The women of 4minute took to the stage at the Metro Theater in Sydney, Australia, Sunday, for an intimate show titled “4minute Party Rock Concert in Australia.” The five-member girl group performed for 1,000 Aussie fans in the group’s second concert Down Under. This was not only the stars’ first dedicated concert in the country, but also the first by a K-pop act. 4minute made their first visit to Australia two years ago for K-pop group concert, “2011 K-POP Music Festival in Sydney,” and performe

Big Bang member G-Dragon is planning to hold an exhibition, “G-Dragon ― SPACE 8,” at Cheongdam-dong’s CAIS Gallery from Sept. 10-17, releasing never-before-seen photographs and items used for his concerts. Themed “8,” which is the lucky number for the singer taken from his birthday Aug. 18, 1988, the event will be held for eight days showcasing 88 items with an entrance fee of 8,800 won.  Those who have already purchased tickets to G-Dragon’s “One of a Kind: The Final Concert” will be allowed fr

G-Dragon, the notorious leader of one the nation’s most popular boy bands, Big Bang, will release his highly anticipated second solo album “Coup d’etat” on Sept. 2, according to representatives at YG Entertainment. Coming more than four years after the release of the debut solo album “Heartbreaker,” the upcoming second solo album was initially scheduled to be released this month to celebrate the singer’s birthday and to mark the anniversary of the release of his debut solo album in 2009. However

Film star Lee Byung-hun has been given the title of publicity ambassador for the 38th conference of the Association of Film Commissioners International to be held in Jecheon, North Chungcheong Province, from Sept. 29 to Oct. 2.An official news conference announcing Lee’s participation in this year’s AFCI Cineposium conference will take place Sept. 4.Commissions, producers, investors and professionals in the field of film from all over the world are expected to participate in the September gather

2PM member Junho will be appearing in the movie “Hyeopnyeo,” directed by Park Heung-shik, alongside Korean film stars Lee Byung-hun, Chun Do-yeon and Kim Go-eun. A specific role for the boy band member has not been revealed yet, but the production team announced that official filming for the movie will begin in September. This will not be the first time Junho has made an on-screen appearance. He made his film debut playing the role of the host of a music show in horror flick “White: The Melody o

Actress and model Park Han-byul has denied rumors that she has broken up with singer Se7en, her boyfriend of 11 years, and that she is currently dating baseball player Ryu Hyun-jin.On Tuesday morning the actress’ agency, JF Entertainment, released a statement dispelling rumors of a breakup with Se7en and firmly denied that the actress was dating the L.A. Dodgers’ star pitcher.“Park Han-byul is still dating Se7en and the rumor of her dating Ryu Hyun-jin is just something from the tabloids,” a rep

Korean-American singer John Park recently held a joint performance with American pop duo Swan Dive in the middle of a traditional Korean market in Incheon for the recording of TV channel MBC Music’s “Picnic Live Sound, Landscape.” Nashville-based Swan Dive, which appeared at a rock festival in Korea, made a special performance for the show, which aired Monday night. The production team for “Picnic Live Sound, Landscape” wanted to arrange for an artist to perform with the duo and decided to invit

Growing interest in K-pop boosts Korea-Finland cultural ties

Girl group Sistar is to hold its second live concert “S” on Oct. 12 at Olympic Park’s Olympic Hall in Seoul. The four-member group debuted in June 2010 with the song “Push Push” and quickly shot up in the local music charts with the release of a slew of hit songs such as “So Cool” and “Alone.” In June 2012 the group released its second album with title track “Give it To Me” and landed No. 1 slots on numerous major music charts. “Sistar has a lot to offer to fans,” a representative of the group’s

Wonder Girls member Hyerim is to become the new host of Arirang TV’s K-pop program “Pops in Seoul.” She will be replacing BTOB’s Peniel Shin and will start as the official new host on Aug. 26. With Hyerim as the new host, Arirang TV has announced that the program will also include a new section called “Born to Rock the MIC.” An artist or group will be chosen for each section and viewers will be able to look into their beginnings and history as K-pop artists. The section also plans to include Hye

The popular male vocal trio group Honey G, who rose to stardom through audition program “Superstar K4,” is to release its first full studio album this week. “As newcomers to the music scene, Honey G will be showing a rare side of itself through its first studio album,” said a representative from the boys’ agency Chungchun Music. “Although the group is releasing its first full album quite quickly, the members stated that they are confident about their music.” Members Bae Jae-hyun, Kwon Tae-hyun a

Traces of personal touch draw fans from home and abroad

Hallyu stars TVXQ set a record Saturday as the Korean group to perform in front of the largest crowd in Japan for the grand finale to their tour at Nissan Stadium in Yokohama.The final concert at Nissan Stadium, which has the highest seating capacity of any stadium in Japan with an estimated 75,000 available seats, reportedly brought in more than 140,000 fans in just two days. The K-pop group is also the first foreign singers to take the stage at Nissan Stadium in an exclusive concert, demonstra

Big Bang member Seungri released an R-rated video teaser on YG Entertainment’s official blog for the title track for his upcoming solo album “Let’s Talk about Love” on Friday. Viewers need to go through adult confirmation in order to watch the 28-second teaser, which overall has a dreamy ambience much different from the concept of his first solo album released in 2011. The teaser, which doesn’t feature Seungri himself, shows provocative slow-motion scenes of models and artistic close-up shots of

Former SG Wannabe member Kim Jin-ho and pop artist Santa are holding a collaboration exhibition titled “Hangang Ae” (“Han River Love”) at Sinsa-dong’s Jaemi Gallery from Aug. 12 to 17. The title comes from the singer’s first solo album released in February. Santa works directly under iconic ’90s singer and musician Seo Tai-ji and is known for his recent collaboration with the design team for energy drink Hot Six in creating the character for Hot Six Light.“Han River Love” features 34 pieces that