Korean group Girls' Generation was the No. 1 choice for foreigners participating in a South Korean contest for emulating the choreography of popular K-pop groups, the organizer said Tuesday.

After analyzing video footage sent in by the participants of the "2012 K-pop Cover Dance Festival," contest organizer Korea Year Committee said that Girls' Generation was emulated in 155 instances, the largest number.

A total of 1,350 teams from some 50 countries submitted videos of their cover dance performances via the committee's Web site, it said.
Participants could send in their videos from April 26 until Tuesday.

K-pop boy band SHINee came second with 98 instances, followed by girl groups Miss A and SISTAR with 79 and 75, respectively.

Another girl group, 2NE1, came in fifth place with 70, according to the civilian-government committee working to draw more foreign tourists to the country on the occasion of the 2010-2012 Visit Korea Year.

By region, Girls' Generation was the most favored group among foreign fans in Asia and Europe while SHINee was the most popular in the Americas. Boy group TVXQ was the favorite among fans in Australia and New Zealand and another boy group, Block B, took the top spot for Africa.

Teams who pass the online preliminaries will attend second round competitions to be held in about 10 countries, including Japan, Russia and Spain, through September. The final round for the second K-pop cover dance festival will be held on Sept. 21 in the southeastern South Korean city of Gyeongju, according to the committee. (Yonha)