Super Junior’s Leeteuk revealed that he had once received f(x) Krystal’s consent for her hand in marriage.
On the 30th, both 
While heading to their rehearsal, Leeteuk asked Krystal, “Why did you choose me as your duet partner? Is it because you wanted to win, or because you promised to get married to me a long time ago?”
Leeteuk then reminisced back the day they first met and continued, “Didn’t you like it when I asked you to come get married to me?” To everyone’s amusement, Krystal replied, “At the time, I was scared of you so I just replied like that.”
Krystal then shot back at Leeteuk, saying “At the time, I said that I’d get married to all of the oppas in the company. One of them even kissed me,” leading to Leeteuk’s shocked expression on screen.
What do you guys think of their pairing?
Duet “Carpe Diem”
Funny Rehearsal for Carpe Diem (ft. Kwill)
Rehearsal for Grumbling (released single)
Preshow preparations
The popularity in Japan of girl group KARA, currently overcoming a threat of a split, is seemingly becoming more grounded.
A concert event in
This concert event is the ‘2011 Universal Dream Live’ that will be held in the Universal Studio of Osaka, Japan. It is an event where celebrities belonging to the Universal company will be holding a concert from the 19th to the 21st of March. KARA will be standing on the stage on the 20th, as well asB2ST and G.NA, who are both planning to advance into the Japanese market.
As of this moment, KARA’s popularity in Japan is beyond conception. Local officials’ explanation is that KARA is the hotspot of issues and popularity in the Japanese music world.
On the other hand, the conflict between KARA’s company DSPMedia and the 3 members of KARA (Han Seungyeon, Jung Nicole, and Kang Jiyoung) has been partially worked out, with the compromise decided during the meeting on the 27th of January, that KARA’s previously scheduled events in Japan and Korea will be carried out with the whole group. The possibility of the team staying together as well as problems with the contract of the company will be discussed in the future.
MBC’s Lunar New Year special, “Idol Star Athletics & Swimming Championships,” revealed their confirmed cast list for the
The segment was recorded at the indoor Ilsan swimming pool on January 30th. The female division saw stars like 4minute’s Gayoon, T-ara’s Hwayoung, Nine Muses‘ Eunji and Lee Saem, SISTAR’sDasom, Dal Shabet’s Jiyul, Girl’s Day’s Yura and Minah, LPG’s Semi, Rainbow’s Jaekyung,Woori, and Seung Ah, An Jin Kyung, and NS Yoonji race down the lanes.
The male division saw SHINee’s Minho, 2AM’s Seulong, MBLAQ’s Lee Joon, Dalmatian’s Daniel,INFINITE’s Woohyun and Seong Yeol, ZE:A’s Dongjun, Siwan, and Heechul, U-KISS’s Soohyunand Eli, TOUCH’s Young Hoon, Teen Top’s Niel, Lee Jang Woo, Son Ho Young, Ha Min Kwan, Kim Kyung Jin, and Marco.
Members from every team were present in support of the contestants. The recording was completely closed to the press, however, due to the controversy surrounding the segment’s potentially sexually suggestive nature. Some had felt that the swimsuits worn by the female idols could be too much for younger viewers.
MBC had responded to the issue by assuring that the contestants would wear swimsuits adhering to regulations. Sports Chosun revealed that the ladies wore black one-piece suits with shorts, while the men wore tight legging-type swim pants, along with a tank
A gold medalist from the 2010 Guangzhau Asian Games, Jung Darae, also made a special appearance. Speaking of special appearances, managers on-set revealed that After School’s UEEwas unable to attend, despite her enthusiasm for the event.
Check out the list of stars for the athletics portion here. The program is scheduled for broadcast February 5th and 6th.
The cast of popular youth drama, ‘Dream High‘, will hold a special mini-concert with their viewers!
The mini-concert is actually part of the recording for a special episode, which will take place on February 24th at Goyang Aram Nuri theatre. Fans can expect to see Park Jin Young, Kang Oh Hyuk, Bae Suzy, Kim Soo Hyun, Ok Taecyeon, Ham Eun Jung, Jang Wooyoung, and IU at the event.
The actors/singers will perform the many songs from the drama, including “Winter Child“, “Someone’s Dream“, and “Dream High“. This event will also deliver behind-the-scenes cuts, which were never shown to the viewers.
Check back with allkpop for further updates on this interesting event!
With the recent news of KARA’s contract negotiations and JYJ’s “Music Essay” reaching #1, the debate between management companies and artists has once again become a hot topic, and this time both sides are speaking out.
Featured in a segment called, “JYJ and KARA, why did they do it?”, on MBC’s “News Magazine 2580” (시사매거진 2580), representatives from both sides spoke out, and Junsu and Yoochun themselves discussed their controversial decision and artists’ rights.
For one of the first times, Park Yoochun confessed that he fully knew that he “might never be able to be a star again” when he decided to leave SM Entertainment, but even with this realization, he still needed to “find happiness and leave.”
Kim Junsu, Kim Jaejoong, and Park Yoochun left their band, DBSK, and management group, SM Entertainment, in July of 2009, citing differences in regards to the length and terms of contract. The best known of these claims is SM Entertainment’s lack of transparency regarding group finances, and that the 13 year term of contract was far too long. However, the boys’ decision to leave and regroup as JYJ has not been a walk in the park, especially with them facing an unstated ban from popular music programs (SBS Inkigayo, MBC Music Core, and KBS Music Bank all declined to give statements or explanations).
Regarding this, Junsu said, “I think that it is very weird that we cannot appear on broadcast television. I learned that it truly is difficult for a Korean singer to perform on a stage, and it is what I resent most.”
Fast forward to almost a year and a half later, and three members of KARA: Jung Nicole, HanSeungyeon and Kang Jiyoung, have moved to terminate their contract with their management group,DSP. The group also cites lack of transparency and suspected mishandling of group finances – especially regarding the money they raised and earned through overseas promotions and activities in Japan.
On the flipside, the show also did the footwork and found that a management company invests an average $1,800 per person per month during the artists’ training years. Covering everything from food and housing to lessons, promotional fees, and spending money, costs can accrue during the process that could last anywhere from 6 months to 3 years. The segment also cites that one popular 7 member girl group incurred 2.9 billion won in training fees alone over the course of 4 years.
In defense of the industry, a representative from Core Contents Media (the management company of groups T-ARA, Davichi, and 5Dolls) said, “Management companies have to blindly and continuously invest money… Most people underestimate how much money we pour into our artists, and overestimate how much they make when in the market. We do what we can, but this is the way it works.”
With netizens lining up and crying “slavery” or “betrayal”, and with passions still running high, we hope that for the sake of the fans, this battle between artists’ rights and management costs will somehow find a resolution soon.
