S. Korean boy band INFINITE dazzle young Mexicans

By Kim Kwang-tae MEXICO CITY, April 18 (Yonhap) -- A roar of screams erupted from the crowd of hyperventilating Mexican fans when South Korean boy band INFINITE appeared on stage. The ecstatic reaction from the raving fans halfway around the world is just the latest reminder of the popularity of K-pop. K-pop -- which mostly features choreographed dance by boy or girl groups -- has gained ground in not only Asia, but Latin America and central Europe as well in recent years. Silvet Jimenez Lopez, a 22-year-old office worker in Oaxaca, a city in southern Mexico, traveled more than six hours to Mexico City by bus on April 1, two days before the INFINITE concert. She also waited for several hours in the hot weather before she was allowed to go inside the Metropolitan Theater in Mexico City, but that was not a problem at all. "I am happy," Jimenez Lopez said after she watched the concert that also featured several different performances, including taekwondo, a South Korean martial art, and B-boy dancing. Jimenez Lopez is among about 3,000 young Mexicans fans, mostly women, who packed the theater. Seoul doled out free tickets to local fans on the occasion of South Korean President Park Geun-hye's visit to Mexico City earlier this month, in an apparent move to boost the Korean Wave in Mexico. South Korea sees K-pop and its broader Korean Wave as its soft power that can appeal to young people around the world and increase its relevance to them. For many, the Asian country had long been associated with the Korean War and division with North Korea, but now K-pop has made South Korea a cool country -- home to "Gangnam Style," South Korean rapper Psy's mega-hit song. Park asked the audience to deepen their love of the South Korean culture. "I will make efforts to create an opportunity that the two countries can communicate with and become one through culture," Park told the audience at the end of the concert. Park's pep talk was greeted by cheers and a standing ovation from the audience. The website that accepted applications for the INFINITE concert had so much traffic that it went down for three hours ahead of the concert, South Korean officials said, in an apparent sign of K-pop's popularity. Martha Ines Mateos Castellanos, a 28-year-old college student, said she cried in joy when she received a confirmation e-mail for the concert, noting she was very worried about whether she could get a ticket. She traveled about six hours by bus to Mexico City from the state of Aguascalientes on April 1, two days before the concert, to try to get a good seat. A sigh of relief was shared by Karla Nohemi Mendoza Rabiela, an 18-year-old student. "I think I was lucky," Mendoza Rabiela said as she was seated in the front row at the theater, noting the scores of people who did not get tickets lined outside the theater. Inside the theater, most of the audience stood as they sang along with INFINITE's powerful electro-dance beat that filled the theater with energy. Some of them stomped their feet. Cindy Alexa Ramirez Gonzalez, a 19-year-old student, shed tears as she was overwhelmed by emotion to see Infinite, the heartthrobs she had missed when their previous concert sold-out. "I jumped up and down as I could not contain my joy when I saw my favorite idol, INFINITE," Cinthia Galindo Najera, a 23-year-old college student. Yuri Ramirez Gonzalez, a 26-year-old barista in a coffee shop, said she felt as though her "heart stopped beating," she was so overwhelmed by her favorite songs. She said she played Korean songs at the coffee shop where she works all the time. Mexico is home to about 140,000 fans of the Korean Wave, a boom generated by the spread of K-pop through YouTube, according to South Korean officials. Some fan clubs hold various events and their own K-pop concerts, according to the officials. The K-pop boom has inspired some of the audience to learn the Korean language in some part to understand what their idol stars say during concerts. More than 1,200 Mexicans applied for Korean classes provided by the Korean cultural center as of March. The Autonomous University of Nayarit, a public university in the country's northwestern city of Tepic opened an undergraduate course on Korean studies in 2013, according to South Korean officials. Still, Korean is a challenge to most of the young Mexicans. Mendoza Rabiela said she can say "Annyeonghaseyo," referring to "How are you" in Korea, and would like to more learn Korean if the situation allows. "Without the music of Korean singers, it's like without a dream," Mateos Castellanos said. "Their music is the prime mover that put me back on my feet again." entropy@yna.co.kr (END)