IU, TVXQ, 4Minute, CNBlue and other idols to appear on MBC '1004 Marathon' celebration show

In light of the "Disability Awareness Day" in April, MBC is celebrating its 50th anniversary by hosting its '1004 relay hope marathon' as an opportunity to raise awareness among the non-disabled about disabled people and to convey a message of hope to Korea's 2 million disabled people, by providing a stage where the disabled and non-disabled can work together in harmony.

A welcome ceremony will be held at the National Museum of Korea in Seoul upon the arrival of the athletes. At 7:30PM KST, many singers and disabled performers will open the stage for MBC's 50th anniversary special '1004 marathon' celebration show, 'Sharing Hope, Giving Love', to spread the message of hope to everyone.

At this concert, MBC's announcer, Oh Sang Jin, and talent Park Jin Hee will meet everyone, together with Kim Jang Hoon, Jang Su Ra, TVXQ, CN BLUE, K. Will, Lee Hyun, Yangpa, 4Minute, IU, Sin Mun Hee, Lee Sang Jae clarinist (visually impaired), as well as other great singer idols and disabled performers who will be participating.

Also, on this day, Park Ma Lu a disabled singer who has polio will perform "Heaven's Daughter" for the opening stage, IU will perform "A Goose's Dream" with the Sign Language Club and Lee Sang Jae professor will be giving a clarinet performance.

This show will be broadcasted on April 20th at 2:40PM KST.

(Note: Details about the marathon and attending the event were left out of this translation)

KARA reached first place on Oricon,breaks record again!

The girls have sold a total of 123,000 copies of their JCL single albums a week after its official release.

KARA has become the first ever foreign female group to reach the first place of Oricon Single Albums chart in 43 years since 1968.

Congratz to KARA again,check out the video report of japanese media on the girls' achievement!

KARA’s Hara, SHINee’s Minho &Taemin & more attend Converse’s “Moving Custom Studio” event

On April 14th, street casual brand ‘Converse‘ opened their “Moving Custom Studio” event at a parking lot in Apgujungdong, Seoul.

The “Converse Moving Custom Studio” features a 5-ton truck loaded with a digital printing system that provides customers the opportunity to create their own unique look, complete with illustrations and initials. The digital printing system on board allows customers to print their look on the spot.

Stars that attended the event this afternoon included KARA’s Hara, SHINee’s Minho and Taemin, and actresses So Yi Hyun and Choi Kang Hee.

The event will run nationwide for six months from April to September.

Check out some of the photos from the event:

Kwon Sohyun's cute thankful greetings for the fans' supporting event "Kyaak! 4nias are the best♥"

Girl group 4minute's member Kwon Sohyun uploaded a proof-shot of her thankful greetings for the fans' supporting event . On April 10th, Sohyun uploaded on her personal twitter the message "Kyaak~~ 4NIAs~~~ are the best♥ We enjoyed the 'supporting event' meals you fans offered~~ They were really delicious. Proof-shot of us eating the 'supporting event' meals !!!!" and send the fans her thankful greetings.

In the picture, Sohyun is showing the meals that the fans offered through their supporting event and she is seen holding the chopsticks between her teeth. In another picture that she took with 4minute members Kim Hyunah and Jeon Jiyoon, Sohyun is seen sporting a cute facial expressions and holding her bowl while Hyunah is seen holding the chopsticks in her mouth and puffing out her cheeks.

The netizens who saw the pictures commented "Your hairstyle is so cute!", "The Korean cuisine gives you strength ! You have to eat well and work hard on your promotion activities." "4minute who is eating their fill, fighting for today too".

Meanwhile, on April 10th, 4minute's official fanclub prepared meals to cheer for 4minute who was filming for SBS Inkigayo on that day.

Why did 4minute's Kwon Sohyun treat her highschool friends to snacks in return?

Kwon Sohyun, who made her comeback to the music scene along with 4minute, treated some of her friends from Pungmoon's Girl's Highschool to snacks in return. The reason is simple. She wanted to thank all of them for having bought 4minute's new album. Kwon Sohyun is currently a sophomore in Pungmoon's Girls Highschool.

One of her friends communicated "A while ago, Sohyun treated a group of friends to snacks at her expense" and "Even though it didn't cost a lot, because they are friends she really likes, she woke up at dawn and personally bought all the snacks and offered them to her friends".

When Sohyun's friends heard of the news of 4minute's comeback, they all agreed on buying their new album to support 4minute. Sohyun, who was touched, returned the favor with gifts, to thank them for their attention.

The same friend said "When 4minute doesn't have any particular scheduled activity, she doesn't skip school but attend it" and "She has always had a bubbly personality so she gets along well with her friends".

In the meantime, 4minute had their comeback on music shows with the title track 'Mirror, Mirror' and is currently fiercely competing with Big Bang, who also made their comeback last week, for the first spot on online music charts.

Jeon Jiyoon received an IV treatment due to her health condition

4minute, who made their comeback on April 7th, attended all the music shows of the week-end and met their fans. They faced trouble because of the cold 4minute's Jiyoon caught just before their comeback, though. And as it was not possible to modify their already-planned schedule that easily, her agency and the people she works with got even more concerned.

Jiyoon eventually received an IV treatment and went on fulfilling her scheduled activities with an impressive bravery.

A representative revealed "We were a lot concerned about Jiyoon's cold. She couldn't even eat meals with the members" and "She has always been eager to make her comeback so she received an IV treatment and had the courage to perform on stage. We were just so thankful."

He added "We don't demand her to do much so her health condition can improve".

KARA sets another record for foreign female artists in Japan!

Since their debut in Japan last August, KARA’s latest single “Jet Coaster Love” has proven to be the most popular as the single has given them their best sales, selling 123,000 copies in it’s first week. The high sales volume has also put KARA at the number one spot on Oricon’s 4/18 Weekly Single Ranking.

This is the first time a foreign female group has had a number one ranking in it’s first week of release since the creation of the Oricon Single Ranking back in January 1968, so it has been 43 years and 4 months!

“Jet Coaster Love” has sold twice the amount of their previous single “Jumping”, which was released during their break-up crisis turmoil last November, selling 55,000 copies in its first week.

KARA was selected as the number one newcomer this year and “Jet Coaster Love” is their first number one in both the weekly single and album rankings. Their first single “Mister” and second single “Jumping” both ranked at #5, while their albums “KARA BEST 2007-2010” and “Girl’s Talk” both ranked #2.

The last time a foreign female artist has placed #1 on the weekly singles ranking was 6 years ago when BoA’s “DO THE MOTION” reached #1 on the 4/11 2005 ranking. The last time a foreign female group placed number one, was The Nolans’s “Dancing Sister” single on the 11/17 1980 weekly ranking, which became number one in its 16th week; it’s been 30 years and 5 months.

KARA also left a comment, “Thanks to all of you, “Jet Coaster Love” has become #1. As KARA, we will continue to do our best to cheer everyone up in the future. And, we hope that everything can be restored even just one day sooner”.

“Jet Coaster Love” is KARA’s first single of 2011. It was originally supposed to be released on March 23rd, but was postponed due to the Great Tohoku Earthquake. In order to help out the area affected by the disaster, KARA has decided to donate all proceeds from this single (CD and digitally) to relief efforts.