Music Award Most Searched Online
By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
A local music award topped the nation's No. 1 search engine Naver's most searched word list last week.
2007 Mnet Km Music Festival (MKMF), organized in association with two music-only channels, Mnet and Km, was held at Jamsil Gymnasium in Seoul on Nov. 17 with numerous K-pop stars and celebrities taking part.
Unfortunately, however, the event came under fire because several singers raised voices concerning the process of selecting prizewinners.
SG Wannabe, a famous boy band not selected, said they create music for music lovers not for the sake of winning an award, venting discontent over the music award's unfairness.
Shin Hye-sung, a member of the renowned boy band Shinhwa, refuted their allegation, saying, ``I don't doubt the procedure to select prizewinners. The singers who raised questions over the fairness and boycotted the event must be ones who failed to win an award.''
The second edition of ``Sponge,'' an infotainment show aired by Korean Broadcasting System (KBS), was second on the list.
The program, renamed ``Sponge in Fear,'' made its debut on Nov. 10 drawing a 10 percent viewer rating.
Coming in third was actress Lee Hyun-kyung. Reports said that the 35-year-old actress was in love with Choi Jing-young, 36, a sibling of well-known actress Choi Jin-sil.
An official of Choi's management agency said, ``The two have been seeing each other for about three months. It is too early to consider whether they will get married.''
K-pop singer Ivy's blog ranked fourth. Ivy, who stopped appearing on TV in the wake of disturbing conflict with her ex-boyfriend, posted a short message on her blog on Nov. 15.
She expressed discontent against local journalists. Ivy alleged that they report news concerning herself and her former lover in a biased manner.
Singer Park Jin-young's new song, ``Separation at Midday'' came fifth on the list. Park, widely known as the manager of the Wonder Girls, one of the most popular girl bands in Korea, is back on the stage with his seventh album. He plans to host a concert on Dec. 31 at Olympic Park in southern Seoul.
The disgraced former professor Shin Jung-ah took eighth on the list. The degree falsifier was about to publish a memoir containing her private life with high-profile figures according to reports. But her lawyer announced last Friday that she had no plan to publish.
Comedian Kim Kyung-min ranked 10th. Kim, who has spent the last decade as an obscure comedian, confessed in tears that he suffered from diabetes and expressed his deep gratitude to his long-time colleague Kim Yong-man, and producers of the program.