KOREAN TV DRAMAS EAT ENTIRE PLANET

What's the big craze in entertainment? Korean television dramas. Starting back in 1997 when "Wish Upon a Star" was broadcast in Hong Kong and reached audiences in China, to April 2005 when 2500 Japanese fans traveled to Korea to appear in a concert scene being shot for "April Snow" nothing makes middle-class, middle-aged Asian folks go nuts like Korean TV.

When popular pretty guy Bae Yong-Joon gave a press conference in March about 350 press people showed up and many wanted to know his views on the Tokto Island controversy (a dispute of ownership between Korea and Japan).

Japanese TV channels compete fiercely for the latest Korean TV dramas, and some people have estimated that the amount of revenue Korea reaps annually from TV drama licensing, Korean TV drama tourism, and selling products tied into TV dramas (or even products that merely appeared in a TV drama) approaches US$1 billion. Even Lee Myung-Se's latest movie, THE DUELIST (he's the director of the astounding NOWHERE TO HIDE) is based on a TV drama, "Damo".

YesAsia has an English-language Korean drama section with guides to all the different networks and all the different ways the stars can cry.