U-Kiss set on stirring 'new Korean Wave' in Japan

From left, boy band U-Kiss members Dongho, Alexander, Kibum, Kiseop, Kevin, Soohyun and Eli pose during a press conference announcing their debut in Japan at the Westin Chosun Hotel in Seoul, South Korea on March 10, 2010. [Park Sung-ki/Asia Economic Daily]

Korean boy band U-Kiss has declared that they will create "a new Korean Wave" through their upcoming foray into the Japanese music industry. Speaking at a press conference held today at the Westin Chosun Hotel in Seoul, the group expressed their anticipation about the career move in front of numerous reporters from Japan and the local press. "First of all, we are very glad that such a great opportunity has arisen for us in Japan," the group said. "We will be promoting our album there but our activities will be different from what we have done in the country till now." The boys, who yesterday signed with Yahoo! Japan to manage and promote them in the country, added that "we feel very close [to Japan] because we made our first debut in Japan" and that they "want to be more popular there than [they are] in Korea." "As a multi-national group, we will work hard to create a new kind of Korean Wave in Japan," other members said at the event. "We are nervous since this is our first major promotion but we will try to show you fantastic performances." U-Kiss, which stands for Ubiquitous Korean International Super Star, is composed of seven members, many of whom were raised overseas and speak several languages including English, Chinese and Japanese. They debuted in September 2008 with the single album "New Generation" and are currently promoting their first full-length album "U-Kiss Only One Album" released last month.Reporter : Park Kun-ouc kun1112@asiae.co.krEditor : Lynn Kim lynn2878@asiae.co.kr<ⓒ10Asia All rights reserved>