Hallyu - Korean Wave (1)

(1) K-Pop

The biggest appeal of "K-pop," or popular Korean music, can be found in great songs, dancers and stage effects. Korean pop idols' fast tempo music mixed with Asian rhythms appeals greatly to many young teens in China, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong and other parts of Southeast Asia.

Other singers moved into R&B, hip-hop and electronica, and even "trot" songs. Trot is originally a Korean style of triple or quintuple-time mix-music, popular with the older generations. It developed before and during the time when Japan occupied Korea. New style trot returned with a faster beat and tempo.

• 
• (left)Lee Hyo-ri, female singer (Photo: Yonhap News), (right)Wonder Girls, girls band (Photo: Yonhap News)

Some big names in the Korean pop music world now are TVXQ, Se7en, Lee Hyori, Shinhwa, Wonder Girls, Epik High, Super Junior, Big Bang, SS501, Girls' Generation. All of them are busy entertaining the fans with concerts, TV appearances, fan meetings and festivals both at home and abroad.

In China, the boy band H.O.T. was already making their presence known even before the popularity of Korean TV dramas and movies in the late-1990s. Also during the same period, the muscular male duo Clone was all the rage in Taiwan, selling 450,000 records that year, the second highest number for a foreign record after the soundtrack of the movie "Titanic".

• 
• BoA, female singer

On the other hand, Korean music already showed some success in Japan much earlier, with a handful of Korean musicians since the 1970s and 80s including Cho Yong-pil, Gye Eun-sook and Kim Yeon-ja belting out trot songs. Then came a different genre of music with Korean pop idol BoA, who saw her album selling in the millions in Japan. She won six consecutive number one albums on the Oricon Chart and also undertook coaching in English, Chinese and Japanese to continue her move to go global.

• 
• Park Jin-young, head of the JYP Entertainment (Photo: Yonhap News)

Park Jin-young, a multi-talented singer, songwriter, choreographer and now CEO of his own successful music production company JYP Entertainment, has produced over 27 hit singles and 19 number one albums in Asia. His company has not only given birth to many new Korean celebrities, but also produced music for many other Asian singers including F4, Jacky Cheung, and AI. With the successful launch of a branch office in the United States, Park has now also produced music for Will Smith, Mase and Cassie.

• 
• Rain, singer and actor

In 2006 Rain appeared on "Time" magazine's website as one of the "100 Most Influential People Who Shape Our World" and also performed in New York's Madison Square Garden in February of the same year. In 2007 Rain made it to "People"'s list of the world's "Most Beautiful People." Lately, he is stepping up his acting career, appearing in the action film "Speed Racer" (2008) by the Wachowski Brothers and "Ninja Assassin" by Warner Bros.