By JONATHAN HICAP, Manila Bulletin
K-pop boy band JYJ will visit
the Philippines in November as honorary ambassador to promote the 17th Asian
Games that will be held in Incheon, South Korea, next year.
The popular group is scheduled
to do a roadshow to promote the Games in four countries starting this month.
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| JYJ members Junsu, Jaejoong and Yoochun with Asian Games Organizing Committee President Kim Young-soo (Photo courtesy of 2014 Asian Incheon Games website) |
According to C-JeS
Entertainment, the band's agency, JYJ will attend a video conference interview
for Singapore on Sept. 26followed by media and cultural events in Vietnam
and Guangzhou, China, on Oct. 24 and Nov. 21, respectively.
JYJ is scheduled to go to an
Asian Games media event in Boracay in Aklan in southern Philippines at the end
of November.
The band was appointed as
honorary ambassador of the Incheon Asian Games in February.
However, certain parties are
preventing JYJ from promoting Asian Games in their own country.
Despite that the band is the
honorary ambassador of the Games, JYJ was excluded from attending the Incheon
Korean Music Wave 2013 concert held last Sept. 1 at the Incheon Munhak World
Cup Stadium.
About 40,000 fans went to the
concert which was participated in by 20 K-pop groups including Girls'
Generation, Super Junior, KARA, FT Island, EXO, miss A, BEAST and 2AM.
According to the 2014 Incheon
Asian Games website, the concert "was part of a series of events to
mark the one year remaining until the opening of the Games on September
19, 2014."
C-JeS said JYJ was not included
in the concert despite that it raised a formal objection to the organizing
committee.
"Of course, we have raised
a formal objection to the organizing committee because, from a common sense
point of view, it is unacceptable for JYJ, honorary ambassadors of the
IAG, not to attend the event which has to do with promoting the IAG,"
C-JeS said, according to a translation by fansite Jaetaku on Wordpress.com.
The agency said the Games
organizing committee sided with it and requested people in charge of the
concert including TV station MBC, the host TV station of the event, to include
JYJ.
The organizing committee was
informed by the Incheon Development and Tourism Corporation (IDTC) that it was
impossible to have JYJ at the event.
According to C-JeS, the
committee's request was not for JYJ to perform at the concert but only to
introduce the Incheon Asian Games and announce their upcoming overseas
promotional activities.
MBC and IDTC turned down the
committee's request, C-JeS said.
JYJ has been unable to perform
on TV music and entertainment programs in South Korea since 2010 stemming from
a legal dispute between the boy band and SM Entertainment.
Last November, JYJ and SM
Entertainment settled their legal problem.
Last July, Korea's Fair Trade
Commission issued an order against entertainment and media organizations in
Korea that have obstructed JYJ's TV appearances.
Despite the order and the
lawsuit settlement, JYJ is still being prevented from appearing on TV.
C-JeS said despite the
roadblocks, JYJ is committed to spreading Korean culture and raising awareness
about the Asian Incheon Games, which will be held from September to October
2014 in South Korea.
C-JeS thanked the Games
organizing committee and the mayor of Incheon for acknowledging the importance
of JYJ as honorary ambassadors of the Asian Games.
"JYJ are going to do their
best to spread the excellence of the Korean culture and to raise the awareness
of the IAG 2014 as its honorary ambassadors by making a tour of several Asian
countries," the agency said.
Link to my original article on Manila Bulletin online:
To contact the author, send email to sangchusan(at)gmail.com
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