SEANRICHARDDULAKE:A PROFILE

TRAXH A L L Y UM A G A Z I N E

HALLYU M

AGAZINE

staffEditor-in-Chief / Head DirectorNadezhda Hope

Head Writing Editor Stefanie Johnson

Head Artist Aaliyah Gross

Market Research Jeff Goodwin

Art&Layout DepartmentChief Art EditorNadezhda Hope

Head Artist Aaliyah Gross

Asst of Head Artist Kathryn Park

Art EditorsAsel Sadekova Stefanie Johnson Phoungpaulica Lay

Artists Kirsy Marlin Nindea IsaacLissy Marlin Dena H Nguyen

PhotographersBrian WaltesCinnamon MoniqúeCrisanto J. JordaJason Chen Kaile Rooney

Social NetworkKay LeeNadezhda HopeAaliyah GrossKim Soo Jung

PR&Media Department Writing Department

PhotoShoot Team

PR Director Nadezhda Hope

Publicist Ly Nguyen Kh

PR Staff&CorrespondentCheyenne Sinaswee

Media Staff Kay Lee

Directors Ly Nguyen KhAsel Sadekova Aaliyah Gross

Creative CoordinatorJosh Brewer

Hair&Make Up Lexx PariaJulia Gavryliuk

Video Operator Phoungpaulica Lay

Casting Aaliyah Gross

Head Writing Editor Stefanie Johnson

Deputy Writing Editor Darla Cornett

EditorsAlgie Lesia StephensGrace JeongMarcus Im

Writers Jaelle HwangGabrielle LuuMei LingAmy SaiauskiJ’mescia (J.P)Kim Soo JungHyeonjin Estar ParkMonique KurtzJay

Publicist Ly Nguyen Kh

Translator Yoonjo Ahn

Connect with Us! hallyumagazine@hallyumagazine.com

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marchSean Richard Dulake: A Profile.....................Pg 6Coast2Coast Interview...................................Pg 8Return of BigBang..........................................Pg 14EXO: Will They Live Up to the Hype?..........Pg 16TRAX: Live in New York................................Pg 17Understanding Korean Censorship..............Pg 22The Front Line: Review...................................Pg 24BigBang “Blue” MV Review...........................Pg 25Backstage: Mitchell Grey................................Pg 26MBLAQ 100% Review.......................... . ........Pg 32Who Wore it Better........................................Pg 35Who Has the Longest Legs?...........................Pg 36Stars in their Eyes............................................Pg 37Find 7 Differences...........................................Pg 38SYKA................................................................Pg 38

Hallyu Wave Hits Europe..............................Pg 39Lee Hyori, Nation’s Angel.............................Pg 40Featured Album: Last Fantasy by IU............Pg 42Seoul One Day Tour......................................Pg 43 Planning Your Visit to South Korea............Pg 44 Jong In Yoon Interview.................................Pg 46BigBang Crossword.......................................Pg 48UKISS: Patience is Their Virtue...................Pg 50Fan Art Corner...............................................Pg 51Easy Hangul....................................................Pg 52Affiliated..........................................................Pg 53Featured Sponsor............................................Pg 54About Us..........................................................Pg 55

BIG BANG

~Special~

spring

HALLYU

LPay

Phoungpaulica Lay

m a g a z i n e

LPay

HALLYU: What was it like to work with Flowsik and Playboy and was it fun ?J1: It’s always fun. Especially working with Playboy he’s always fun to be around, and with Flowsik it was cool.KayKay Oh: Flowsik I’ve known since New York. Sometimes we bump heads were friends still, some-times we fight but at the end of the day we’re all just having fun with the rap gig. Everybody wants to be known for our talent, Flowsik whoa, he’s very good. He’s influenced a lot of people in this company to become a better rapper. He’s a good guy.J1: Yeah we like Jay. Hi Jay!

HALLYU: If you could work with any artist in the world who would it be?J1: Rihanna. Hi Rihanna! Bassagong: YDG-He’s got a style of his own and he’s very different. Xenomix: J Lim from JYP.

HALLYU:HALLYU: What kind of music inspires you?J1: Any good music inspires me, not just Hip-Hop, Rock, R & B, I listen to any thing that’s good that I can relate too. I try to see how I can say that towards my audience so they can relate to me. I am inspired by any kind of music.Xenomix: Hip Hop.

HALLYU: HALLYU: Do you play an instrument?J1: Guitar, bass, drums, little bit of piano…I just like to learn and mess around with the instrumentsXenomix: Our mouth is our instrument.

HALLYU: What are some of the situations you rapped about that actually happened to you?KayKay Oh: Everybody raps about what they are going through. We don’t have song writers for us, we all write our own raps. Everything I write about is basi-cally us. There are people who go through a lot of hardships and we want them to know we got them.

HALLYU: Can you describe your musical style?J1: My style is honest. Whatever kind of song it is it’s coming from my heart. I just say whatever I need to say, whatever I want to say at that moment.Xenomix: I want to be more mainstream, but stay unique. I’m really good with all different styles.J1: Xenomix is one of a kind.

BASSAGONG

Bassagong: I just like rap and hip - hop.

TRAX has graced New York with their powerful voices and insightful tips for hopeful trainees.

TRAX was present at HITSNY, The Hallyu Idol Train-ing Services, New York, at Bennette Media Studio first auditions. TRAX is a rock band formed in 2004. The name TRAX refers to “recording tracks,” as well as, to the stage names of the band members, Typhoon of the Rose Attack on X-Mas. Current members are Ty-phoon, the leader and main vocalist. He is also known as Jay Kim; and X-Mas, who real name is Kim Jung Mo, and the guitarist for the band.

Live in New YorkTRAX

TRAX has provided helpful tips and guidance to hopeful trainees during their auditions and after-wards performed for the crowd of fans that have been invited to the live performance.

During sound check TRAX had a little fun playing around!

TRAX Greeting the crowd

-Fin-

MC, Leonardo Nam

Fan won TRAX album!

Understanding South Korean “BEAST banned for inappropriate lyrics!”

“Raina reigned in because their dancing is too sexy!”

Headlines like these appear in K-pop blogs, forums, and other fan gathering sites time and again. International fans o�en have a hard time comprehending the censorship practices employed in South Korea, particularly when they compare them to the music and dancing that is considered appropriate in their own countries. �us, comments on these posting range from outburst of rage, sighs of resignation, ponderings over confusing policies, and the occasional joke about whether or not America media products are completely banned from South Korea. �ese posts beg the question “What is the deal with censorship in South Korea?” and the goal of this article is to provide the ba�ed and irritated among us K-pop fans with some insight into this situation that a�ects us all on a regular basis.

To understand the censorship policies of South Korea, we have to understand the place from which they originate. �e creator and enforcer of censorship in the land of K-pop is the Ministry of Gender, Equality, and Family (MOGEF), one of ��een ministries that exist within the South Korean national government. �e censorship of music is directly handled by the ministry. When it comes to choreography changing and lyric altering for television performances, the TV stations are the ones that require changes. However, the stations that air the most popular programs, KBS, SBS, and MBC (the homes of Music Bank, Inkigayo, and Music Core respectively) are all national stations, meaning they are owned, at least in part, by the government (the president of KBS is actually approved by the president of South Korea). As a result, these stations are under greater government control than independent stations and are more likely to bend to the will of government agencies, including the Ministry of Gender, Equality, and Family.

�e MOGEF covers a wide variety of issues which stem from seven core policy focus points, including: gender sensitivity, women’s resources development, women’s rights protection, family policy, youth policy, migrant women, and group interchange cooperation. It is the ��h item in that list, youth policy, which directly a�ects producers and consumers of K-pop the world over. In the “Outline of Youth Policy” on the ministry’s website, there is a section titled “Increasing environmental factors that intimidates sound growth of the youth,” and two key points directly related to censorship practices in South Korea are listed under this section. �ey are:

-Increasing harmful media with violent and obscene contents and the expanding addiction to the Internet game.-�e rate of youth drinking and smoking increases and the number of publications harmful to the youth also increases.

Both of these categories are very broad, and neither the Korean nor English versions of the MOGEF’s web page o�er any concrete descriptions of vague terms such as “violent and obscene content” or “publications harmful to youth.” �e only additional information to be gleaned from the Korean version of the ministry’s website is an introduction to the Youth Protection Committee.

Article By Darla Cornett

B2ST’s Rainy Days was under �re as well

Understanding South Korean Censorship Practices

However, this section only provides speci�cs on how to committee members are selected (including a list of current members). �e mantra of protecting youth from harmful things is again reiterated with no explanation as to what constitutes such harms. �e result of this is that we know who is responsible for censorship in South Korea, but there is a lack in understanding of how such decisions are made. Perhaps within the MOGEF there is a set of guidelines detailing what is and is not harmful for the youth of Korea. However, if such guidelines exist, they have never been made available to the public. While there may be legitimate reasons a government agency chooses not to publish internal guidelines, when this occurs in a democratic country and when said guidelines a�ect the public, especially when the e�ects seem unnecessary or over the top, it tends to result in negative reactions, from disenchantment to accusations of corruption.

Many of the MOGEF’s decisions, to fans both living in and outside of Korea, appear arbitrary or to be a re�ection of old-fashioned views about what is appropriate and what is not for youth. Unfortunately, while there is currently no clear avenue for understanding the logic (or possibly lack of logic) behind the censorship decisions of the ministry, we can see how the entertainment industry within South Korea responds to imposed restrictions. More o�en than not, the chosen method of dealing with the ministry’s censorship is to accept it and move on. Cube Entertainment stuck an age restriction label on

BEAST’s �rst album and Raina’s spread leg dance was altered for TV performances. Sometimes the larger music companies, like SM Entertainment, YG, and United Cube, will �ght back against the censorship requirements, spending time and money to get the ministry to change their position. Sometimes the MOGEF agrees to change their rating, and other times, as in the recent case of Kim Hyun Joong, South Korean courts make the decision. As was noted in many articles about the class-action lawsuit �led against the MOGEF by a collective of Korean indie artists, the unclear censorship standards result in the banning of hundreds, if not thousands, of songs. �is both damages the potential of artists not represented by the major labels to achieve high levels of success and can sti�e the creativity of artists, writers, and producers in the music scene.

�ough the Ministry of Gender, Equality, and Family’s reasons for determining what is harmful for the youth of Korea and what is not are muddled and unclear, one thing is certain: fans and the music industry are not taking these censorship attempts based on vague reasoning lying down. While there is inherently nothing wrong with wanting to protect the youth of one’s nation, in a democratic society like South Korea, government agencies must realize that their decisions should be based on logic and fairness that the people can understand. If artists and fans continue to take the MOGEF to task on their unclear policies and arguably outdated opinions on what is and is not appropriate, then it is likely that an expansion in the variety of K-pop (and other genres that are currently largely suppressed because of the MOGEF’s censorship) will occur, and this will surely be a bene�t not to just K-pop fans, but to music fans and promoters of the right to freedom of expression the world over. Now we are resigned to live in a transitory period where it is unclear if the pendulum will swing towards more freedom or more “protection,” but at least now international fans of K-pop have a clear idea of who to direct their frustration towards and why, and this can lead to better and more informed decisions about how to promote the change that fans desire to see.

Rania’s Pop Pop Pop

Kim Hyun Joong’s Please

As South Korea’s entry for the 84th Academy Award’s Best Foreign Language Film, The Frontline (2011) is a competitive player. It is a South Korean blockbuster that takes you to the heart of the Korean War. Directed by Jang Hun (Rough Cut) and written by Park Sang-Yeon, the film is set in the last throes of the war which occurred at Aerok Hill, a location right at eastern front of the war. The film stars Shin Ha-Kyun as Kang Eun-Pyo, a South Korean lieutenant who is sent on a covert mission to Aerok Hill to investigate both the murder of a South Korean officer who commanded the Alligator Company and a mole that mailed a letter from a North Korean soldier to his family in the South. There he meets his childhood friend, Kim Su-Hyeok, played by Go Soo, who was believed to be dead. Go Soo plays a radically transformed soldier who was once meek and useless, but is now hardened into a ruthless fighting machine. This movie is a dramatic thriller that doesn’t hesitate to bring the viewer into the gore and violence of war, but it also portrays the brotherhood and rivalry that binds soldiers together. This movie expertly explores the futility, reality, and sacrifices of war through well-developed characters, steady plot development, and high production quality. Like any good war film, it leaves the audience reflecting on the cost of war, not only in body count, but also in humanity.

The F

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BLUEBIG BANG

Just right after the clock hits midnight on the 22nd February.. The long awaited comeback of Bigbang releases the full music video for the first single “Blue” off

their 5th mini album titled “Alive”.

Fans started the Bigbang countdown by trending #BIGBANGBLUE which reached the top place at the Worldwide Trending Topic on Twitter just a hours before the music video was officially released.

The track “Blue” by Bigbang is definitely has a more mature sound and it is not heavy to the ears. There’s something about the song that makes you want to keep on listen-ing to it and the heartfelt lyrics written by G-Dragon himself.

The music video was filmed in New York and as you can see though, the never failed to impress us with their colorful clothes and in T.O.P’s case, his shocking blue / green hair!

Big Bang is scheduled to make their comeback on February 29, they also announced that they will promote 6 title tracks off their “Alive” mini album which gained vari-ous reactions from medias, will they succeed in doing so? Let’s wait and see! To top that off, the band will also be having their first-ever world tour called “BIGBANG ALIVE TOUR 2012,” across 25 cities in 16 countries.

Written by Kay Lee

Napon Pintong: We sang Incubus?

Mitchell Grey: (laugh) Hoobstank, The Reason.

JosephJoseph Diaz: So I think we’re really that eclectic but right now I’m in love with bands like Good Old War and Local Na-tives. There’s so much cool indie music coming out and so many people are doing whatever the hell they want to because you can do without a label now.

Mitchell Grey: (laughs)

Joseph Diaz: It’s so cool with so many artist to come out and if you’re really to seek these bands out. I don’t know everything’s great.

Mitchell Grey: (laughs)

Joseph Diaz: Everything’s great!

NaponNapon Pintong: I’m always listening to two types of genres its either electro and experimental or R&B soul. So it’s either old school like Marvin Gaye, Bill Withers, and electro with a little drag in like Go-rillaz. Just experimental, just all around, old school, and new weird sounds that boggle my mind.boggle my mind.

Hallyu: If you could perform with any artist alive or dead who would it be?

Mitchell Grey: (laughs) As a band, we have to huddle.

Matt Pana: That’s tough you can’t ask a musician that we’ll go on forever. Lets do dead rst…

Joseph Diaz: This is like asking a mother which child she would like to let live. This is offensive almost…

Mitchell Grey: (laughs) It’s tough…

Ryan Bandong: I feel it would be fun opening for a lot people with our stuff.

MattMatt Pana: For me I always wanted to see Lauren Hill live, I’ve always been a fan of The Fugees so de nitely to collabo-rate with someone like that. For more for us to collaborate with more R&B and hip hop.

Ryan Bandong: Kid Cudi.

JosephJoseph Diaz: I would love to work with The Beatles, The Beach Boys because they’re so underrated and so cool. But I guess they’re alive but then local natives they’re so cool.

NaponNapon Pintong: This person always pops up into my mind and I wish I saw but never be able to see was Michael Jackson. I’ll never see him perform and that makes me so sad even to watch him perform and even not necessarily work with him. I would de nitely love to do something with him and jam with him.him and jam with him.

Hallyu: What is the dream venue you would like to perform at?

Joseph Diaz: I think for me and I think about it a lot and I actually texted Ryan about it, Webster’s Hall Ballroom. It’s New York City and I think it’s a dream but it’s likely...

Ryan Bandong: I’m more out doorsy too I would do an out door event and wear sun-glasses and the beach all day.

Hallyu: What are some of your musical goals?

Matt Pana: I guess short term an album and touring. Long term what would you think?

Ryan Bandong: Building a career and to be able to do this each time and just get better.

Matt Pana: As our lives fulltime as what we what we do, our passion.

JosephJoseph Diaz: I hope 15 years from now some kids in a really cool band is in their basement and they’re like remember Mitch-ell Grey? Just jamming out to our old songs on their instruments. I would love to even I never knew that it happened just inspired somebody so much that it was like was one of thosethose memories that stayed with them and our songs became the songs that inspired them to pursue their own dreams that would be the best.

Napon Pintong: Just share it and pass it down.

Joseph Diaz: Become like that legacy of music.

Ryan Bandong: Cult following.

Mitchell Grey: (laughs)

Hallyu: Can you describe your bands image overall? Is there a certain style you like to present yourself onstage?

Napon Pintong:

Ryan Bandong: : : : :

Mitchell Grey: :

Joseph Diaz: : :: : : : :

JosephJoseph Diaz: :

Ryan Bandong: :

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RyanRyan Bandong: : :

Matt Pana: : : : :

Ryan Bandong: : :

NaponNapon Pintong: : :

Hallyu: : :

Ryan Bandong: : : :

Hallyu: : :

Ryan Bandong:     :

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Ryan Bandong: :

JosephJoseph Diaz:   : : : :: : : : : : : : � : : : � : :

Napon Pintong: : : : : : : : : : : : :

Mitchell Grey: : : :

Napon Pintong: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : :: : : : : : : : : : : :

Ryan Bandong: :

Hallyu: : :

Ryan Bandong: :

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Hallyu: : : : : : :

MattMatt Pana:   :   : : : : ::

Hallyu:Hallyu: : : : :

Ryan Bandong: : : : : : : :

Napon Pintong: : : : : :

JosephJoseph Diaz:

Ryan Bandong: :

Joseph Diaz: : : : : : : : : : : : : :   : : :

Ryan Bandong: : :

NaponNapon Pintong: : : : :

Ryan Bandong:

Mitchell Grey: ::::: :

Hallyu: : : : : : ::: : : : : : :: :: ::: :::: : : : : : :

Ryan Bandong: : :

Mitchell Grey: ::::: :

Matt Pana: Matt Pana: :: : :

Ryan Bandong: ::: : ::: :: : : : :: : : : :

Joseph Diaz: :: : : ::: : : : : : : : : : :: : : : :: :: ::: : : :: : : : ::: ::: :: : : : : ::: : : : : : ::: : : : :: :: : : :: :: : : : : :: : :: :: : : :: :: : : : : :: :: : :: :::

Ryan Bandong: : : : : :: ::: : :: : :::

Mitchell Grey: ::::: :

Hallyu: :: : : :: :: :: :: : :::

Napon Pintong: Napon Pintong:

Hallyu: : : : : : :::: :: : : : :::: : : : : :::: : : :: : : :: :: :: :: : :::

Napon Pintong: ::::: :: :: :

Matt Pana: :: : :: :: :: : ::: : ::: :

JosephJoseph Diaz: : : : : : :::: :::::: ::: : ::: : : ::: ::: : : :: : ::: : : : : :: : : : :: :: :: :::

Napon Pintong: ::::: ::: : : : ::: :: : : : ::: : : : :::: :: :: :::: ::: ::: : :::: ::: : :::: : : :

Matt Pana: : : :: :

Napon Pintong: : : : :: : : : ::: :

Hallyu: : : : ::: : : :

Napon Pinton: : : :::: : : ::: :: : :::: :: :: : ::::::

Hallyu:Hallyu: : : : : : :: :: :: : ::

Joseph Diaz: ::::: : :

Ryan Bandon: : ::::: : :

Mitchell Grey: ::::: :

Ryan Bandon: : : : : :: ::::: :

Matt Pana: : :::: : :: : ::: ::: : : ::: :::: :::::

NaponNapon Pintong: : ::: : : ::: :: :: : ::: : : : :::::

Joseph Diaz to Napon Pintong: :: : : :: :: : : : : : ::: : : ::: :: : : ::::

Mitchell Grey: ::::: :

Ryan Bandon: :: : ::: : : :::

Hallyu: :: :: :: : ::

Napon Pintong: : :: : :: ::::: :::::

Napon Pintong: : ::::: ::::: :

Joseph Diaz : : ::: : ::: : : ::: : : :::::: : ::::: ::: : : : :::

Matt Pana: :::: : :: :: : : :: : ::::: :: : : ::: : : ::: ::: : :: ::

Hallyu: :: :::: : :: : : : ::: ::: : ::: : :: :::: : :: :: : : :: :::: :: ::: : :: :

Matt Pana: : ::: : : : : ::: : : : : : : :::: ::: :: ::: :: :::::::: : :

Ryan Bandon: : : : :: :

Joseph Diaz: : ::: : : ::: : : : : ::: : : : : : :: : : : ::: :: : :: : ::: :: ::: : : : :: : : ::: : : :: :: : :: : : :: :: : ::: : : :: : ::

Ryan Bandon: : ::: : ::: :: :: :

Hallyu: :: :::

Ryan Bandon: : : : :::

Napon Pintong: : :: :::: ::: : ::: : ::::

Hallyu: : : : : : ::: ::: : : : :: ::: : ::::: ::: ::::: : :: ::: : : : : : : :

Matt Pana: :: ::::::: : : : : : :: ::: : : : :: :: : ::: : :: : :: : : :: :: :: : : :: :: : : : ::: :: :: :: : :: :::::: :: : ::: : ::: ::: :::: :: ::: :: : :: : : :: :: : : :: :: : : :: : : : : : : ::: : : : : ::: :: : ::: ::: ::: :: ::::: : :: :: ::

NaponNapon Pintong: :: ::: ::: : :: ::: : : : : ::: : : :: : : :: : : : :: : ::: :: : : : : : : : :: :: ::: :

Ryan Bandon: : :: ::::

NaponNapon Pintong: :::::: : :: : :::: :::: : : : : ::: : :: : : : : : :: :: : ::: : : :::

Matt Pana: : : : : : :::: : : : ::: :: : : :: : : :::: : ::: :: :: : : : : : :: : :::: : : : : :: : : : : :: : :: : ::: : : ::: : : :: ::: : ::

Joseph Diaz: : : : ::: :: : :: : : :: :: :: ::: ::: :: :: : :: : : : : : : ::: : :: : :::::: :: : : : ::: : :: : : :: : : : : : ::: :: : : ::: :: ::: ::: ::: ::: : ::: :: ::: :: :: : :::::

Napon Pintong: All the weight is just lifted off your shoulders.

Hallyu: Is there something that you done or someone that you’ve been through with and don’t want to go back there for with and why as a band?

Napon Pintong: Joe’s house.

Mitchell Grey:Mitchell Grey: (laughs)

Hallyu: If a fan walking on the street and they saw you and wanted an autograph or photo from you how would you react?

Joseph Diaz: (sarcastically) Aww what is your problem?

RyanRyan Bandon: (sarcastically) Why are you doing this?

Joseph Diaz: (sarcastically) Do you hate us?

Napon Pintong: (sarcastically) Get a life you loser.

Mitchell Grey: (laughs)

MattMatt Pana: When we get approached it’s like new to us, it’s like “wow”, like a sur-prise to us; at least to me anyways.

Joseph Diaz: Personally I geek out over and I pretend like that’s cool here’s my au-tograph. But in my mind I’m like this is cool. It’s like a sign that hey maybe we’re doing something right and we have a deeprespect for our fans and we really do appre-ciate them.

Hallyu: Can you describe what you might be feeling with 10,000 fans?

Ryan Bandon: I’d be the same.

Hallyu: But how would you deal with them wanting to see you?

Ryan Bandon: I try to make my effort to be as much personal as possible.

Matt Pana: Try to be personal as possible but it’s hard to be personal as possible with 10,000 people. We try to be genuine.

NaponNapon Pintong: Thank God for social media.

JosephJoseph Diaz: It’s a good thing to talk about we want to be down to earth in our social media. We don’t want to project that larger than life image. We just want to be like normal guys, we love our music, and we love our fans.

Hallyu:Hallyu: So would you set up meet and greets?

Mitchell Grey: We usually do things like that.

JosephJoseph Diaz: We on average I would say this Summer we spent from anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes playing. But then we spent like an hour to 2 hours meet and greet. That’s kind of like a big part of ourpriority.priority. If we need to stay an hour two hours we’ll sit there and sign every single post card, take every single picture, and meet every single fan. Because that’s a huge blessing to be able to say, “There’stwotwo and a half hours of the line that wants to meet me.” We really appreciate those fans because they’re the reason we get to do this.

Hallyu: Do you plan on touring other coun-tries speciically Korea?

Mitchell Grey: Awesome that would be great.

n

7 DIFFERENCES Find the

answers: cl’s shirt and shorts, dara’s shoes and shirt, minzy’s dress and shoes, bom’s shirt.

Our Mission StatementEstablished in 2011, the Society of Young Korean Americans (SYKA) is an organization that encompasses all aspects of Korean culture for young Korean Americans and for all Americans. Aspects of Korean culture in-clude Korean dance, Korean/ Korean American film, Korean music, Korean art, the Korean/ Korean American community, Korean American politics, Korean/ Korean American businesses and corporations, and the Korean language.

The purpose of SYKA is to make young Korean Americans leaders in their communities by helping them develop their skills and talents in any field re-lated to Korean culture or American Society, and to promote Korean culture to all people. The avenue we use consists of education, our weekly events, our written blog, performances, community forums, speaking engagements, and festivals. Through this avenue, we bridge the intergenerational gaps that exist between Korean and Korean American and bridge any barriers be-tween American and Korean.

E-mail: sykaphilly@gmail.comWebsite: www.sykaphilly.org

Connect with SYKA!

While K-Pop is at i ts peak in South Korea, the sound waves have reached many corners of the world. Europe, in particular , has embraced the addictive tunes and catchy beats and shows l i t t le s ign of lett ing go.

Last year, SM Entertainment took a chance on Europe, Paris speciical ly , as one of the s i tes of their family concert , SMTown Live. e response: every s ingle t icket sold in a mere 15 minutes . ose who were unable to grab t ickets did not throw their computers to the ground and curl up under the covers to wal low in self-pity ; they pul led together to request a second concert in a creative way: a K-Pop ashmob in front of Le Musée du Louvre (e Louvre Museum.) As the endless rush of European fans sang and danced,danced, their determination shined through. SM Entertainment set a second date, and over 14,000 fans attended SM Town Live in Paris .

Aside from SM Entertainment’s art ists , others have washed over Europe. Cube Entertainment’s United Cube Concert was held in London last December, and Korean artists appeared in the higher ranks of German music channel Viva’s online c l ip charts . 2NE1’s “I am the Best ,” MBLAQ’s “Mona Lisa” and BEAST’s “Fict ion” sat comfortably at 1st , 2nd, and 3rd respectively . An even greater feat was Big Bang’s tr iumph as winner of the Best Worldwide Act Award in the MTV European Music Awards.

I t i sn’t a stretch to bel ieve number of European K-Pop fans can only grow as healthy and strong as in Korea i tself . A survey performed by the Korean Culture and Information Service c laimed approximately 460,000 K-Pop fans inhabit Europe. As the Hallyu Wave soaks the shores of more countries , who is to say the numbers won’t double—or triple—in size?

by Gabriel le Luu

Hal lyu Wave Hits Europe

After a brief hiatus, IU unveiled her newest album Last Fantasy this past November, and it dominated all the music charts in South Korea as soon as it was released. Composed of 13 songs, this album explores many different types of styles using IU’s unique, soothing voice. What attracts many fans, old and new, is IU’s cute charisma and addictive personality that shines through in all of her songs.

Many of the songs in Last Fantasy bring out IU’s cuteness and innocence while merging those traits with her appealing singing ability. The song “You and I,” which is the featured track of the album, combines IU’s sweet and tender voice with a melody that is both sweet and melancholy at the same time. IU’s “Uncle”, which has an upbeat melody similar to “You and I,” is a song dedicated to the young singer’s leagues of adoring male fans (called ‘Uncles’ by IU) that have supported her throughout her career. These are the two main songs that IU is currently promoting, and they both help solidify IU’s unique signature style that found success in her previous album’s title song, “Good Day.”

IU’s flexibility as a singer is shown through the other songs of Last Fantasy. “Secret” is calmer than “You and I” and “Uncle,” but IU pulls it off with her soft and delicate voice. In “4AM,” IU showcases a strong but suppressed voice that matches the song’s theme of late night reverie. Overall, IU’s strength in this album lies in her ability to sing accordingly to the lyrics and to perfectly relay the meaning of her songs to her listeners.

Featured Album

Last Fantasy by IUWritten By Maria Smith

Edited by Grace Jeong

SOUTH KOREAPlanning Your Visit to

Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism:

IfIf you are thinking of visiting South Korea to see your favorite K-Pop stars, Korean celebri-ties, or to just plain enjoy the “Land of the Morning Calm,” visit the website of South Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism. (http://www.mct.go.kr/english/index.jsp). The web-site is available in Korean, English, Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, and Vietnamese. On the website, you can nd news of the latest cultural events and features on of some of South Korea’s cultural highlights, from computer games to traditional museums.

For more speci c information on visiting South Korea, go to the of cial Korean Tourism web-site (http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/index.kto). It is available in twelve languages, rang-ing from Russian to even Arabic. Here you will nd speci c information on accommodation, destinations, and attractions that are arranged according to speci c provinces and seasons. You will also nd information on travel packages and transportation that can take you to your favorite Korean drama lm locations.

Hallyu readers, if you could plan your dream vacation to Korea, where would you go?

�� Graaa Jeenn

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