SS501’s Heo Young Saeng almost killed Kim Hyun Joong?!

SS501′s Heo Young Saeng, who released a teaser for his solo debut last week, revealed that he almost killed fellow SS501 member Kim Hyun Joong by accident.
During a recent recording of KBS 2TV’s “Happy Together 3“, Heo Young Saeng confessed, “I almost killed Kim Hyun Joong by accidentally starting a fire”
He explained,

“One night, Kim Hyun Joong and I were drinking at our house. We often light candles at our place and so that day, without fail, we drank after lighting candles.
While we were doing so, an acquaintance called and asked me to come out for a bit. I ended up leaving Kim Hyun Joong who was sleeping to go out. As I was meeting with my acquantainces, I was shocked when I got a call saying that there had been a fire in our house.
I rushed home and saw that 9-1-1 had already come and it was a big mess. I was so worried about Kim Hyun Joong, who was sleeping inside the house, so I quickly went inside to find that Kim Hyun Joong was still sleeping, even though there had been a fire. He was safe, and the house didn’t get damaged that much either.
I was so sorry to Kim Hyun Joong who almost died because of me, but Kim Hyun Joong laughed as he said, ‘Well, you have a story to tell on broadcast now’.“

This broadcast of “Happy Together 3″ will air on May 12th.

Super Junior’s Sungmin cast for “Jack the Ripper” musical

Super Junior’s Sungmin has been cast in the musical, “Jack the Ripper“, as the main lead ‘Daniel’.
Sungmin first watched the musical at the Sung Nam Art Center last year, and reportedly fell in love with it, which encouraged him to audition for the musical in April. Thanks to his previous experience with “Hong Gil Dong” and “Akilla“, he was able to land the role of ‘Daniel’.
Ahn Jae Wook and Um Ki Joon have also been cast for the role, and castings for ‘Jack’ include Shin Sung Woo and Lee Kun Myung. Meanwhile, Yoo Jun Sang and Kim Jun Hyun have been slotted for the role of ‘Anderson.’
“Jack the Ripper” will begin playing at the Chungmu Art Hall in Seoul starting July 5th through August 14th.

F.T. Island releases photo teaser for new mini-album, “RETURN”

On May 12th, F.T. Island released a teaser photo for their comeback mini-album, “RETURN.”
Since it’s their first Korean work in almost a year, the boys aptly named their title track “RETURN”. F.T. Island has been actively promoting in Japan, and still are, to some extent.
Representatives of FNC Music stated, “F.T. Island has earned great achievements in Japan, such as landing leading roles in Japanese dramas and placing second on the Oricon chart. They’ll finally be making their comeback intoKorea, and the members are all working hard in anticipation of meeting their fans again.”
The teaser video for “RETURN” will be released on the 20th, followed by the mini-album’s release on the 24th.

2NE1 talks about their ideal types

The members of 2NE1 started giggling like schoolgirls the moment they heard the word ‘boyfriend.’ All that charismatic and rebellious swagger they show on stage disappeared, and in its place was a light blush. After glancing at one another, the younger ones eventually pushed Sandara Park to talk.
Park started with a sigh.
“Recently, I’ve been confused. I haven’t been in a relationship for 5~6 years. I don’t know if it’s because my love receptors are dead, but no matter which man I see, I have no interest.”
The resigned tone in her voice caused everyone in the room to laugh.
She continued, ”My ideal type is Won Bin. I liked his character in the drama ‘Kkokji.’ He was a younger guy who had a crush on an older woman, and he was very cool.”
The reporter asked if she disliked older men, to which she responded, “I feel more comfortable with younger guys. My thinking is immature, so I connect better with people younger than me. But I don’t like rudeness. I guess I like the feel of a little twist? You know, like a beautiful guy who’s surprisingly a tough guy in the end.”
The other members all agreed, “Dara-unni has high expectations.”
CL, who had revealed many times before that her ideal type was YG’s very own producer Teddy, recently switched up her type. “President Yang Hyun Suk told me to stop talking about Teddy-oppa. (laughter) I would like a manly person who I can respect. A positive and energetic person.”
The group’s youngest, Minzy, suddenly began talking about Usher. “I went to his concert recently, and he was glowing. I like people like Usher who can manage themselves well.”
Park Bom also responded, “I would like a man who does his job well and works hard. I would like him even more if he was a musician. Like if he was in business, he would do music business…”
When asked, “Working hard on top of being good, and music? Isn’t that Lee Seung Gi?” She replied, “That’s true~” and laughed.
But as the laughter died down, 2NE1 became slightly gloomy. They concluded, “We’re always at home, so when could we date? Still, even when it’s just us, we hardly talk about boys. Maybe it’s because we are all so close that we don’t need boyfriends? (laughter)”

G.NA taken to the emergency room for a knee injury

Singer G.NA was taken to the emergency room for a knee injury.
On March 11th, G.NA fell while heading for the stage of KBS’s “Music Bank“. It’s said that the star had tripped and landed on her knee.
G.NA underwent acupuncture, and returned to the staff despite her staff’s concerns; reportedly, she repeatedly iterated, “I have to complete my schedule.“ Originally, she was set to stand for her performance, but due to the pain in her knee, she sang her song “I Miss You Already” sitting in a chair. Right after the live broadcast, G.NA was immediately taken to the emergency room to receive a complete medical examination.
On March 12th, a Cube Entertainment representative revealed, “Although there is no problems with her bones, she may have pulled a ligament and so we must wait for further details. While she is doing activities for a ballad track, we plan to lessen her movement as much as possible.“ Representatives have further stated that if the injury develops, they plan to adjust her activities.
Since she had already pre-recorded her performance for MBC’s “Music Core“, her next live appearance will be on the 13th through SBS’s “Inkigayo“.

2NE1’s CL returns to Korea safely

Earlier today, we reported that 2NE1 was planning to return to Korea due to the recent natural disasters affecting Japan. On March 12th, CL was the first member to return safely to Korea.
A YG Entertainment representative revealed, “Due to complications with flight reservations, CL has returned to Korea before the other members. The other remaining members will be taking an evening flight to return [to Korea].”
2NE1 left for Japan on March 9th to begin their official Japanese promotions through TV Asahi’s “Music Station” on March 11th. However, the massive earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan yesterday, forced the cancellation of their broadcast.

Sandara Park reveals her ‘chic&fresh’ airport fashion

2NE1’s Sandara Park is working that airport like its personal runway.
On March 9th, Sandara Park posted on her me2day, “Arrived in Japan! Today, Darong’s (Sandara Park’s nickname) airport fashion is ‘chic&fresh-girl’ concept! Chic + fresh girl = chic&fresh girl”
Sandara poses dramatic in her white motorcycle jacket and eclectic pants. It seems that she just arrived at the airport, since she’s still clutching her passport.
Sandara added, “Added some bling-bling to the simple and chic outfit, and added freshness and cuteness with the 3-way apple hair! Here’s to 2NE1 in making a fresh first impression! Fighting!”
Netizens commented, “You look totally pretty!”, “You are so chic&fresh that it’s burning”, and “Make all of Japan into 2NE1 fan world, too!”
2NE1 is scheduled to appear on Japan’s AsiaTV ‘Music Station‘ on March 11th.

MBLAQ to confess their secrets in a bathroom for Mnet Wide’s new corner

MBLAQ will be participating in a unique ‘talk’ concept for Mnet Wide’s newest corner, “Refreshing Interview“!
“Refreshing Interview” is a new feature that asks celebrities to confess their innermost secrets and stories in a bathroom. Why a bathroom, you ask? The base idea is that celebrities will feel more comfortable sharing those secrets and stories in an environment that’s considered private and personal.
PD Lee Sun Hyung commented, “In an effort to get idols to confess in a refreshing, new manner, we tried to look for an environment that refreshes the mind and body, and found it to be none other than the bathroom. It was an idea brought up without much thought, but there isn’t a space more personal than the bathroom. Please look forward to the stories that will be shared from such a unique location.”
Mnet Wide will also be airing a short reality program where MBLAQ will be asked to take tablet PCs to a location where cameras and even their manager won’t be able to find. For 24 hours, the boys will be documenting their activities through their tablet PCs, creating new content for a fun and unique reality show.
The PD continued, “These days, fans have been compiling favorite clips of their artists into one video. We’ve put this concept to use so that not only their fans, but viewers would also be able to enjoy a different kind of fun through this new corner.”

MBLAQ’s Lee Joon gets rid of his cell phone to focus on “Again” promotions

MBLAQ’s Lee Joon reportedly canceled his cell phone service so he could focus completely on the group’s “Again” promotions.
A representative of J. Tune Camp confirmed, “Yes, he does not carry around a cell phone around. Due to his busy schedule, he does not have the time to pay attention to it.”
Another representative elaborated, “Yes, it’s true that he is not using a cell phone for this promotion period. Despite making their comeback after a long hiatus, MBLAQ’s album has not achieved the level of success expected. We feel that Lee Joon got rid of his cell phone in order to show that he’s determined to do the best he can for what’s left of their promotion cycle.”
Out of the five MBLAQ members, Lee Joon is the only one without a cell phone.

YongSeo’ share their first kiss on “We Got Married”

SNSD’s Seohyun and CNBLUE’s Jung Yong Hwa finally shared their first kiss! Well, sort of.
On this week’s broadcast of MBC’s “We Got Married” on March 5th, the ‘YongSeo’ couple continued with their wedding photoshoot, for which they dressed up in bright and fun-styled clothes to match their ‘elementary school‘ concept.
During the photoshoot, the director asked Seohyun to give Yong Hwa a peck on his cheek. No matter how many times they shot the ‘kiss’ scene, Seohyun was adamant on not letting her lips actually touch Yong Hwa’s cheek. But the ‘husband’ was content nevertheless, as he laughed and stated, “I only felt the breath from her nose.”
It was only until the last minute of their shoot when Seohyun did indeed peck his cheek, giving a lovely and innocently cute photo as the final result.

Heechul takes over as Super Junior’s leader for a day

Super Junior has revealed a new team rule called, “HeeMalBub” which means “Whatever leader Heechul says is law”.
On March 4th, Heechul tweeted,

“After playing rock-paper-scissors, I became today’s leader. Unlike sweet sorbet-like Leeteuk, I will lead like a powerful Cheongyang chili pepper. You must converse only with my permission, and have to act according to my gestures.“

Soon after, Shindong tweeted photos of himself, Leeteuk and Yesung saying,

“If leader Heechul says to laugh, we have to laugh (in the middle of obeying)
HeeMalBub: Whatever leader Heechul says is law… is it a good thing??ㅠㅠ“

Meanwhile on March 4th, a pre-debut photo of TVXQ’s Yunho, Heechul, and Yesung surfaced on the internet, and has been the source of much netizen buzz.
In the photo from the past, Yunho is found in his boxers, holding a carton of milk. Standing beside him are Heechul and Yesung in their training wear. Although they’re wearing comfortable clothing, they managed to give off a charismatic feel to the photo by gazing intently into the camera.
Fan reactions to the photo were varied, and apparently explosive, with one fan commenting, “What’s with the people swearing after seeing this picture? I think Jung Yunho looks fresh and cute.”

The “average” faces of the top girl groups compared by netizens

L-R, clockwise: Kara, 2NE1, T-ara, Wonder Girls, f(x), SNSD

Recently, combining the faces of idol group members to create a “mean” or “average face” image for the group has become popular on the various portal sites.  Shortly after SNSD’s average face image was released on KBS2TV’s “Sponge Zero” using faceresearch.org, netizens began to combine the faces of other popular girl groups.
Out of compilation photos from these groups “average faces,” certain members’ faces stoo out more prominently than others.  For example,  the Wonder Girls‘ mean face image seems to resemble member Ye-eun (Yenny)’s face the most.  Similarly, 2NE1’s average face shows a marked resemblance to Park Bom, while f(x)’s face resembles that of Amber.
Amongst netizens, T-ara’s mean face generated the most attention for its “doll-like” characteristics and the preservation of the members’ individual features. Which face do you like the best?

B2ST’s Yoseob responds to ’sasaeng fans’

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After reprimanding B2ST’s sasaeng fans for their irresponsible behavior via Twitter, Yoseob took direct action by cleaning a fan’s scribble off a wall.
On February 26th, B2ST’s manager tweeted, “Please don’t make our Yoseob suffer!” and uploaded a picture.
In the picture, the idol is shown wearing rubber gloves and cleaning various scribbles on the wall.
On the same day, Yoseob tweeted his sasaeng fans “Keep scribbling away“. His reaction is a result of the sasaeng fans showing too much love for the idol.
Sasaeng fans often belong to idol groups, and they follow and stalk their favorite members by using taxi as a mode of transportation. They have caused many problems and have even been reported in the news.
B2ST’s Yoseob is taking the first step to encountering this big problem.

Fatigued Heechul tweets a pic (and still looks fabulous)

Super Junior’s Heechul tweeted a picture of himself while in the Philippines.
On the 27th, Heechul uploaded the above photo from Manila, and let his fans know that he wasn’t feeling that well. He wrote, “I wasn’t feeling well but Philippines’ passionate cheering made me feel better.”
Though he’s professed to be ill, Heechul managed to still look runway-ready, as he’s seen outfitted in an avant-garde T-shirt with  a pair of  thick-rimmed glasses. This ordinary photo has been gaining so much attention that it’s even the #1 celebrity news on Nate.
Fans can’t get over how pretty he looks in the photo, as they gushed “How can someone look that good when they’re sick?” and “He’s prettier than me. This is crazy.”
Get well, Heechul!

What happens when you morph all nine SNSD faces into one?

What kind of face would you get if you morphed all nine faces of SNSD into one?
On February 25th, KBS 2TV’s “Sponge Zero” introduced their viewers to ‘faceresearch.org’, a site that can be used for morphing multiple faces together to create an image.
The show decided to use all nine profile pictures of Taeyeon, YoonA, Sooyoung, Hyoyeon, Yuri, Jessica, Tiffany, Sunny and Seohyun to provide an example of what the site could do. The result? A baby-faced female with all the unique facial characteristics of each member.

Netizens who watched the program left online comments such as, “The face is an oriental beauty”, “I wonder if there are girls who look like that”, and “I wish my face looked like SNSD’s morphed photo.”
Other examples used in the program were the Super Junior members and some of the nation’s most beautiful actors and actresses; additionally, the representative announcers of the three major broadcasting companies were also cited, along with the top ten CEOs of the country.

Are music programs from the ‘Big Three’ biased?

With the same faces being seen over and over again on music programs from SBS, MBC, and KBS, it’s not surprising to hear rumors of favoritism and bias against the three public broadcasting networks.
Chosun collaborated with music critic Kim (of the Chugye University for the Arts) to research the number of broadcast appearances celebrities made from January through November of last year. Their results were alarming, in that they proved the domination of the ‘Big Three’ – SM Entertainment, YG Entertainment, JYP Entertainment.
SM Entertainment came out on top as the entertainment agency with the most amount of broadcast appearances.  SNSD, SHINee, f(x), Super Junior, and many others appeared a total of 187 times on the three networks, basically boiling down to over four appearances a week.
SM artists performed in 60 episodes of KBS’s “Music Bank“, 67 episodes of MBC’s “Show! Music Core“, and 60 episodes of SBS’s “Inkigayo.”
Following SM Entertainment was Cube Entertainment, who currently houses artists such as B2ST, 4minute, and G.NA.  Cube Entertainment artists appeared a total of 114 times in all three networks, while JYP Entertainment followed with 107 times, then Core Contents Media, and finally YG Entertainment.

When looking at the artists alone, B2ST came out on top with a total of 49 appearances on all three channels. CNBLUE followed up with 44 appearances, and SNSD and SHINee tied in third with 41 appearances.
The results show that idol groups were obviously the most-loved, but it was the expense of other artists, who were unfortunately ignored. Male group Norazo appeared on KBS and MBC 15 and 13 times respectively, but only once on SBS. Meanwhile, December appeared on KBS and SBS 14 and 12 times, but only once on MBC.
But just because you’re an idol group doesn’t mean that you’re secured a position in the limelight as well. DNT and Tae Sa Bi Ae (殆 死悲愛) both released new tracks last year, but only appeared one time on all three channels the entire year. They’re not alone, as results further showed that there were 50 to 60 other teams who were barely given an opportunity; at their expense, hotter stars were given more room and more airtime.
CEO Kim Woong of Drug Record, who manages Crying Nut, commented, “Ever since six to seven years ago, we’ve given up even anticipating making music program appearances. The problem is the imbalance of the music that TV programs air.”

Much of the “favoritism” comes from the need for the networks to keep their other programs alive. In order to secure a steady flow of cast members and guests for their variety programs, they inevitably try to stay in the good graces of the big power companies. Since they’ve lost viewer ratings value, music programs have become just another venue for networks to appease entertainment agencies with.
All three of the major music programs have dropped to 5-6% in viewer ratings, so it goes to show that under all that glitz and glamor, music programs are basically nothing more than another business deal.
One CEO of an entertainment agency revealed, “In order to get celebrity B to appear on their variety program, they’ll let celebrity A, who’s under the same agency, onto their music program. This ‘give and take’ deal has grounded itself in the industry, and it makes it harder for anyone else to appear on shows anymore.”
Critic Kim concluded, “As long as this ‘cartel relationship’ exists between the big agencies and the broadcast networks, the public cannot expect to be able to hear a variety of music. TV viewers always complain that there’s no longer music ‘worth listening to,’ but they have to realize that the music they hear from the TV is very limited and biased.”
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Check out the full results below:

‘Top 10 entertainment agencies that appeared on the most music programs in all three public networks in 2010′:
1. SM Entertainment – 187
2. Cube Entertainment – 114
3. JYP Entertainment -107
4. Core Contents Media – 97
5. YG Entertainment – 95
6. Pledis Entertainment – 82
7. Star Empire – 76
8. FnC Music – 70
9. DSP Media – 63
10. Starship Entertainment – 57
‘Top 10 artists who appeared on the most music programs in all three public networks in 2010′:
1. B2ST – 49
2. CNBLUE – 44
3. SNSD/SHINee – 41
5. SISTAR – 40
6. SECRET – 38
7. Rainbow – 37
8. 2AM/2PM/After School – 35

Forbes Korea ranks SNSD as Korea’s #1 power celebrity

The results of Forbes Korea’s 8th anniversary “Korea’s Power Celebrity 40” are in, and SNSD has been selected as Korea’s top power celebrity. Figure skater Kim Yuna, who had placed number 1 for the past two years, has now dropped down to number 3. On the other hand, soccer star Park Jisung beat out Kim Yuna for 2nd place, as he took the title of Korea’s representative sports star.
This year’s number one, SNSD, has ranked in the top three for a variety of categories, such as number of articles, TV commercials, and internet searches. According to the Hanteo charts, SNSD sold over 270,000 albums, which is over 20,000 more than 2nd place, which went to Super Junior.
The songs in their album also had about 11,730,000 online downloads, and they ranked 3rd place in the number of articles written, and had filmed a total of 25 advertisements.
It has been analyzed that SNSD has had over 100 billion won in sales through their music, commercials, and TV appearances.  With their activities in the Japanese market, they even further exceed this. Since their Japanese debut through ‘Genie‘ in September, all of their released songs have made it to the Oricon charts.  According to SanK Sports, SNSD made about 120 million won in profits from their Japanese album sales.
Thanks to SNSD’s success, SM Entertainment’s stock has risen in value, as evidenced by the price of a share going up from 5,000 won to 20,000 won in one year. Also, Lee Soo Man’s appraised holdings jumped from 250 billion won last year to 880 billion won this year.

Super Junior-M releases their “Perfection” mini album!

Having released their “Too Perfect” music video earlier, fans have been waiting patiently for the official release of their album on February 25th in Taiwan, followed by March 3rd in Korea.
It’s been almost 3 years since Super Junior-M debuted with “Me” album, and the group has since undergone member changes, with Hangeng not involved anymore since he filed a lawsuit against SM Entertainment, and Eunhyuk and Sungmin coming in.
Besides the title track which we have already heard earlier, the album also contains five brand-new Chinese songs, including HENRY and Zhou Mi’s compositions, “Off my mind” and “True Love,” as well as “Love is Sweet,” written by Jay Chou.

Super Junior’s Leeteuk angers some radio listeners

Some fans are frowning upon Super Junior Leeteuk’s harsh joke.
On February 22nd, KBS 2FM ‘Super Junior’s Kiss the Radio’ featured a K-pop in China special. In place of Eunhyuk, SHINee’s Key filled in to join Leeteuk as a host DJ. On this day, Kan Mi Yeon, miss A’s Jia and Fei appeared as special guests.
When the DJ’s asked Jia and Fei, “When will miss A come back,” the girls answered, “We’re still in preparation for that.” Leeteuk responded with, “I guess we’ll know more when KBS 2 drama ‘Dream High‘ ends.” Then he suddenly exclaimed, “Suzy needs to lose weight first.”
After this statement, both Jia and Fei told Leeteuk to “knock if off.” Kan Mi Yeon also disapproved with what Leeteuk said. Leeteuk quickly tried to move on with a smile after saying he was just joking, but his comment angered many listeners.
Listeners expressed anger saying, “That was too harsh for a joke,” “Think about how Suzy would feel when she hears it,” “How could you ever tell a girl to lose weight, that’s so rude!”

Nam Ji Hyun’s childhood pictures released!

4Minute’s Nam Ji Hyun has revealed her childhood pictures!
Through “4Minute Mr. Teacher,” Nam Ji Hyun revealed her childhood pictures with her family. In these pictures, netizens noted that she did not look that much different from now, acknowledging her natural beauty.
In another picture was Nam Ji Hyun with her brother. About her brother, she stated, “When I was a senior in high school, my brother would come out at dawn to greet me when I came home. My brother is currently a senior in high school but because I am busy, I cannot go out and greet him when he comes home. I feel really sorry about that.“

KARA temporarily return to Korea for “emergency Korean schedule”

On February 26th, KARA returned to Korea through Gimpo Airport after completing their Japanese activities.
Due to the controversy surrounding their lawsuit against DSP Media, the girls were met with media attention immediately upon their arrival. Remaining silent, they stayed behind their bodyguards and left the airport.
The girls were originally scheduled to stay in Japan until March 20th, but returned due to an emergency Korean schedule. They’ll be leaving again two days later in order to film for TV Tokyo’s “URAKARA.”
Leader Gyuri will be attending the press conference for “Alpha & Omega” on the 27th, and will be leaving with the rest of the KARA members for Japan on the 28th.

U-Kiss Kim Kibum shares his feelings, claims to be kicked out of group

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Former U-Kiss member Kim Kibum recently confessed his feelings about leaving the team.
“I didn’t quit, they canceled my contract,” said Kim Kibum in a phone conversation with Newsen on the 23rd. Kibum added, “the agency first told us they are going to replace two members. They demanded me to sign an agreement on canceling my contract, so I did.”
Kibum was puzzled about the news that said he had quit the group. “I feel sorry to our fans,” said Kibum.
Kibum posted a long tweet to his fans:
That tweet began with, “안녕하세요 유키스 기범, 아니 정확히는 유키스로 활동했던 김기범입니다/ Hello, I am U-Kiss Kibum, no, I was U-Kiss Kim Kibum.”
Kibum says he didn’t voluntarily quit U-Kiss to focus on his Piro Piro character business but was required to sign the contract cancellation agreement and leave the group. Kibum says his business never distracted him from his U-Kiss activites and prioritized U-Kiss over anything else.
“가족같이 아니 그 이상으로 멤버들을 생각해왔습니다 이렇게 헤어지게 된것이 정말 섭섭한 마음이지만 제가 모자란 부분이 많아 유키스에 교체가 필요할 것이라는 전 소속사의 의견또한 존중하는 바입니다 / I thought of the members like my family…no, more than that. I’m so sad to say good-bye to them like this but I do respect the agency’s decision to replace me with someone better.”
Kibum thanked his fans and promised that he’ll continue to appear on air by himself as both a talent and business man.
This was also the case for member Alexander. “I did leave U-Kiss,” said Alexander on the phone with Newsen. “But it wasn’t because of school like they stated.”
U-Kiss’s agency NH Media will be replacing Kim Kibum and Alexander with new members, believing that it will strengthen the group vocals and bring about a change to U-Kiss.