[The following is a direct translation of the article as it appeared on Nate via Sports Chosun.]
In New York, K-pop rewrote its history.
On August 30, JYJ member Kim Junsu started his first world tour in New York’s Hammerstein Ballroom. Until now, idol groups, girl groups, and agency ‘families’ have gone on these, but Kim Junsu is the fist solo artist to start a world tour alone.
To that extent, the New York performance had a special meaning to K-pop. This was a breakthrough not only for Kim Junsu, but also for K-pop, which had been hampered by limited genres and artists.
▶ The reason why – even though he had gathered 100,000 fans before – Junsu only performed in front of 2000.
No more words are necessary. Kim Junsu is an artist that represents K-pop. The group he belongs to, JYJ, shocked not only the Japanese media but also Korean music authorities because the group gathered about 100,000 fans within two days at the concert that was held in Tokyo Dome in June 2010.
If you consider his fame, the small stage could be unfamiliar and awkward for him because the tour started in a stadium that could only hold 3000 people.
However, this was only a small part of the long-term project for Junsu to jump up to become a world star. His agency representative, Baek Chang Ju, said,
“In order to perform in many cities worldwide and not end in one-and-done performance by being overly attached to scale, he performed in a small venue. ALso, in stead of receiving guarantees from a local promoter, the company is directly investing to run the tour.”
The reaction of 2000 fans that were able to obtain the ticket was fanatic. It was easy to find many women fans in their twenties not only from Asia but also from U.S., Canada, and Spain.
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