank my bride for trusting and following me,'' he told a local daily. ``We originally planned to hold a wedding ceremony in May, but brought it forward after getting full support from our parents.''

After making his debut in the TV drama ``All In'' in 2002, the model-turned-actor has broadened his fan base with appearances on hit dramas such as ``Yi San.''

Source: Koreatimes

Insooni to Sing at Carnegie Hall

Top K-pop singer Insooni will hold a concert at Carnegie Hall in New York next year.

The concert will take place on Feb. 5. An official from the singer's agency was quoted as saying, ``A contract was made through negotiations after a proposal for the performance from New York.''

Insooni, 52, performed at Carnegie Hall in 1999. Cho Yong-pil was the first Korean singer to take the stage at Carnegie Hall, one of the most famous venues for classical and popular music, in 1980.

The New York performance is significantly meaningful for Insooni because her requests to perform at the Opera Theater of Seoul Arts Center have been rejected twice. The reason given for the denial was Seoul Arts Center was not suitable for pop music.

Insooni made her debut in 1978 as a member of the girl group the Hee Sisters. Since then, she has recorded nearly 20 albums and is called South Korea's R&B diva.

She was born to a Korean mother and an African -American father, who served in the U.S. military in South Korea. She was brought up by her mother alone.

Source: Koreatimes

Figure Star Kim Yu-na Sparks Marketing Craze

Figure skating sensation Kim Yu-na has been the biggest hit item in the local ad market, even raising concern that excessive exposure in various campaigns could write off her value in the end. The star athlete signed contracts up to over 3 billion won ($2.6 million) this year, with local companies rushing to put the skater in their ads.

Hyundai Motor's determined move paid off when she won the Trophee Eric Bompard Championship last weekend.

The automaker, one of Kim's official sponsors, produced a commercial depicting her as the champion before the final results. The new television commercial was first aired Monday, during Game 3 of the Korean Baseball Organization league championship series.

Another major supporter, Samsung Electronics, expects its recent mobile phone model named "Yu-na's Haptic" to hit the 1-million sales mark this year.

Launched in May, the number of the products sold exceeded 500,000 in a record-short 80 days.

Maeil Dairy is also hoping to capitalize on Kim's title. The maker was one of the most active players to focus on her during the competition, by concentrating on television campaigns featuring the skater.

One of the biggest beneficiaries of Kim's success, the company expects record sales this year. In the first half of this year, sales rose 19.1 percent to 418 billion won and operating profit jumped 129 percent to 17.2 billion won.

Other corporate sponsors are jumping on the bandwagon. Tous Les Jours, CJ Group's bakery franchise, is promoting its bread brand named Yu-na.

Jewelry maker J.Estina has also launched a new accessories' collection named after Kim.

Other firms are devising tactics to associate Yu-na in its sales promotion.

Hyundai Department Store said Tuesday it will play a piece from the James Bond movie series and George Gershwin's Concerto in F major in all its nationwide stores over 20 times daily for a week starting today. They are the songs that Kim is using in her routines this season.

There were frequent requests from customers to listen to the songs while shopping.

The 19-year-old prodigy proved her supremacy on ice with a dominating 36.04-point margin on her perennial archrival Mao Asada of Japan, kindling hopes of becoming the first Korean gold medalist in figure skating at the upcoming Vancouver Winter Olympics.

Advertising experts say Kim's sponsors do not need to worry that her value in the market might wane any time soon.

"Companies using sports stars in ad campaigns usually take risks if their results fall below expectations," an official of an advertising agency said on condition of anonymity. "But as for Yu-na, they don't need to worry about it as long as she remains as invincible as she is now."

Source: Koreatimes

Huh Kyung-young Will Sue SBS TV for Defamation

Huh Kyung-young, a former presidential candidate famous for his eccentric behavior, will file a libel suit against SBS TV for broadcasting allegedly faulty facts about him, his agency said in a statement.

``What has been reported by SBS on Huh is all false. We are going to take civil and criminal suits for defamation,'' it said.

His agency said the broadcaster knows the truth about Huh and falsely reported about him, claiming there must be a ``conspiracy'' behind the program.

In its Oct. 17 program, SBS reported that many of Hur's claims are not true. For instance, it quoted a number of people as saying that he got married several times and has a five-year-old son, even though he has claimed that he has never wed.

Huh recently released a single album ``Call Me,'' which has drawn popularity among Internet users.

Huh was released from prison in July after an 18-month jail term for breaking the Election Law. His eccentricities include spreading rumors during the presidential election, such as claiming that after he became president, Rep. Park Geun-hye of the Grand National Party would marry him.

Source: Koreatimes

Kim Yu-na Near Perfect in 1st Win of Season

After a nearly flawless free skate Saturday, Kim Yu-na stepped off the ice and sat down next to coach Brian Orser in the kiss-and-cry, knowing full well that she would be skating away with the gold medal at the Trophee Bompard in Paris.

She had blown away the competition with a clean performance in the short program Friday, separating herself from the rest of the field at the Grand Prix event.

However, as the judges' scores were revealed, both Kim and Orser got a very big surprise, not that she had won - that was already all but certain ― but that her overall score of 210.93 was a new world record.

Not bad for her first competition of the season.

In the end, she was the runaway winner of what was billed as an Olympic preview, finishing well ahead of her Japanese rival Mao Asada, who was second with 173.99 points.

Amazingly, it was Kim's first time performing each of her two new programs. Her short program, performed to a collection of themes from the 007 James Bond films, and her free skate, set to George Gershwin's Piano Concerto in F Major, were designed to bring in a gold medal at the Olympics in Vancouver in February. But after coming so close to perfection in her first competition, many are left wondering just how much better she can possibly get.

Her score in the free skate, 133.95, was also a new world record. Kim admitted she was pleasantly surprised to see such a high score.

"When I finished skating, I didn't look immediately at the overall score," Kim was quoted as saying by the Associated Press. "When I saw the score, I was a bit surprised. This was just my first competition of the season and I didn't expect such a good performance."

Her overall mark beats the previous world record of 207.71, which she set last year at the world championships.

Dressed in a blue halter-neck dress, Kim started with a triple lutz-triple toe loop combination and went on to complete a double axel-double toe loop-double loop, a double axel-triple toe loop, a triple salchow, a triple lutz and a double axel - all of which were completed perfectly with the speed, strength, execution and grace that have made her a star at home in Korea.

She wowed the crowd at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy and many in the audience displayed signs supporting her or waved South Korean flags.

Her only mistake was failing to attempt a triple flip jump early on in the performance because of timing.

"I'm trying to express the music itself," Kim said. "And I love the music and this program."

Kim won four of the five competitions she entered last year - she was narrowly edged by Asada at the Grand Prix Final last December. But Asada, in her second competition of the season, was not as sharp, missing a triple axel in the short program and nearly falling on a double axel in the free skate.

"At the end of the day, I put on a better performance then at the Japan Open earlier this season," said Asada, who performed her free skate to "Bells of Moscow" by Rachmaninov. "I should now avoid the mistakes I made, both in the short and long programs, to improve."

Behind Asada was Japan's Yukari Nakano (163.70) followed by 2007 world junior champion Caroline Zhang (153.15) of the United States and compatriot Alexe Gills (151.92) in fifth place.

Carolina Kostner, the silver medalist at the 2008 world championships, was sixth with 147.63 points.

Kim admits she's looking forward to the Olympics and that her performance in Paris on the weekend has further helped to boost her confidence.

"I've been watching the Olympics on TV since 1998," she said. "In Torino (in 2006), I was too young to compete. If I have the chance to go there, I will certainly be nervous but I did great last season and I'm off to a good start to this season, so I feel pretty confident."

The Trophee Bompard was the first of six events on the ISU Grand Prix tour. Skaters earn points from competitions and the top six move on to compete in the final in December.

Kim is expected to compete next at Skate America in Lake Placid, N.Y., in November.

On the men's side, Nobunari Oda of Japan captured the gold medal, winning the free skate to top Tomas Verner of the Czech Republic and Adam Rippon of the United States.

Oda performed a Charlie Chaplin medley, dressed in a black tuxedo like the former entertainer and landed eight triple jumps. The Japanese skater earned 166.33 in the free skate for a 242.53 total. Verner was second with 148.96.

Maria Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov of Russia won the pairs event ahead of Canadians Jessica Dube and Bryce Davidson.

Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, also of Canada, won the ice dance after placing first in the compulsory program, original dance and free dance.

Source: Koreatimes

Beyonce Brings 'Sasha Fierce' to Seoul Show

Pop superstar Beyonce is hoping fans will enjoy seeing not just her real self, but also her fabulous alter-ego Sasha Fierce, when she hits the stage for two concerts in Seoul this week.

"This tour will be really special for both me and for my fans. This is the concert that I show my two real sides of my personality. I really hope you enjoy and meet the 'real' me, myself, Beyonce, and Sasha Fierce at the show," she said, in an email interview.

Beyonce, who arrives Monday, will be performing Oct. 20 and 21 at the Gymnastics Stadium of Olympic Park, as part of the "Beyonce I AM …" tour. The pop diva performed here in 2007, and the experience proved to be as memorable for her as it was for fans.

"Seoul was the only place that I had two night shows. I still remember that people got so excited and so passionate during the show, and I could feel that they were enjoying the music itself. I even got so excited even after the show was finished. Seoul was a beautiful city by itself, but the people were so good, too. I will always remember them forever," she said.

The multiple Grammy Award-winning artist introduced Sasha Fierce as her sexy alter-ego when she released the two-disc CD "I AM… Sasha Fierce." Stepping into Sasha's glamorous heels on stage has gotten easier through the years, but it does not involve the high-maintenance rituals that everyone might assume a diva would demand.

"I can make the transition from Beyonce to Sasha Fierce really fast. I don't have any crazy rituals beforehand. I get in maybe two-and-a-half to three hours before each show. I do my makeup on tour myself and get my hair done. Then we all come together, say a prayer and do a little stretch," she said.

But preparations for the concert tour sound grueling, as Beyonce talked about 12-hour-long rehearsals and practicing choreography in heels. "I have a rule that when I have my heels on, everyone has to have their heels on too. Sometimes the dancers are like, 'Oh, God, we hope Beyonce comes in late,' because I'll go all day. And in the end, I'll have blisters and my toes will have bruises," she said.

The demanding workouts do help the pop star maintain a sexy figure, which she shows off in concerts and music videos like "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)."

Standing out for its simplicity and choreography, "Single Ladies" nabbed the Video of the Year award at the recent MTV Music Video Awards. Out of all her videos, it was the least expensive and took the least amount of time. "And it ended up being the most iconic. I absolutely did not expect that," she admitted.

On days off from the tour, the Texas-born beauty enjoys sightseeing, visiting churches and museums and even riding a bike around the city. "It's great to do something normal every day. It keeps me grounded," she said.

Beyonce, who is married to hip-hop superstar Jay-Z, is in no hurry to start a family ("In five years, yes probably," she says). She has a lot going on right now, with a world tour and a "sexy and seductive" fragrance to be launched next year. And she's already thinking of new projects, like developing a videogame-incorporating dance choreography, and producing films, perhaps a documentary about her life or a film loosely based on her father's childhood.

Despite her busy schedule, Beyonce clearly loves what she's doing.

"The truth is I really love what I do. I live for it. I've invested so much of myself in my career that I cherish it. I've worked too hard to do something to damage what I've basically dedicated my life to. I still definitely get a high every time I get onstage. But it's not just the performing. It's also coming up with creative marketing ideas and doing cool collaborations, like my fragrance," she said.

"I love everything about this."

Even after working her exhausting concert tour ends, Beyonce is not the type to go on extended vacations. "I think after maybe a month or two months, I'd be really bored. But I don't see myself working this hard for the rest of my life. It's just too much to do forever. I thank God I started touring and building a fan base when I was really young. So now if I took off a couple of years, I think I'd still be able to come back, go on tour and do records. I'm still a young woman," said the 28-year-old.

She also describes herself as an "all or nothing" type of woman. "Either I'm doing absolutely nothing and relaxing ― reading a book, sitting by the ocean and not answering any questions ― or else I'm hands-on and giving 100%, working really hard," she said.

Tickets range from 80,000 to 160,000 won, and are available at ticket.auction.co.kr (1566-1369) or YES24 www.yes24.com (1544-6399). The concerts start at 8:30 p.m.

Source: Koreatimes

Girls’ Generation Tops RP Album Chart

Girls' Generation, one of South Korea's top girl bands, flexed its muscles by topping the album chart in the Philippines.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer, the Southeast Asian country's largest daily, recently reported that ``Genie,'' the group's second mini album, ranked first on the country's Odyssey album chart in the week from Sept. 28 to Oct. 4.

The weekly chart is compiled by Odyssey, the largest Filipino music and video retail chain. Genie surged to the top upon its release.

Girls' Generation has been shining in the local music market since its debut in 2007 with a string of hits including ``Into the World,'' ``Girls' Generation,'' ``Kissing You,'' ``Baby Baby,'' and ``Gee.''

Its members are Yoona, Tiffany, Yuri, Hyoyeon, Sooyoung, Seohyun, Taeyeon, Jessica and Sunny.

Source: Koreatimes