S. Korean pop groups surprised by French reception: agency

PARIS, June 9 (Yonhap) -- Some of South Korea's most popular boy bands and girl groups were surprised by the reception they received from French fans after they arrived here this week for weekend concerts, the artists' top representative said Thursday.
At a press conference, Kim Young-min, head of Seoul-based S.M. Entertainment, said members of the agency's top acts were amazed at the sight of throngs of French fans crowding Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport Wednesday. TVXQ, SHINee and f(x), all popular "K-pop" groups, were greeted by about 700 local fans, who chanted their names and sang their hit songs.
"We were all overwhelmed, and it hasn't really hit us yet," Kim told reporters.
These three groups, along with another popular girl group, Girls' Generation, and boy band Super Junior, are scheduled to perform in Paris this Friday and Saturday.
"These will be our first performances in Europe," Kim said. "Factoring in different variables, we'd expected some level of success, but we'd never thought (the response) would be this passionate."
Kim said his agency picked the French capital as the venue for the first European shows "for its cultural symbolism and location."
"Given past examples from China and the U.S., other aspects of Korean culture could also be spread (along with pop music)," Kim said. "It's significant that foreign fans are singing along with Korean songs in our language."
S.M. initially scheduled only one show for this Friday at Le Zenith de Paris concert hall, which seats about 6,000, but later added another show for Saturday. Tickets for the first show sold out in 15 minutes, prompting hundreds of French fans to rally in front of the Louvre Museum to demand an extra show.
Kim said the early goal was to have these artists put on "good performances" for the fans.
"People say it's hard for new artists to break into European markets," Kim said. "But the media environment has changed, and if we keep working at it, Korean music will settle in nicely."
K-pop has recently gained worldwide popularity through video-sharing Web sites, such as YouTube, and social networking services (SNS). Up until recently, Japan and parts of Southeast Asia had been the international domain for K-pop.
S.M. manages its own YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/smtown) and a Facebook page (www.facebook.com/smtown).
The agency said earlier this week that highlights of the Paris shows will be released on its YouTube channel and that it will upload the latest pictures of the artists on Facebook.
The S.M. tour previously stopped in Seoul, Los Angeles, Tokyo and Shanghai and will return to Tokyo in September this year. S.M. said fans across Europe and South America have held rallies asking for K-pop concerts in their countries.