Korean idols give dance lessons to global K-pop contest finalists

Dozens of foreign contestants cheered and clapped as Korean idols K.Will, Sistar and Boy Friend entered a practice room at an entertainment agency in southern Seoul to give them advice on dancing, performing and fashion one day before the final round of a global K-pop contest.

With some shooting pictures and videos of the stars, the young foreigners all danced and sang in unison to Sistar's hit-song "So Cool" in Korean when the girl group presented their choreography of the song.

Then the Korean stars and the foreign contestants created a festive mood, singing another hit song of the group, "My Boy", all together.

The 43 finalists of the 17 remaining teams arrived in South Korea on Monday for the final round of the K-Pop World Festival co-hosted by the country's public broadcaster KBS and the Changwon Municipal Government.

The teams were selected from preliminary rounds held in 15 major regions across the world, including the United States, Japan, Britain, Indonesia and Poland.

They will compete against each other by performing popular Korean-language songs such as "Back It Up" by Jewelry, "Can't Nobody" by 2NE1 and "Ring Ding Dong" by SHINee in the final round set to be held on Wednesday in Changwon, 398 kilometers southeast of Seoul.

"I love K-pop because it's a lot of fun and really energetic and inspirational", Tara Lewis, 20, from Los Angeles told reporters. "I watch a lot of videos online as much as I can. I think the (Korean language) is pretty easy compared to some other languages", she said.

Kim Hyung-soo, better known by his stage name K.Will, said he could feel the popularity of K-pop after meeting the foreign contestants.

"People talk a lot about the popularity of K-pop. It was really amazing and astonishing to experience the phenomenon", Kim said. "Some of the contestants I met even sang ballad songs from OST albums and songs by the Korean diva Lee Eun-mi. ... Their efforts to contain even the emotions of the original singers in their songs impressed me a lot". (Yonhap)