Girls’ Generation’s influence reaches North Korean teens

With K-Pop beginning to spread into the international market, its influence seems to also be taking hold in its neighboring country, North Korea!

Recent reports ran by the Free North Korean Radio revealed that Girls’ Generation is one of the most popular acts amongst North Korean teens. On August 10th, the radio compared the North Korean version of Girls’ Generation called the Moranbong Band and commented that they still had a long way to go in terms of coming close to the popularity that Girls’ Generation has achieved.

The band actually underwent an extensive transformation under the direction of Kim Jung Eun and put on a groundbreaking show that involved mini-skirts and shirts that bare their shoulders.

In an interview, a Pyongyang source stated, “Many of the students from Kim Il Sung University and the Kim Hyung Jik College of Education know all of the member names of Girls’ Generation. Some of the students actually use the members’ names in place of their own names.”

They continued, “In Pyongyang, teens can be found carrying around USBs with Korean idol songs and music videos. During birthdays or big gatherings, it’s popular to put it up on a computer and follow along. Because of that, USBs have become a hot selling item.”

On July 27th, the Moranbong Band’s performance was aired on TV in an attempt to steer attention back to North Korean music, but this only fueled interest in K-Pop idols among the North Korean youth. Government agencies are ignoring this aspect of youth culture.

The source added, “A 4GB memory card full of Girls’ Generation performances are sold for $18, while an 8GB can go for $20~22. They are being ordered by the bulk.”

To keep in tune with the trends, stores in popular malls have begun to stock up on these USBs. “Just up until two years ago, songs by Na Hoon Ah, Tae Jin Ah, and Joo Hyun were the most popular, but recently, songs by Girls’ Generation, 2PM, and TVXQ are the trends. Although the songs are hard to sing along and they don’t know what the lyrics mean, the teens have fun copying the motions of it.”

Hyoyeon confesses that before her debut she visited a place where minors are prohibited

Girls’ Generation member Hyoyeon confessed to having gone to a club when she was a minor.

On the August 11th broadcast of KBS‘s ‘Invincible Youth 2‘, the G5 invited members from an all-girls high school’s handball team to their ‘Youth Lodge House’.

While preparing food, Hyoyeon surprisingly confessed, “I’m saying this now since time has passed, but I have been to a place where minors aren’t allowed before I became an adult. They told me I would not have the chance to go there after I debuted, so I went to a club. There were so many people there at that time because it was Christmas Eve.”

But to her disappointment, the first person to approach her turned out to be an ahjussi (mister/old man). “I thought to myself, ‘this isn’t right’, so I politely turned him down and went home.”

Girls’ Generation to release new Japanese single on September 26th

The ladies of Girls’ Generation have announced that they will be releasing a new Japanese single in addition to a complete video collection. Both of these items are scheduled for a simultaneous release on September 26th.

Though the upcoming single is currently untitled, it is said to be released in two different editions; a limited edition which will come with a DVD, and a regular edition. The single will include two new songs, and the DVD included with the limited edition will contain the music video to one of these two new unnamed songs. More details on the new single will be revealed at a later date.

Additionally, the complete video collection titled “GIRLS’ GENERATION COMPLETE VIDEO COLLECTION” will be released on both DVD and Blu-ray disc with four different versions.

Yuri sends Shin Se Kyung a cake

On the 9th, actress Shin Se Kyung posted the message: “Choi Anna is a scary woman…,” on her Twitter along with the photograph above (bottom). The photo showed a cake sent to her by Girls’ Generation‘s Yuri that read, ”Lee Ga Young, watching you. R2B daebak!!”

In the SBS drama ‘Fashion King‘ Shin Se Kyung and Yuri played the two rivals ‘Lee Ga Young’ and ‘Choi Anna’ respectively, who competed against each other for the same career goals as well as the same man. The cake was sent by the girl group member to support her drama co-star.

Netizens who came across the picture of the cake replied, “Shin Se Kyung and Yuri. Guess they’re still close“, “Choi Anna is scary“, “It’s actually Choi Anna who’s keeping watch“, “Yuri’s note on the cake is daebak clever“, and more.

In related news, upcoming film ‘R2B: Return to Base‘ is receiving much attention because of its all-star cast, which includes Shin Se Kyung, Yoo Joon Sang, and Jung Ji Hoon (Rain) among others. It opens in theaters on August 15th KST.

Yoona wrote a Music Core visitation report!!!???

SNSDs's Yoona visited her team members TaeTiSeo at Music Core earlier today,she managed to take some photos with Sones and Seohyun and wrote a report after the visit.

Check out her report below:

I visited MuCore today~

 It feels like I see TaeTiSeo unnies this close every day!! Kekekeke I was actually excited because it felt like my first time seeing SONEs so close up~ I’m feeling jealous of my members that see SONEs this close every week.. Keke Today my members were really good at MCing as expected~ Keuhehe I went and had fun laughing~~ My members are pretty whenever I see them~ Good BoA unnie, who had her comeback is also pretty and coolㅠ Super Junior oppas were also really cool ㅇ_ㅇ!!! As expected, we are SM TO-WN! I will have to pray that everyone is cautious of the heat~ I hope there will be more days for me to talk with SONE closely like today~ I was bored today, but it has become an enjoyable day! Yoona’s MuCore visitation report, endㅡ 

SM Town at the S.M.ART EXHIBITION opening ceremony!

SM's artists including SHINee,f(x),EXO attended the opening ceremony of S.M. Art Exhibition,check out the clip of the opening ceremony below!