K-pop concert takes central Europe by storm

By Kim Kwang-tae PRAGUE, Dec. 29 (Yonhap) -- Vlasics Oliver took an overnight train from Budapest to Prague in his first trip to the Czech Republic, along with some friends. The eight-hour trip was not hard for the 16-year-old Hungarian student as he was excited about what was about to happen in the coming hours: watching South Korean singers perform. Oliver's journey to Prague underscores how South Korean pop music has gained popularity in central Europe in recent years. "I was very happy from the first moment because I could see famous idols just so close to us. The feeling was awesome, and the performers were fabulous," Oliver said. Oliver was one of thousands of young people who flocked to a Prague stadium earlier this month for the first K-pop concert in the Czech Republic organized by South Korea. Some members of the audience held up small sheets of paper with messages written in Korean that read "Poland loves SHINee" and "Thank you," while others waved glow sticks and chanted the names of South Korean pop groups and their singers. Some of them even shed tears, apparently overwhelmed by emotion at the concert. "It was fantastic. I screamed and sang the entire show," said Szaka Viktoria, a 14-year-old who came from the Hungarian town of Mogyorod, about 20 kilometers northeast of Budapest. The K-pop fans braved the freezing temperatures for about two hours before they were allowed inside the stadium for the concert. The concert -- whose lineup included boy band SHINee and girl group Red Velvet -- drew young people from Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, as well as the Czech Republic. "I was very nervous and excited. It was my first time in Prague and my first time to see SHINee -- they are my favorite group -- so I couldn't wait to arrive at the concert," said Hajdu Adrienn, a 28-year-old from Ujfeherto, a small town in Hungary's eastern area. She traveled about 13 hours to reach Prague. Viktoria, who also traveled to Prague by overnight train, said she was shaking because she was afraid that she might not get a ticket for the concert. "When I received the email (claiming I had won a ticket), I was crying," Viktoria said. South Korea doled out free tickets to give a boost to the spread of hallyu in central Europe on the occasion of President Park Geun-hye's visit to Prague earlier this month. Park received a standing ovation from the cheering audience -- mostly young women -- as she walked into the stadium with a bouquet of roses to watch the K-pop concert on the last day of her trip. "I hope that young people from the four countries in the Visegrad Group communicate with South Korean young people through culture and act as the bridge between the two cultures," Park told the audience, referring to the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. Hungary is home to the largest number of K-pop fans out of the Visegrad Group with more than 109,000, followed by Poland with 46,000, Czech Republic with nearly 4,000 and Slovakia's 500, according to South Korean data. The South Korean culture center in Budapest said it runs three K-pop dance classes for young people in a country where more than 60 fan clubs of K-pop are active with hundreds of people participating in an annual K-pop festival. "The Korean Wave is still a 'small wave' in Europe, but if things are continuing like this in a few years it can became a tsunami from it," Oliver said, referring to the K-pop concert. K-pop is also picking up steam in the Czech Republic as its fans attend a lot of K-pop events, including the Czech Hallyu Wave weekend, K-pop dance parties and fan meetings. For Czech fans, the first K-pop concert in Prague came as a surprise and a relief as they didn't have to cross the border to see their idols. "It was definitely a dream come true," said Clara Riddellova, a 20-year-old student of Charles University. "I feel happy and even proud that there could be such an event and that I could attend the very first K-pop concert in Prague. It was truly amazing." Marta Kratochvilova, a 24-year-old student who also works as an Asian-style website reporter, said ardent fans are dedicated to K-pop as some of them even think of K-pop as their lifestyle. Kratochvilova flew to London to attend a BigBang concert in 2012. Some fans said K-pop songs are catchier than those of other countries, thanks to repeating choruses, which make it easy for international fans to remember them. The growing popularity of Hallyu has led to an influx of young people who want to learn the Korean language in the Czech Republic. "Applicants for the Korean studies major at Charles University in Prague have been steadily growing in number, as are the learners of Korean language in language schools," Jana Hajzlerova at the Institute of East Asian Studies at Charles University in Prague said in the journal Far East earlier this year. Anna Jarchovska, a graduate student at Charles University, also said in the journal that the Korean wave turns its fans into consumers of Korean products, noting that a number of soap operas, films and music groups became widely known through the Korean wave, as well as fashion brands and Korean electronics. Park has called on officials to come up with measures to nurture cosmetics and other consumer products as key export items by taking advantage of the rising popularity of K-pop. "(K-pop) means a lot to me; (it is) a big part of my life. I can't live without K-pop," said Adrienn. "It makes me happy and gives me strength." entropy@yna.co.kr (END)