Lee Seung Gi and Psy still the most popular CF stars

Lee Seung Gi and Psy have been ranked as the hottest CF stars on the market for the past month!

According to a poll conducted by CM Value of the Korea Advertisers Association, Lee Seung Gi and Psy were ranked as the #1 and #2 most likable CF stars, respectively.

Lee Seung Gi won with 10.05% of votes followed by Psy with 6.81% for the month of November. Trailing behind were Kim Tae Hee, Song Joong Ki, Kim Yuna, Kim Soo Hyun, and Son Yeon Jae.

Psy and Lee Seung Gi’s latest ‘Samsung Zipel Assak‘ refrigerator CF also became the highest ranked advertisement, showing the effect of combining two of the biggest stars at the moment.

Lee Seung Gi is currently starring in CFs for Zipel, KB Financial Group, Pizza Hut, Chung Jung One, Activia, KB Card, Perioe, Kolon Sport, and Heritory. Meanwhile, Psy has taken hold as a CF star for brands T Smart Learning, LG U+, Nolboo, Zipel, Condition, and Dry Finish.

Both Lee Seung Gi and Psy ranked #1 and #2, respectively, for the previous month of October as well.

Congrats to both of them!

Kim Hyun Joong picks up four awards at the ‘Yahoo! Asia Buzz Awards 2012′

Kim Hyun Joong picked up four awards at the ‘Yahoo! Asia Buzz Awards 2012‘ held at the Hong Kong Convention Center on the 17th.

The ‘Yahoo! Asia Buzz Awards’ gathers the most popular search data from Yahoo!’s search engine throughout the year to honor the hottest stars in Asia.

Kim Hyun Joong received the ’Most Popular Artist of the Decade’, ‘Asia Top Buzz Solo Artist’, ‘Hong Kong Top Buzz Solo Artist’, and ‘Taiwan Top Buzz Solo Artist’ awards, proving his unceasing popularity. The idol garnered an impressive total of 1.35 million votes to achieve the ‘Asia Top Buzz Solo Artist’ award, which is three times the number of votes for competing nominees.

Key East Entertainment stated, “This achievement marks the fourth consecutive year of being awarded since 2009. This year’s ‘Most Popular Artist of the Decade’ award was the result of a poll featuring beloved artists in Asia since 2003, and it is an honorable award that holds a lot of meaning.”

Kim Hyun Joong released his first full-length Japanese album, ‘UNLIMITED‘, on the 12th and rose to the top of the Oricon daily chart. The music video for his title song, “Save Today“, ranked #1 on Chinese music video site, YinYueTai.

Starting in January 2013, Kim Hyung Joong will perform in 10 cities across Japan for his Japanese tour.

MYNAME concludes a successful solo concert in Japan

MYNAME is continuing on with their achievements in Japan as they have successfully wrapped up their solo concert, ‘MYNAME 1st LIVE – What’s Up‘, with 5,000 lucky fans in attendance.

According to the group’s agency on December 18th, “MYNAME kicked off their two-day solo concert titled ‘MYNAME 1st LIVE – What’s Up’ on December 15th and 17th in Osaka and Tokyo. The boys met with a total of 5,000 fans, successfully wrapping up their first solo concert.”

The two-hour long concert had fans go wild as the group rocked the concert hall with a series of their songs, including their debut track “Message“, and solo stage performances.

The representative continued, “MYNAME is enjoying an immense amount of popularity in Japan as tickets for the two-day concert were sold out. There is much anticipation being placed on their future activities in Japan.”

In related news, MYNAME will be releasing their 2nd Korean single in January.

KARA’s Hara reveals a baby photo

KARA‘s Hara revealed an adorable baby photo of herself through her Twitter account.

She tweeted on December 17th, “Oing~” along with the cute picture. The photograph is a screenshot of an iPhone and shows a young Hara, smiling brightly for the camera.

Upon seeing the picture, fans commented, “She’s pretty“, “This is cute“, and “She’s always been beautiful“.

Idols vote miss A’s Suzy as the ‘Idol of the Year’ on ‘Weekly Idol’

On the upcoming December 19th broadcast of MBC every1‘s ‘Weekly Idol‘, the ‘2012 Idol of the Year Best 7‘ will be revealed, based off the votes of many idols.

The votes cast by fellow idols were determined through the promotions and activities of idols in their success and careers in acting, variety, and commercials. Strong contenders included INFINITE‘s Hoya, with his acting debut this year in tvN‘s ‘Reply 1997‘, ZE:A‘s Kwanghee, well-known for his hilarious variety show appearances, and A Pink‘s Eunji, another breakout star due to her acting debut in ‘Reply 1997′.

The most votes, however, went to miss A‘s Suzy, who experienced a huge rise in popularity after the success of her big screen debut in ‘Introduction to Architecture‘, a highly successful movie in Korea this year. Her extreme popularity continued to shine in many solo commercials and television shows, and many of her idol peers recognized this as they voted her as the idol of the year.

The rest of the ’2012 Idol of the Year Best 7′ will be revealed on the December 19th episode of ‘Weekly Idol’, so don’t forget to check it out!

G.NA and Phantom’s Sanchez reveal MV for “Beautiful Day”

G.NA and Phantom‘s Sanchez have finally unveiled the music video for their duet “Beautiful Day“, which is part of the project album of Producer Kim Do Hoon, ‘Dokkun Project Pt. 2‘.

“Beautiful Day” is of course the work of Kim Do Hoon as well as Seo Jae Woo, and Sanchez has also participated in the writing of the song in addition to acting as the vocalist and rapper.

Contrary to the title, the song depicts the sadness of lovers who have parted ways.

Check out the mv below!

Child actress Kim Yoo Jung selects Big Bang’s T.O.P over Kim Soo Hyun, Yeo Jin Goo, and more as her ideal type

Child actress Kim Yoo Jung has selected Big Bang‘s T.O.P as her ideal type.

During an interview segment on the December 16th installment of MBC‘s ‘Section TV‘, the actress was asked to select her ideal type among actors she hase worked with including Yeo Jin Goo, Lee Min Ho, Kim Soo Hyun, Big Bang’s T.O.P, and Park Gun Tae.

After much deliberation, Kim Yoo Jung ended up selecting T.O.P, whom she worked with in the film ‘Alumni‘, as her #1 ideal type. Following the Big Bang member, the actress placed Kim Soo Hyun in second, Lee Min Ho in third, Park Gun Tae in fourth, and Yeo Jin Goo in fifth.

When asked to explain why she selected T.O.P as her ideal type, Kim Yoo Jung bashfully confessed, “I’m just too much of a fan, so there’s nothing I can do about it.”

Viewers responded to her selection as they left comments like, “I didn’t know she was a fan of T.O.P“, “She has grown up a lot. She’s a lady now“, “They look good together“, and more.

Tiffany does the ‘cutie player’ on MBC’s ‘Show! Music Core’

Girls’ Generation‘s Tiffany showed off her cute side during one of her MC segments on MBC‘s ‘Show! Music Core‘.

The segment aired on December 15th, during which she did the ‘guiyomi player’ or ‘cutie player’, which has been a recent trend online.

Tiffany asked, “Do you know the cutie song?” and proceeded to do the motions, exclaiming “1+1 is cutie, 2+2 is cutie..” and so on. While Tiffany was doing the ‘cutie player’, MCs Seohyun and Taeyeonwatched and followed along hesitantly, looking just as adorable as Tiffany.

Upon seeing the video, netizens commented, “Tiffany is so cute” and “The two girls next to her look so embarrassed“.

Check out the clip below!

TVXQ’s Yunho reveals he was in a relationship when he first made his debut

TVXQ‘s Yunho revealed a past relationship he had during the recording for an upcoming episode of ‘Beatles Code 2‘.

Yunho revealed the reason Wheesung‘s song 'With Me' had a special meaning to him was because he had listened to it the day he had a huge fight with his girlfriend on the streets. The two had been dating when Yunho first made his debut as a TVXQ member, but she had broken up with him when his busy schedule didn’t allow him to see her often.

Yunho also revealed, “I may seem cool on the outside, but I am actually sensitive on the inside.”

This episode of ‘Beatles Code 2′ will air on the 17th.

Does it surprise you that Yunho dated during his debut days?

Jay Park responds to Son Dam Bi’s love call

Jay Park has responded to Son Dam Bi‘s love call via Twitter.

On the December 16th broadcast of MBC‘s ‘Section TV‘, Son Dam Bi was interviewed on the set of a CF shoot, where she was asked to select an artist whom she would like to work with.

Without hesitation, the singer immediately selected Jay Park and explained, “Jay Park’s ability to express himself on stage is amazing and he’s someone who knows how to enjoy a performance.”

Upon seeing the broadcast, Jay Park took to his Twitter and left a response for the singer, tweeting, “Dam Bi noona wants to perform on stage with me??! I’m honored. I’m up for it anytime. keke. This puts me in a good mood. Heo heo heo.”

K-Pop dominates Google’s top search terms in 2012 for South Korea

Google Zeitgeist has went through the data and released the most frequent search queries in 2012.

The front page for Google added the words “From Gangnam to gay marriage, find out what the world searched for in 2012” linking to the Zeitgeist page featuring the top search queries around the world. The list of ‘Worldwide Trending Searches’ ranked Psy’s “Gangnam Style” at #2, below only the lateWhitney Houston.

As for Korea, K-Pop took over most of the search terms. For the ‘South Korea Trending Searches’, “Gangnam Style” ranked at #1, followed by the dramas “The Moon That Embraces the Sun“, “Fashion King“, and “Dream High 2” in order. “Gentleman’s Class” ranked at #7 as well.

For ‘South Korea’s Most Searched People’ list, scandals seemed to be quite a hot topic as 1st and 2nd place went to IU and T-ara, respectively. Third place went to Kim Soo Hyun, fourth went to politicianAhn Chul Soo. The rest of the list was filled with K-Pop, with Lee Hi, Suzy, Psy, Girls’ Generation,Park Ji Min, and HyunA rounding out the top 10.

Psy topped the ‘South Korea Trending Music’ list again with “Gangnam Style”. Following was Big Bang‘s “Blue“, B2ST‘s “I Knew It Would Be Like This“, T-ara’s “Lovey Dovey“, Troublemaker‘s “Troublemaker“, SHINee‘s “Sherlock“, Lee Hi’s “Mercy“, Big Bang’s “Love Dust“, IU’s “You and I“, and Yenny‘s “Hello To Myself“.

“The Moon That Embraces the Sun” proved to be the biggest drama of the year, topping the list of ‘South Korea Trending TV Shows’. Following was ‘Fashion King’, ‘Dream High 2′, ‘Gentleman’s Class’. Audition program ‘Voice Korea‘ came in at 5th, the only non-drama in the entire list. Following at 6th was ‘Rooftop Prince‘, and then ‘Shut Up Flower Boy Band‘, ‘History of a Salaryman‘, ‘Bridal Mask‘, and ‘Mu Shin‘.

K-Pop also took over the ‘South Korea Trending Image Searches’ list. IU topped the list yet again, followed by B1A4‘s Shinwoo, Sandeul, Gongchan, Jinyoung, and Baro, in order. Girls’ Generation followed at 7 and Suzy with 8. TEEN TOP rounded up the list with Changjo and CAP at 9 and 10 respectively.

Lee Byung Hun talks about his character Storm Shadow in ‘G.I. Joe: Retaliation’

Lee Byung Hun talked about his character Storm Shadow in ‘G.I. Joe 2: Retaliation‘.

The sequel to the original ‘G.I. Joe‘ held a press conference in Hong Kong and a never before seen trailer was unveiled. Lee Byung Hun was present for the press conference and when asked about playing an antagonist, Lee Byung Hun said, “Of course, I was conflicted in playing the role, but I think if I play any sort of role very well in a large blockbuster, I have diversification and I’ll be able to pick up any scenario later. Storm Shadow is not a simple villain. He’s charming because he’s a dogmatic character that aims to have a world according to his ideals. You’ll see his secret story in this movie.”

He added, “People in the American movie industry started to treat me differently when they saw all the Korean and Japanese fans sending me so much support. They started calling me the ‘Asian Elvis Presley’. I’m trying to acquire some of the Hollywood culture, but I don’t want to follow their emotions. I always believe that my emotions will be shown no matter what my nationality is.”

Lee Byung Hun’s contract runs through the 3rd movie in the ‘G.I. Joe‘ series. The movie is set to hit the theaters on March 29, 2013.

Check out the trailer below!

T-ara’s Qri, Eunjung and Big Bang’s Seungri celebrate their birthday on 12/12/12

December 12, 2012 (12/12/12) is a special day because it’s the last day for a long time until the world will get to see repeating dates again (Unless you’re still around when January 1, 2101 rolls around in about 90 years).

Three idols celebrated their birthday today and these lucky birthday celebrities are none other than T-ara‘s Qri and Eunjung, and Big Bang‘s Seungri.

Qri was born on December 12, 1986, so she turned 26 today (27 in Korea). Bandmate Eunjung was born exactly 2 years after her, and turns 24 today (25 in Korea). Seungri is the youngest out of the trio, born 2 years after Eunjung in 1990, and the maknae of Big Bang turns 22 today (23 in Korea).

Happy birthday to all three of them!

JYJ’s Junsu (XIA) releases MV for “Even Though I Already Know”

JYJ‘s Junsu (XIA) has released a music video for “Even Though I Already Know” from ‘Tarantallegra‘.

The MV incorporates the ballad song with the visuals of his first studio album ‘Tarantallegra’. It was released in anticipation of Junsu’s year-end ballad concert ‘2012 XIA Ballad&Musical Concert with Orchestra‘.

“Even Though I Already Know” is described as a traditional K-Pop ballad, and the MV features the “unchallenged, masculine XIA” alongside his “soft, feminine” side.

Check it out below!

Boyfriend’s Jeongmin updates fans with a goodnight selca

Boyfriend‘s Jeongmin updated fans with a “swoonworthy” goodnight selca.

Jeongmin shared on Boyfriend’s official Twitter on the 11th, “I’m sleepy… A snapshot from yesterday after I finished practice in the early morning! This is a late-night gift from Jeongmin… kekeke. Goodnight, everyone<3 Dream about me ^^,” along with the photo above.

The photo shows Jeongmin happy to finally get some rest as he cuddles into his pillow.

Fans commented, “Noona fans hit the jackpot today”, “Jeongmin is so charming and sexy”, “I think of ‘White Love‘ when I see this selca”, and more.

In other news, “White Love”, featuring K. Will, SISTAR‘s Soyu, and Jeongmin, is ranking high on music charts. Boyfriend is also doing well in Japan with the singles “Dance Dance Dance” and “MY LADY“.

BoA promises to go listen to J.Y. Park’s ‘half-breath half-sound’ technique at his concert

BoA promised to go listen to J.Y. Park‘s infamous “half-air, half-sound” singing technique.

On the 11th, J.Y. Park retweeted BoA’s tweet about her first solo concert, which said, “January 26, 2013. I’m having my first solo concert since my debut! Keke. I feel a little embarassed. I’ll prepare well… See you at the concert venue ^^.” J.Y. Park responded, “Wow, I’m looking forward to it! But why aren’t you responding to my text about inviting you to my concert~ -_-;; It can’t be that you’re not coming as a fellow MC…”

The two are fellow judges on SBS‘ competitive reality program ‘K-Pop Star‘.

BoA reassured J.Y. Park, “Ke..I’m going to go hear the real ‘half air, half sound’ singing technique!!! It can’t be that you’re going to take away my seat as a fellow MC because I didn’t respond, right oppa? Hehe. Of course I’m going ♥♥.“

BTOB’s Sungjae, Ilhoon, and Peniel cross dress on ‘B+ Diary’?

For the recent broadcast of SBSMTV‘s ‘B+ Diary‘, BTOB acted out a hilarious parody of SBS‘ match-making program ‘Couple‘.

The show called for Sungjae as well as Ilhoon and Peniel to transform into women #1, #2, and #3 to be set up with their other members, donning wigs and looking quite pretty, which had the viewers and the members laughing.

Check out the segment below! Which member do you think makes for the best girl?

B1A4 successfully wraps up their first solo concert, ‘BABA B1A4′

B1A4 successfully concluded their first solo concert, ‘BABA B1A4‘, held on the 8th and 9th at the Seoul Olympic SK Handball Stadium in front of 11,000 fans.

The three-hour long event had fans wild throughout with B1A4′s performances of “Baby Good Night“, “Beautiful Target“, “Baby I’m Sorry“, and new songs “What Do You Want To Do“, and “In the Air“. The members also showcased their individual charms through solo stages with Sandeulsinging ”Lefty“, CNU performing ”With Me“, CNU and Baro captivating fans with their duet “I’m Burning“, and Gongchan performing “Would You Like To Sing With Me“, and Jinyoung had fans swooning with “Be My Girl“.

B1A4 also showed off their cute charms by dancing along to Girls’ Generation‘s “Tell Me Your Wish (Genie)“. One lucky fan from the audience was also chosen to receive a proposal from the group and have a backstage date with the group.

The group will also be holding their Japanese concert series, ‘B1A4 1st Concert [BABA B1A4] in JAPAN’ at Kobe Hall on January 26th and 27th, and the Yokohama Arena on the 30th and 31st.

In other news, B1A4 is currently receiving a lot of love with their new single, “Tried To Walk“, and recently claimed their first win on ‘Immortal Song 2‘.

Fans also sent 2 tons of congratulatory rice wreaths to commemorate B1A4′s first solo concert.

2PM members thank fans for a successful Indonesia concert

After successfully finishing their ‘What Time Is It?‘ concert in Indonesia, the members of 2PM took to Twitter to express their gratitude and excitement over getting to meet some of their overseas fans once more.

Jun.K posted, “THANK YALL FOR COMING. IT WAS GOOD TO SEE YALL AGAIN”, along with a photo of a stuffed bear he presumably received from a fan.

“INDONESIA !! I was very touched by the Indonesian HOTTEST tonight. Thank you so much ! we love you!! We will be back soon!!” Junho wrote, while Wooyoung posted, “Jakarta was daebak hot amazing ^^ Everyone worked so hard~~~”

With a packed stadium of nearly 9,000 fans at the Mata Elang International Stadium, 2PM put on a spectacular show for the audience.

On the heels of pulling off a successful concert in Indonesia, 2PM will travel to Taiwan and Macau to perform for their fans once more in the coming days.

B.A.P, Psy, Lee Byung Hun, Super Junior’s Siwon to be featured on Discovery Channel documentary ‘Hallyuwood’

B.A.P, Psy, Lee Byung Hun, and Super Junior‘s Siwon will be featured in a Discovery Channeldocumentary on Korea, which will air on December 15th and 16th.

B.A.P’s agency TS Entertainment revealed that throughout the two days it airs, the documentary will be played in 34 countries and around 185,000,000 households, introducing Korea to viewers. The ‘Finding Hallyuwood‘ segment belongs to a series of 5 documentaries called ‘Korea Next‘, including 30-minute segments on K-pop, nature, traditional culture, religion, and the IT (information technology) industry.

B.A.P, Psy, actor Lee Byung Hun, and Siwon will be featured in the December 15th segment of the documentary and will be introducing the K-pop generation, as well as discussing its future. B.A.P will be appearing with TS Entertainment vice-president Won Keun Yeon, explaining how the K-pop system works, the story behind B.A.P’s debut, as well as the secrets of the success of K-pop both domestically and overseas.

TS Entertainment stated that along with their success from their debut and high rankings on various music charts, including the iTunes Hip Hop Album chart, they expect B.A.P’s popularity to become further solidified through their position in this documentary.

In related news, B.A.P received the ‘Mnet PD Choice Award‘ on November 20th at Mnet‘s ‘2012 MAMA‘, along with the ‘Male Newcomer Award‘ and ‘Choreography Award‘ at the European ‘So-Loved Awards 2012‘.

Psy performs “Gangnam Style” on the world’s longest running variety show Univision’s ‘Sábado Gigante’

‘International Star’ Psy has made yet another amazing achievement. On December 8th, the popular performer made a guest appearance on popular Spanish-language variety show ‘Sábado Gigante‘ (or ‘Giant Saturday’). The program is the longest running variety show (of any language) in history, having been broadcast for an astounding 50 years.

Hosted by Chilean TV star Mario Kreutzberger, under the stage name of Don Francisco, ‘Sábado Gigante’ is known to be a pretty outrageous variety show, what with the scantily clad woman and general mayhem. The show’s notoriety had some K-pop fans worried, but their concerns were alleviated after the broadcast as Psy’s appearance took place without any issues.

In addition to performing his mega-hit “Gangnam Style“, Psy was interviewed by the host. Though at times it was difficult to understand the interview as the host was live translating Psy’s responses to questions, Psy took everything in stride and remained composed, professional, and of course wittily funny. The pair even had funny moments over the deepness of Psy’s voice and his attractiveness. The highlight of the interview was Psy teaching Don Francisco the dance and Don Francisco presenting his cover of the music video.

Watch his interview (mostly in English) and performance below:

Performance

SHINee’s Minho shares a picture from his birthday party via Kyuhyun’s Twitter

The handsome stars of SM Entertainment all gathered together to celebrate Minho‘s birthday.

On December 10th, Minho shared the above picture via Super Junior Kyuhyun‘s Twitter and wrote, “It’s Minho. So touched with our Kyuhyun hyung’s cake. I’m so happy on my birthday. Heechul hyung,Kangin hyung, Donghae hyung, Kyuhyun hung, Changmin hyung, Jonghyun hyung, I love you~~”

The revealed picture showed Minho surrounded by TVXQ‘s Changmin, Super Junior’s Kyuhyun and Donghae, and SHINee‘s Jonghyun with a delicious looking cake in the middle.

After seeing the picture the netizens commented, “SM’s handsome men party“, “I wish I were invited…“, and “They look so good.”

Psy performs at ‘Christmas in Washington 2012′ and shakes hands with President Obama!

Despite receiving a substantial amount of negative press for his past anti-American lyrics, earlier todayPsy attended the annual ‘Christmas in Washington 2012‘ presentation at the National Building Museum in Washington.

Psy closed out the show with a rousing rendition of “Gangnam Style“. He was also able to shake hands with President Obama. There is no word on whether he got his chance to teach the ‘horse dance’ directly to the President though.

Hosted this year by Conan O’Brien the concert raises funds for the Children’s National Medical Center. In addition to Psy, Diana Ross, Demi Lovato, Scotty McCreery (of “American Idol“), andMegan Hilty (of “Smash“) also performed at the concert.

The show will air on American cable channel TNT on December 21st.

There has been heated debate on whether or not Psy should have been allowed to perform for the President. Do you think his apology was enough, should he have been removed from the roster of performers?

What message is Super Junior’s Eunhyuk trying to send in his recent tweet?

Super Junior‘s Eunhyuk is gaining attention for his recent tweet.

On December 8th, Eunhyuk shared a picture of a scene from the animated program, ‘Anne of Green Gables.’

The captured scene showed Anne saying, “Eliza said the world doesn’t run like you would like it to. But it’s really awesome that it doesn’t work like you would like it to. Things you haven’t even thought of can happen.”

The netizens are especially paying attention to Eunhyuk’s tweet because he posted it after it was reported that MBC‘s ‘Come To Play‘ was being canceled, although it hasn’t even been a month since Eunhyuk joined the show as an MC.

After seeing his tweet, the netizens wrote, “Feel better“, “My heart aches too“, and “It hasn’t even been that long since he joined as an MC…”

Do you think there is a hidden meaning behind this tweet?

After School’s Lizzy reveals how she beat UEE in body ranking

Lizzy revealed the secret to her body.

Orange Caramel recently guest starred on SBS E!‘s ‘Seo In Young’s Star Beauty Show‘ where Lizzy revealed that the secret to her body was late night food.

During the filming, Lizzy shared about the recent comment she made on a show where she said, “Among After School members, it’s not UEE unnie who ranks first in body ranking anymore, it’s me.”

When asked about the reason why she placed herself first in body ranking, Lizzy revealed, “UEE unnie recently lost a lot of weight so much of her volume disappeared. But I’ve been eating late night food and gained weight and volume, so I compared myself to her because I wanted to show it off.”

Lizzy continued, “But now I don’t eat late night food anymore to take care of my body and I’m maintaining it with low calorie foods and exercise.”

Meanwhile, the episode containing Orange Caramel’s beauty secrets will air on the coming December 10th.