It all started with a TV drama series - "Winter Sonata". In 2002, one of Indonesia's TV stations aired the series, introducing one of Korea's cultural products to a wide public in this part of the world. Later on, another TV station, Indosiar - which specializes in Asian dramas from Japan, Taiwan and Korea - aired about a dozen Korean dramas. The latest favorite was "Princess Hours" in 2006.
"The rating is not constant. It depends on the drama. When we air a TV drama that is very popular in Korea, the rating of Korean dramas subsequently rise above other Asian dramas", Gufron, a public relations officer at Indosiar, said.
Gufron said the highest rating in Indosiar is held by local reality shows, followed by local TV dramas. Asian dramas came fifth after feature-length movies produced for TV and music programs. Among Asian dramas, Korean dramas' ratings fluctuate, depending on the popularity of each series being aired at a certain time.
"We now air reruns of the Korean drama 'F...| More
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Actor Kim Jae-won held a barbecue party and a Christmas tree lighting ceremony Dec. 8 with his fans.
Only those who applied for the charity event were notified of its venue. The participants received bottles of wine personally signed by Kim.
At the charity bazaar that was held that day a scarf was auctioned off for a whopping 230,000 yen. All proceeds were donated to the Japanese Bone Marrow Bank.
Kim, who has also been holding various charity activities in Korea, will launch the KJW Children Dream Foundation in Japan next year to help Japanese children. To mark the event, the actor will hold a fan meeting in Tokyo Jan. 19....| More
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The opening ceremony for the second FACE In Japan:Forever, Asian Star Culture Expo In Japan, was held in grandeur on the 1st at the Tokyo Dome City Freedom Hall. This expo is sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy, and the Korean National Tourism Organization.
Following this, the appointment ceremony for publicity held at the Tokyo Dome hotel had invited Korean star Ryoo Si-won to come as a publicity representative. The first expo, which was successfully held last March in Jeju Island, had Bae Yong-joon for the publicity representative.
At this expo, Ryoo Si-won remarked, "I find it an honor to be appointed as a publicity representative. I hope this event will make Korea and Japan, and even the all of Asia to have a closer relationship. It is not just about making Korean culture known, but it is also an opportunity to learn the Japanese culture, and to make a mutual cultural interchange possible.
One of the most conspicuous phenomena of 2006 was the "going-solo" trend among former boy band and girl band members. In fact, this year's K-pop scene has been crowded with what seems like an endless procession of "first solo albums".
Son Ho-young and Kim Tae-wu, former members of now disbanded G.O.D., released their solo debut albums in October, only a few weeks apart. Son has taken a sexier image with his debut album "Yes", which features a mixture of R&B and hip-hop tracks, while Kim showed off his strong vocals in his album "Solo Special". Aside from those two, Jun Jin of all-male pop group Shinhwa, Brian of male R&B duo Fly to the Sky, former Baby Vox member Kan Mi-youn and girl group Sugar's Ayoomi stood alone as solo singers this year. Unlike G.O.D., whose members went solo after their groups disbanded, several members of Shinhwa have taken on solo careers while their group is enjoying a hiatus.
Given the already established role of "gisaengs", or female entertainers, in the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910), one can easily draw the idea that they existed to entertain "yangbans", or aristocrats, of the Confucian system.
This prevailing description of gisaengs, however, has recently been replaced by a new view that portrays them as multitalented entertainers of exquisite artistic talent and sophisticated social skills.
The shift in view goes on to highlight the life and career of big-name gisaeng Hwang Jin-i as a cultural icon of the times, who left a distinct mark in Korean history with her creative artworks.
Hwang was not only a gisaeng but also a painter, poet and calligrapher of the late 16th century, who rubbed shoulders with some of the era's most intelligent figures such as scholar Seo Kyung-duk and well-known monk Jijok.
The artistically inclined gisaeng, above all, was praised for her breathtaking beauty. According to historical documents, poets who encountered he...| More
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Actor 
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