Andy Lau coming to Incheon

Andy Lau

By Do Je-hae

Hong Kong superstar Andy Lau will pay a five-day visit to Korea to promote the Incheon Asian Para Games (APG) to take place from Oct 18-24.

The actor and singer will arrive in Incheon on the opening day of the APG. The 54-year-old will undertake various promotional duties to spread the spirit of the event, where more than 4,000 athletes from 41 countries will compete in 23 disciplines.

"I would like to give a big hand to all players who have been training very hard day after day for the Games," Lau said in a video message. "I am sure all of you will do your best and show true sportsmanship in competition."

Lau will participate in the opening ceremony and hand out medals to winners at several competitions, inclujding in wheelchair fencing. Apart from his APG duties, Lau will spend time with his fans at the Oakwood Premier, a hotel in Incheon.

Lau is one of the most successful film actors in Asia and has many fans in Korea, where he was immensely popular particularly in the late 1980s and early 1990s for hits like "As Tears Go By" and "Days of Being Wild." He is branded by the media as one of the “Four Heavenly Kings” of Cantopop along with Jacky Cheung, Aaron Kwok and Leon Lai.

Lau serves as vice-president of Hong Kong's Paralympic Committee and has been an ardent supporter of the Olympic movement for athletes with disabilities since 2000.

"We believe that Lau's visit will raise awareness of the APG," Kim Sung-il, the president of an organizing committee for the APG said in a statement Tuesday.