Global fans celebrate Lee Min-ho's debut anniversary

Fans from all over the world celebrated the 10th anniversary of South Korean actor Lee Min-ho's debut in "the most creative of ways," involving social media campaigns and paid advertising, his agency said Wednesday.

Videos they made were being played in Myeongdong and Gangnam, two of Seoul's most popular neighborhoods, on Tuesday, MYM Entertainment said. These videos also made it to the streets of Tokyo, Beijing and Shanghai.

A group of Japanese fans paid for advertising space on Seoul subway lines to congratulate the "Boys over Flowers" actor, with commissioned buses circling around Myeongdong, Gangnam and Hongdae in Seoul blaring fan videos.

On the morning of his anniversary, fans from eight countries, including South Korea, China and Japan, posted photos of themselves holding identical banners celebrating Lee on social media. Even those from Indonesia, India, Taiwan and the Dominican Republic posted videos in solidarity.

Turkish fans went on a hot air balloon ride that displayed the message "10 Years with Hallyu's King LEEMINHO" and their Mexican counterparts threw a party.

On Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, more than 148,000 people participated in the hashtag campaign observing this meaningful day.

Other Chinese fans planted 510 trees, as Lee debuted on May 10, in the deserts of inland Mongolia. The Taiwanese fan club donated to World Vision, an international non-profit organization, and offered school supplies to elementary schools.

In a similar spirit, a fan club in Hong Kong made donations to UNICEF, the United Nations' children agency, and volunteered at nursing homes. A Mexican club donated to children stricken with cancer with proceeds earned from selling plastic bottle caps to recycling companies.

Lee, 28, debuted with "Secret Campus," a high school drama on the South Korean educational channel EBS, and has climbed to the ranks of "hallyu" stars, such as Ahn Jae-wook, with "Boys Over Flowers," "Personal Taste," "City Hunter," "Faith" and "The Heirs."

The agency said Lee thanks his fans for all the support.

"I can't believe it's already been 10 years since my debut," he was quoted as saying. "I'm happy I can share this occasion with so many people through my fans' charity activities."

Lee's first Chinese movie "Bounty Hunters" is expected to come out in the summer. (Yonhap)