☐ The Korea Foundation of International Cultural Exchange (Kim Young-Hoon, Chairman of Directors, abbr. KOFICE below) has announced the schedule and the 1^st line up for the ‘2011 Asia Song Festival’, an Asian grand scale music festival hosted by UNICEF and Dae-Gu Metropoilitan City on the 24^th. The ‘2011 Asia Song Festival’ is the 8^th music festival conducted as of this year, scheduled to be opened in the Dae-Gu Stadium on October 15, to celebrate the ‘Dae-Gu World Championship in Athletics’ and ‘2011 Dae-Gu Visit Year’.

☐ KOFICE has announced a global expansion of the stage, confirming the participation of top artists from 6 different nations in Asia, in this year’s Asia Song Festival. The leading K-POP artists Super Junior and Girls’ Generation will be participating from Korea, as well as the best trio group Perfume from Japan. Chinese and Southeast Asian artists including He Rundong (Peter Ho), Ku Kui Kei (Leo Ku), Juobichang (Joo Pil Chang), and Tata Young have confirmed their participation.

☐ ‘Super Junior’, a group grown into a World-Star artist, setting major records in various Asian nations, will be participating as one of the major artists representing Korea in the 2011 Asia Song Festival. Super Junior has conquered all public and cable music charts with their new 5^th album ‘Mr.Simple’. The music video for Mr.Simple has had 8.13 million hits on youtube (based on August 23^rd counts), and has ranked the top views in other nations world wide, like Canada and South Africa, proving their grounds as a Korean-wave pop star. The 5^th album will be released successively in 11 different Asian nations to establish a new legend in the K-POP industry. Last year, Super Junior sold out 20 performances in 13 cities in Asia, including Seoul, Yokohama and Beijing, during their third Asian Tour ‘Super Show 3’. With their national and international recognition and influence, Super Junior has established their place as the K-POP icon by being the first music group in history to rank 1^st place for 63 consecutive weeks on the Taiwan’s grandest online music site, KKBOX. It is anticipated that Super Junior will satisfy their Asian fans’ expectancies with their world-renown outstanding performances during the Asia Song Festival this year.

☐ Although difficult to spot domestically due to their busy schedules overseas, Girls’ Generation has also confirmed their participation in the 2011 Asia Song Festival. The Girls’ Generation has entered the J-POP industry on August 2010, based on their extreme domestic popularity, and their first formal album released in Japan has sold over 500,000. Not only are they the first Korean girl-group to establish this record, but they have also announced their world-stardom by being selected by the Japan Record Association as a double platinum album. Additionally, they have achieved a great success in creating a fad in Japan, mobilizing more than 140,000 audiences on their ‘2011 Girls’ Generation Arena Tour’, a Japan Tour initiated only after 9 months of their debut. As an evidence of their popularity, their ‘2011 Girls’ Generation Tour’ Concert launched in Seoul this past July caused massive admission of American, Chinese, Japanese and Singaporean fans into Korea. It is probable that Girls’ Generation fans from abroad will be easily spotted in the 2011 Asia Song Festival as well.

☐ ‘Perfume’, the most popular techno-pop group in Japan, is held in high anticipation from national and Asian fans on their first performance in Korea in the 2011 Asia Song Festival. Reviewed to be the best techno-pop group in the coming generation of Japan, Perfume has revealed their ability to cross various musical boundaries by performing house, lounge and electronic genres in addition to techno. They are currently the most popular group in Japan due to their sophisticated stage manners, distinctive choreography, and characteristic musicianship, and have acquired a broad spectrum of fans all across Asia. Specifically, their 2007 release ‘Poly Rhythm’ turned out to be greatly popular, elevating Perfume to be a top star group in Japan, which again sought worldwide attention when the song was inserted as part of the original soundtrack of the Disney Movie ‘Car 2’, released this July. Publicized as a K-POP fan, Perfume has introduced various Korean songs and artists such as 2NE1 and Miss A, during their radio broadcast ‘Perfume’s present, K-POP night’. During their interview, they mentioned they text message with KARA, and their close relationship with K-POP stars have acquired further attention. Last November, Perfume celebrated their 10 year anniversary since their debut, being one of the few female artists to hold a live concert in the Tokyo Dome, gathering 50,000 people. In addition, they are founded as one of the primary J-POP stars, recording over 300,000 sells for all albums released after 2008. It seems that Girls’ Generation and Perfume will present splendid performances as representatives of Korea and Japan in the 2011 Asia Song Festival, providing the audience the anticipation of the opportunity to compare the two group’s performances.

☐ From Taiwan, Peter Ho, an active popular singer, actress and model will be participating. Since his casting in the drama ‘Aegean Sea’ with Che-Rim in 2004, he has had many ties with Korea including his starring in the movie ‘Sophie’s Love Manual’ as Zhang Ziyi’s boyfriend with So Ji Seop in 2009. He has held a Korean fan club establishment ceremony in 2007. In the previous year, he has been the center of issue by remaking Baek Ji Young’s ‘Like Being Hit by a Bullet’ as an opening song of the Taiwan’s most highly rated drama ‘Pao Mo Zhi Xia’. Huh Run Dong has confirmed his position in China as well as Taiwan by acting as Yeo-Po in the drama ‘Sam-Gook’, which gained wide attention due to the starring of many renowned Chinese stars. He is on a stardom to film the movie ‘Seoyugi’ to be released next year, with top Chinese actors including Chow Yuen Fat, Donnie Yen and Aaron Kwok Fusing.

☐ Hong-Kong’s famous actor, singer and emcee, Leo Ku will also greet his fans in the 2011 Asia Song Festival. As a star musician, Ku Kui Kei currently has released 35 albums, recording a sale of 9 million. He is the most popular singer in Hong-Kong, as designated by the largest public broadcast television ‘TVB’ and the MTV Asia Awards. He has made his name known globally through singing the theme song for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In addition to singing, Leo Ku also takes a big role in acting, acquiring fans from all across Asia including Korea through his starring in the drama ‘Romance in the Rain’ (Korean Title ‘love song mist’) with Vicki Zhao, Lin Xin Ru, and Alec Su. He later established his position in stardom through his appearance in the 3^rd part of the best Chinese series ‘Emperor’s Daughter’ as Oh Whang Ja. In addition, the current Asia Song Festival will become the first stage for Leo Ku to perform in Korea, and he is planning to give his best performance as complemented by the Hong-Kong star Alan Tam as the ‘Four great divas’ of Hong-Kong.

☐ From China, BiBi Chou, has confirmed her attendance, marking as the woman who provoked a national sensationalism in China from being the greatest issue in as a finalist in an audition program in 2005. After the audition, BiBi Chou has escalated up to her stardom through profits made through her album and commercials, and has recorded the 1^st rank album seller in China for 5 consecutive years. Furthermore, she was awarded the best female singer award during the Chinese grand music award, ‘Eastern Poong-Woon-Bang’, confirming her position and popularity through singing the theme song for 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2010 Guangzhou Asian games as the top representative Chinese female artist. The upcoming Asia Song Festival will be BiBi Chou’s first performance in Korea, and her talents that stirred the entire nation of China are greatly anticipated.

☐ Lastly, the nationally renowned singer ‘Tata Young’ from Thailand will be participating in the 2011 Asia Song Festival. Tata Young is currently the best female singer representing Thailand, playing all grounds in the Thailand entertainment industry as an active actress and a model. She is also a billion seller, with an accumulated album sales of 1 billion since her debut. She debuted in Japan on November 2004, ranking 9^th place on the Japan Oricon Chart with her song ‘Sexy, Naughty, Bitchy’. This is the first Thailand record to reach within the 10^th place on the Oricon Chart, and this album has sold over 350,000 copies within 6 months of its release. Furthermore, her English album release in the United States during the same year also recorded a world sales record of over 1 million copies. She has participated as the Asian representative singer during the Michael Jackson Memorial Concert, and worked with world stars like Jennifer Lopez and Nelly on the 2002 FIFA World Cup Celebratory Album. After two consecutive successes in the English single albums, she is actively performing outside of Thailand, including European Tours.

☐ The Chairman of the Board, Kim Young-Hoon, of the Korea Foundation of International Cultural Exchange, stated that “the Asia Song Festival is laying its foundation as the largest cultural celebration of sharing all Asian people’s desires through music.” “Recently, we have reached a point where K-POP stars are actively entering the overseas market, and this will be an opportunity for the Korean fans to experience, first-hand, the top musicians of Asia and participate in an active sharing of culture among Asian nations”, he said. He also added that “this year’s Asia Song Festival is more meaningful in that it is a celebratory event for Dae-Gu being the second Asian city to host the global event ‘World Championship in Athletics’.”

☐ The KOFICE plans to announce the additional 2^nd and 3^rd line up comprised of top Asian participants in the coming September, heightening the anticipation. Additionally, the ‘Asia Rookie Singer Award’, an award that selects the Asian artist with the highest potential, will also be announced, drawing the attention of Asian fans worldwide.