What and which Korean stars makes Hallyu news in 2006?

Rain- Top 100 who shape the world in Times
Rain the South Korean pop king had made it big across Asia moving toward the West.
Pop culture is usually thought move in a single direction from the west to the rest of the world but now it is said a swirl begin where Rain moves the waves without any constraints.

Rumors for Kwon
Kwon Sang Woo at first was seen with an anonymous Japanese lady, he then rumored to be the
“Korean actor K sex video might be on the net”, to add on the bad news he was then blackmailed by gangster.
Fortunately, he is now safe and sound.

Singers turn actors
Among singers like SE7VEN and Kim Jung Hoon had started acting especially Kim who become so famously known as ‘Prince Lu’ in “Goong – The Princess hour”

Song Seung Hun returned to the entertainment industry
Song was greatly welcomed by local and overseas fans as well as media attention after completed army. It is reported he had the greatest welcome ceremony in Narita airport, Japan since completed in 1931.

Won Bin hurt in army
Due to a knee injury, Won Bin had to release from the army camp after 6 months in camp.

Other familiar names that keep flashing at Hallyu in 2006 includes Lee jun Ki, Hyun Bin, Lee Byung Hun, Jang Dong Gun, Song Hye Kyo, Lee Da Hae, Lee Young Ae and Yoon Eun Hye.

Lee Jun Ki publish his pictures this Christmas
Lee who is the leading actor in “King and the Clown” had since gained popularity. It is reported that there are 12million fans in his blog everyday.
During Christmas Eve, Lee published his photos and one of them is a cute baby santa clause with his cute face the other are pictures where he spent in Tokyo Disneyland which shows he was in Disney’s Tigger and Winnie the Pooh costumes.
Hey, still remember his movie “My Girl” which happens in Christmas too?

“Stairway to Heaven” expensive to broadcast in China
Korean drama “Stairway to Heaven” will be broadcast in one of the television channel in China. In order to grab the license and to promote the drama, the station had to spend US$650K.
Originally, the station decided to invite leading actor Kwon Sang Woo and actress Choi Ji Woo to promote the drama but both agencies demanded US$130K and US$75K respectively.
According to famous China actors and actress normally get about US$14K for appearance.
Mmm, this explained how famous are korean hallyu stars, right?

Lee Young Ae in charity for the sick
Last Thursday Lee donated 1 billion won for a hospital in Seoul in order to help patients who face critical illnesses.
The donation is distributed to 13 different patients who had to delay their operation due to lack of funds. These patients include liver transplant, bone marrow transplant and cancer patients. Every patient receives 5 to 20 million won.
Lee says originally she wanted to donate anonymously but was discovered and she hoped that the patients would recover soon.

Jang Dong Gun model for Japanese game company
Jang will be a model in two of the NDS games which are distributed by a Japanese company.
The company says they choose Jang as their model as they had considered his popularity among different age group of consumers.
He also gave people a feeling that he’s not someone who played games so when Jang in the advertisement which shows how he concentrated on games he’s playing will leave deep impression on viewers.
The advertisement will appear in a few of television channels by end of this month in Korea.

Lee Jun Ki in charity during holiday season
Korean actor Lee Jun Ki donated 20 million won for the poor.
Yesterday, Lee approached a charity body and says that he hopes the donation can provide the poor a little help. According to a reliable source, the money will be distributed to around 100 poor students by today.
Lee says: “Christmas and New Year is approaching and at this season usually poor family will struggle to celebrate the holidays and every time when I see the children who don’t have enough money to continue their studies, I feel very sad.”
Lee Jun Ki had been in a few charity activities and he had since donated part of his commission that he received in “King and The Clown” for a few charity organization.

Daniel Henney says he is not perfect man
Recently, Henney was having an interview for his recent release film “Mr. Robin”. Henney role in the movie is a perfect man.
Henney says that he had watched “Mr. Robin” and when he saw the viewer laugh their heart away he felt very blessed. When asked whether he is a perfect man. He denied flatly and said he is far from perfect, he believe that in this world nobody is perfect. As for the character, he has perfect looks but in fact he is deeply hurt inside. Henney says he really spent a lot of time to understand the role
Henney says his perfect idol is his high school basketball coach, although the coach is very strict but the coach is a real charmer. Although still in touch with his coach Henney says the coach still cannot believe that he is an actor now and wanted to watch his movie.
With help from leading actress Jung Hwa and a music director, Henney managed to sing in one of the soundtrack of “Mr.Robin” as he usually is very shy to sing in front of people.
Although it is only 4 months of working together with Jung Hwa he felt like he had known her for 4-5 years and when he met with problems during shooting she is the first person he approached for help. Jung Hwa character really amazes Henney as no matter haw bad is the shooting environment Jung Hwa is always optimistic.
When asked whether he will be a Hollywood actor Henney says he is very satisfied with his current opportunity in Korea but if he is invited to other countries he is willing to try. For Henney, to be in Hollywood the greatest satisfaction is not the glamour and money but to enable his parents to see his movie

New film for Lee Dong Geon next year
Last Sunday in Japan, Actor Lee says from 2007 onwards, he will concentrate on new movies.
He also shared his activities with fans during his time in Japan. He says that he often goes to gaming and betting centre and some even located in Osaka.
He had recently finished shooting drama “Smile Again” and had been preparing for his next movie “Are you with some you love now?” which he will be acting with Han Chae Young.

Kwon Sang Woo in Taiwan
Last Friday, Hallyu star Kwon reached Taiwan around noon as a spokesperson for a cosmetic brand. He intended to stay at Taiwan for 3 days.
The organizer even had limousine and 10 security personnel waiting for him. Other than press conference and charites, he attended the cosmetics’ franchise shops. The organizer said that not only Taiwan fans but Japan fans also purposely fly in to see Kwon. Some fans also checked into the same hotel as Kwon.
Although Taiwan weather is not as good as expected as it is drizzling and humid but fans still welcome Kwon at the airport and shouting “I love you” in Korean.
In this trip Kwon also donated his personnel belongings for charity, among things for auction were Gucci scarf, LV handkerchief and some Vivienne Westwood stuff.
At the end of the day he managed to gather almost TWD 370K.
Kwon usually spends Christmas with Korean fans seems like this year it’s different.

Rain World Tour had begun
Rain world tour “Rain’s Coming” had the first concert in Seoul on Friday night. The concert, which direct by Jamie King who is also the stage director for American diva Madonna had the fans in Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Phillipines, Singapore and Thailand crazy.
Rain appeared on stage by ‘riding’ on a submarine, which then hit by lightning, Rain then breakaway from the submarine and begin with his new song “It’s Raining”.
In the two hour concert he sang a lot of songs in his new album which includes, “Touch Ya” and “Don’t Stop”. There are professional sexy dancers from Asia, Africa, America and Spain as well.
Rain has Ricky Martin hairstyle
In the concert, Rain appeared with a new hairstyle, his new style had shocked quite a number of fans. But lots of them do support their idol until the end, No matter if it’s a good or bad look Rain always do have new styles to show his fans.
Want to have a good look at Rain? Hey, might have a chance if you buy the tickets on time.
Here is some of the place he will go to and the ticket prices too.

Date:15-16 Dec 2006
Location: Korea, Seoul, Jamsil Olympic Gymnasium
Ticket Price: Won 160,000---Won 120,000---Won 90,000---Won 70,000

Date:23-24 Dec 2006
Location: America, Las VegasThe Colosseum At Caesars Palace
Ticket Price:SD 261---USD 207---USD 152---USD 89

Date: 12-13 Jan 2007
Location: Hong Kong, Asia World Expo Arena
Ticket Price: HKD 1280---HKD 980---HKD 780---HKD 580---HKD 380

Date: 21 Jan 2007
Location: Singapore,Singapore Indoor Stadium
Ticket Price: SGD 888*---SGD 688*---SGD 488---SGD 388---SGD 288---SGD 188
*Not for public

Date: 27 Jan 2007
Location: Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Bukit Jalil Stadium
Ticket Price: RM 752---RM 502---RM 402---RM 302---RM 202---RM 132---RM 82

Date: 3 Feb 2007
Location: Thailand, Bangkok, Impact Arena
Ticket Price: THB 5000---THB 3500---THB 2500---THB 1500---THB 800