Korea Observer

By JONATHAN HICAP, Manila Bulletin Sunye, leader of the Wonder Girls, took to the group’s online fan cafe to announce her plans to move to Haiti with her husband, James Park, in their effort to spread the Gospel to that Caribbean nation. Sunye (right) and her husband James Park (www.newsen.com)

By JONATHAN HICAP, Manila Bulletin Wonder Girls' leader Sunye is now an expectant mom. She announced to the world on Twitter that she is pregnant, more than two months after getting married.   Wonder Girls' Sunye and her husband James Park on their wedding day (Photos by JYP Entertainment and www.newsen.com)

By JONATHAN HICAP, Manila Bulletin MANILA, Philippines - Wonder Girls' leader Sunye, who got married last Jan. 26 in Seoul, left for Montreal, Canada this morning together with her husband, James Park, to live there for the time being. Park's parents also live in Montreal.

By JONATHAN HICAP, Manila Bulletin MANILA, Philippines - The leader of K-pop quintet Wonder Girls is going to tie the knot in January next year. Sunye is getting married to her Korean-Canadian boyfriend who she met in Haiti last year during a missionary work. Wonder Girls' Sunye and her boyfriend (Internet photo/www.wonderfulgeneration.net)

By JONATHAN M. HICAP, Manila Bulletin MANILA, Philippines - K-pop quintet the Wonder Girls has participated along with global stars in a Christmas album that will benefit the Special Olympics. The "A Very Special Christmas" music series will be issued in the US on Oct. 16 in two albums: The "A Very Special Christmas 25th Anniversary" and "A Very Special Christmas: Bringing Peace on Earth." Photos by www.newsen.com and Wonder Girls Facebook page

By JONATHAN HICAP, Manila Bulletin  MANILA, Philippines - Wonder Girls leader Sunye denied a report in a Korean women’s magazine that she's getting married next month to her non-showbiz boyfriend. Sunye shot down the report via a Twitter message. “I’m informing you guys again that my next month marriage news revealed by a misreport is false. I know very well that many people are blessing my open relationship with kind words," Sunye said, according to Allkpop.com. Sunye and her boyfriend (Internet photo, wonderfulgeneration.net, allkpop.com)

By JONATHAN HICAP, Manila Bulletin MANILA, Philippines - Rolling Stone website has picked 10 K-pop groups including 2NE1, Big Bang and Girls Generation that have the potential to break into the US music scene. The website noted that while K-pop artists BoA and Se7en failed in their American debuts in the past, "K-pop has garnered a strong following without the help of any major American backing." (Clockwise from top left) SHINee, BEAST, 2NE1 and SISTAR. (Photos by www. newsen . com )

By JONATHAN HICAP, Manila Bulletin MANILA, Philippines - K-pop quintet the Wonder Girls will make their debut in Japan in July, following in the footsteps of many Korean singers like KARA and Girls Generation. For their foray into Japan, Wonder Girls will release the Japanese version of their hit song "Nobody," which was originally released in Korea in 2008. The Wonder Girls (Photos by www.newsen.com)

By JONATHAN HICAP, Manila Bulletin MANILA, Philippines - The stars of "Men in Black 3" are in Seoul, South Korea for the world premiere of the movie. Will Smith, with wife Jada Pinkett, co-star Josh Brolin and director Barry Sonnenfeld walked down the red carpet for the "Men in Black 3" premiere held on May 7 in Seoul. They were also joined by Wonder Girls' Sunye and Hyerim. The stars and director of "Men in Black 3" with the Wonder Girls at the premiere in Seoul (www.newsen.com)

By JONATHAN HICAP, Manila Bulletin MANILA, Philippines - International singing sensation Charice held her Infinity Tour-Live in Seoul concert on March 21, the last leg of her tour. It was her first concert in South Korea and Charice enthralled the audience with her powerful voice, belting out songs such as “One Day,” “New World,” “Before It Explodes,” “Pyramid,” “Tears in Heaven,” “Billy Jean,” and “I Will Always Love You.” Charice (Photos by Romeo Samson and Katt S)

By JONATHAN HICAP, Manila Bulletin   MANILA, Philippines – Today, March 14, Koreans celebrate White Day, a traditional event observed a month after Valentine’s Day. White Day is when Korean men are expected to give women candies and other gifts. Kim Soo Hyun (www.newsen.com)

By JONATHAN HICAP, Manila Bulletin MANILA, Philippines - The power of social media, including Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, is propelling Korean Wave, or hallyu, to new heights and helping the spread of its popularity to North America and other regions. Super Junior (www.newsen.com)

2011 was an exciting year for K-Pop fans and the Korean music industry. In August, Billboard opened a new chart for K-Pop music, Billboard K-Pop Chart. Following the J-pop Chart, this is the second release of a country based music chart from Asia. And only a few months later, Google operated webcast provider YouTube launched its K-Pop Channel online.  The news created a buzz among fans and industry experts alike as it was the first time that YouTube had created an exclusive channel for any one country. The main reason for the decision was based on the fact that there are over 5 million K-Pop related webcasts on YouTube, but only 600,000 of these can be found using the search word ‘K-Pop’. A separate K-Pop channel was in demand to facilitate the search for Korean music for K-Pop fans worldwide. 

By JONATHAN M. HICAP, Manila Bulletin MANILA, Philippines - International star Charice and Korean group Wonder Girls bagged nominations in the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards 2012, both of whom are nominated in the Favorite Asian Act category along with singers Agnes Monica of Indonesia and Yuna of Malaysia.

My article in the Manila Bulletin newspaper: By JONATHAN M. HICAP MANILA, PHILIPPINES (Feb. 11, 2011) -- The five members of girl group Wonder Girls held a live video webchat Thursday morning from New York City (10 p.m. in the Philippines) to update fans on their activities and also celebrate their fourth anniversary. [caption id="attachment_118" align="alignnone" width="455" caption="The Wonder Girls during the live chat"] [/caption]