131024 KARA’s Kang Jiyoung, Not a Girl, Not Quite a Woman “Innocent Yet Sexy”

Kang Jiyoung, Not a Girl, Not Quite a Woman… ‘Innocent & Sexy’

Girl group KARA member Kang Jiyoung showed off her innocent yet sexy charm, which is attracting attention among fans.

Kang Jiyoung recently had a photo shoot for a fashion magazine, with which she won the admiration of fans by freely crossing the boundary between youth and womanhood.

At the shoot, she exposed a little bit of shoulder and radiated her sex appeal, and also she brought forth her youthful beauty with a girl-like innocence. She was able to switch between concepts with her gaze and poses, and was praised from the staff for the mature attitude she brought to the set.

In the interview following the photo shoot, she revealed, “When I was young, I wanted to hurry up and become 20 years old (Korea’s “legal” age). But once I turned 20, I found that there’s not much to it.” She continued, “Although I still don’t feel much different, I try hard to act like an adult with my actions and in my thoughts. Even when I pose for photo shoots, I try to fully understand the concept and strike poses and make facial expressions that fit best with the concepts.”

She also said, “More than anything, I’m sad there’s only 2 months left of being 20. I still have so many things I want to do, and I don’t know what I should do first.”

Photo credit: SURE

131024 Goo Hara Revealed to Have Fainted During Kara's Japan Concert Tour

On October 24, DSP Media, home to girl group Kara, told local news agencies that member Goo Hara suddenly fainted from exhaustion during a Japan concert. “Fortunately, it was just due to mild dizziness, and after receiving first aid, Goo Hara returned back onto the stage to greet fans.”

This occurred on October 23 at the Osaka leg of Kara’s “Kara 2nd Japan Tour 2013 Karasia” held at the Osaka-cho Hall. DSP Media has assured that “Goo Hara is steadily recovering and will be able to perform during the tour without a hitch. She received continuous treatment in Japan.”

Kara is currently on tour in Japan for their ”Kara 2nd Japan Tour 2013 Karasia,” hitting seven cities including Yokohama, Fukuoka, Osaka, and Nagoya.

131025 KARA’s Hara is Currently Recovering After Receiving Emergency Medical Attention

KARA’s Hara is Currently Recovering After Receiving Emergency Medical Attention

Girl group KARA’s Hara passed out during a performance in Japan, and her agency reveals why.

On October 23rd, Hara fainted during a performance onstage at their Osaka City Hall ‘KARA 2nd Japan Tour 2013 KARASIA’ concert in Japan, and had to be taken offstage by staff.

A rep from KARA’s agency DSP Media stated on October 24th, “Hara fainted suddenly during the Japan concert due to exhaustion. Fortunately, she only complained of mild dizziness. After she received medical attention, she rested and went back onstage to greet her fans.”

The rep continued, “Hara is currently resting and trying to restore her health, and plans to continue with the next performance without a hitch. She is still receiving treatment in Japan.”

KARA has been on their KARASIA tour in Japan, and will visit Yokohama, Fukuoka, Osaka, Nagoya, for a total of 7 cities.

Photo credit: Vogue Girl

131025 KARA’s Goo Hara assures fans she’s okay after collapsing

KARA’s Goo Hara updated her fans about her health after collapsing in the middle of a concert in Japan.

On October 25th, Hara posted on her Twitter, “Kamilia ~ I’m sorry for making you worry. Today we ended the performance without any hitches! I’ll take care of my health better so I won’t get sick again! Good night everyone -!”, assuring her fans she’s okay.

Goo Hara is reported to have fainted on stage due to exhaustion during KARA’s concert at the Osaka’s Osaka-Jo Hall on October 23. After hearing the news, a lot of fans have been worried for Goo Hara’s well-being.

131025 KARA Han Seung Yeon and Kang Ji Yeon, Ready for the Winter with Republic of Aurora

Girl group KARA’s Han Seung Yeon and Kang Ji Young are ready for winter wonderland posing for a 2013 winter collection alongside actor Lee Min Ki.

The concept that was being showed in the collection”Republic of Aurora”, was the warmth from winter fun. While Lee Min Ki showed his alluring looks, KARA’s maknae Kang Ji Young played as the mood-maker and Han Seung Yeon brought on her aegyo.

During the said photo shoot, Han Seung Yeon and Lee Min Ki did a couple’s pose andtheir photographer asked for more romantic expressions from them, the singer suddenly gave a back-hug to Lee Min Ki, surprising everyone.

KARA is on their Japanese arena tour which started last October 8 at Yokohama and will continue to perform next month.

131022 KARA Han Seung Yeon and Kang Ji Young Poses with Lee Min Ki

KARA members Han Seung Yeon and Kang Ji Young posed for a winter concept photo shoot with Lee Min Ki.

October 22, photos from a “winter vacation” themed photo shoot with Hang Seung Yeon, Kang Ji Young and Lee Min Ki have been released.

A staff member at the photo shoot revealed that photographer suddenly requested Kang Ji Young to give Lee Min Ki a back hug. Kang Ji Young followed directions and created a warm couple look in the photos.

131023 KARA Goo Hara Displays Unchanging Doll-Like Beauty "Have a Good Day"

KARA's member Goo Hara revealed a self-camera photo.

Today, Goo Hara posted on her Twitter, "Have a great day today," along with a picture.

In the picture, Goo Hara is wearing her blonde hair down while showing off her beauty.

Internet users who saw this commented, "Crazy 'V' line," "She's so pretty," and etc...

Photo Credit: Goo Hara Twitter

131020 It’s KARA’s ‘Show Time’ in new K-SWISS CFs

K-SWISS reveals new F/W CFs featuring their pretty endorsers from KARA. KARA are having fun wearing their colorful KARA jackets while dancing playfully.

Watch their new CFs below:

131021 KARA Goo Hara, Mirror Self-Camera

Group KARA’s member Goo Hara revealed a self-camera photo.

Today, Goo Hara posted on her Twitter, “The pretty pink camera that Yoon Jung gave me. It takes such great pictures and self-camera thank you” along with a picture.

In the picture, Goo Hara has her long brown hair down and is holding the camera in her hand. She wore white skinny jeans and a black shirt that revealed her shoulders.

Photo Credit: Goo Hara Twitter

131007 KARA’s Nicole Explains Her Departure From The Group In Heartfelt Message To Fans

With the news that KARA member Nicole is not up for a contract renewal under her agency DSP Media, many fans are worried about what this means for the future of the group.

On Sunday, October 6, Nicole left a lengthy and heartfelt message for her fans explaining the situation and hopefully putting everyone at ease over the sensitive matter.

Below is the entirety of what she wrote:

To my dear Kamilia,

I’m sorry for making you worry with rumors of our re-contracting and breaking apart … and for hurting you. But I was also surprised and disbelieving at the fact that my departure and contract issues were publicized, just before our Japanese tour. But I wanted to speak my mind about the matter so I’m going to post it here.

The most important thing … I started as a KARA member and I want to see the end as a KARA member. But after reading the articles and interviews saying that I would be switched out from KARA since I wasn’t up for a contract renewal … it was very frustrating and confusing.

I think that my renewal debate with DSP Media is not a renewal as a KARA member, but as an artist. Although I may not be an artist under the company, I hope to find a solution where I can continue with the group I’ve been with since the beginning.

I’m just one person. I don’t think that KARA should change, or be broken apart, because of me. So I thought about splitting up my contracts between me as a KARA member and me in relation to the company, split between my private and public life.

I still have a lot of goals. That’s why I want to re-make myself, while doing my best within KARA. To do that, I feel that I need time and effort … that’s why I decided to not renew my personal contract with DSP, since I wanted to put that effort into my future.

As KARA, we received much love from Kamilia and want to show a better side of us to you, but as this happening escalates and hurts you … it hurts me too. I was hurt by the stories about renewals and member changes. I don’t think that a single person owns KARA. Since I’m a member of KARA and am responsible for the name, I had the same thoughts as above.

But if everyone and representatives of KARA disagree with me and consider this impossible, I will return to a private person by the name of Jung Nicole.

Regardless of my renewal status with the company, I promise to continue promoting as a KARA member. I do, and always will, love KARA and am happy working as a KARA member … and the group is such a big part of my life.

Thank you so much to everyone who loves and supports us …

***

The emotional message from the singer means that now fans can expect to play the waiting game to see just how the group will move on after Nicole’s contract is officially up in early 2014.

131007 Kara may be losing two of its girls

Nicole, a member of girl group Kara, has left the group, declining to renew her contract with the company that manages it, according to local media reports yesterday, citing an announcement by the group’s agency DSP Media.

“Nicole has decided that she won’t renew her contract with DSP Media, so her contract will expire in January next year”, the agency said.

“Park Gyoo-ri-I, Han Seung-yeon, and Goo Ha-ra have renewed their contract for the next two years”, it said.

The youngest member in the five-member group, Kang Ji-young, has also been rumored to be considering not renewing her contract in April when it expires.

By Lee Sun-min

131007 DSP Media ‘Has No Plans’ To Replace Nicole Jung In KARA: ‘Each Member Has Already Established An Image’ Record Label States

Executives from DSP Media announced Monday that they are currently not seeking a new singer to replace Nicole Jung when her contract expires in early 2013.

Executives from DSP Media, the record label for five-member K-pop girl group KARA, announced Monday that they are currently not seeking a new singer to replace Nicole Jung when her contract expires in early 2013.

“Nicole has revealed that she does not intend to renew her contract with DSP, and thus her contract will expire in January as originally scheduled,” the company wrote in a statement to the South Korean publication Star News.

“However, even if a member of KARA leaves, the agency currently has no plans to add a new member as a replacement.”

Although DSP executives stopped short of declaring they would never replace Nicole in KARA, or her bandmate Kang Jiyoung, who is reportedly considering leaving the group to pursue her education, the issue will be tabled until KARA finishes their Japanese tour, which begins Tuesday in at Yokohama.

The record label execs say that any member of KARA would be difficult, if not impossible to replace.

“Given that each member has already established an image and achieved popularity, we are hesitant to recruit a new member and reorganize the team,” the DSP statement added.

“Although there are speculations of the possibly recruiting a new member, if you look only at the current situation, the possibility of that happening is considerably low.”

A press release from the record label on Friday explained that while the three other members of KARA have signed new contracts, Nicole and Jiyoung both had different expiration terms in their agreement.

“Gyuri, Seungyeon, and Hara have all renewed their contract for another two years and have decided to conduct their future activities with DSP,” read the record label statement.

“The contract for another member, Jiyoung, is different from those of the other members and will end in April. She has decided to think more about her life’s path, her singing career, and education.”

The DSP statement pledged that the group would continue even if members leave.

This is not the first time KARA’s label has dealt with the departure of band members.

In 2008, Kim Sunghee left the group due to pressure from her parents, according to Billboard.

Jiyoung, along with current band member Goo Hara were brought into KARA as a result of auditions held after Sunghee’s departure.

131007 Nicole wants to continue with Kara

Nicole from the girl group Kara may not be renewing her contract with the group’s management, DSP Media, but the singer said yesterday that she would still like to work with Kara at least some of the time.

“I want to try to build up myself, and to be able to do that I need some time to myself”, Nicole said on her Twitter account on Sunday.

“I think a way could be found to keep the group together, even without my being affiliated with the agency”, she wrote.

However, the agency is skeptical about such a possibility.

“The company can, for now, only say that Nicole didn’t want to sign the contract, and we have not considered whether she could work with the other members of the group without a contract”, said an official at DSP Media, according to Ilgan Sports, an affiliate of the Korea JoongAng Daily.

Local media first reported on Friday that three members of Kara had renewed their contracts but that Nicole had declined to do so.

The fifth Kara member, Kang Ji-young, has not yet decided what to do when her contract expires in April next year.

By Lee Sun-min

131004 Nicole Will Leave Kara And Will Not Resign With DSP Media

Following rumours from earlier in the day that Kara might disband comes an official press release from DSP Media which states that Nicole has stated that she will not renew her contract and will let her contract naturally expire in January of next year. This means that Nicole will now be leaving the popular K-Pop idol group by that time.

In a press release published by DSP Media (Their site is currently down due to high traffic), they have revealed that “Nicole has revealed that she has no intentions of renewing her contract and her contract will expire in January of next year as expected.” They have also revealed that “Kara’s Park Gyuri, Han Seung Yeon andGoo Hara have completed signing a 2 year renewal to their contract and have also confirmed that they continue their future activities with DSP.”

DSP Media however has revealed that “Because Kang Ji Young contract expires in April next year, she has decided to think over her future (Before deciding).” An exclusive report from news outlet OSEN however has shed a bit more light regarding her circumstances with the news outlet claiming that Kang Ji Young is leaning towards making a decision to go abroad to study. The report claims that while she isn’t outright saying that she wants to leave the group, she has however stated that she needs a certain amount of time to rest. The report states the she is thinking about studying abroad for one or two years while claiming that having made her debut at an early age and along with all the events that have occurred to Kara up till now has made her weary. OSEN claims that this statement has also been confirmed by a person close to Kang Ji Young who reiterated the fact that “It’s true that she is thinking about wanting a break. She is also looking through options for studying abroad. However, right now she needs to be working hard as Kara and so nothing has been decided yet.”

This person has also stated that, “This doesn’t mean she wants to leave the entertainment industry. There is still a lot of time left and I think they will be having a lot more discussions about this.”

Lastly DSP Media has stated that “Even if certain members within Kara do not renew their contract and decide to leave, the team will not be disbanded and we expect (the group) to devote themselves to continuing their activities domestically and abroad.”

131004 KARA's Gyuri Shares Some Shots from Her Polaroid Camera

On October 2, KARA’s leader Park Gyuri shared some good-old Polaroid shots, which are sure to melt the hearts of fans.

It seems that Gyuri had some time to go through her Polaroid photo album. She shared some of them on her own Twitter account along with the caption, “Polaroid decorate.”

In the revealed photo, there are a bunch of Polaroid photos of KARA members all in one place. Also, Gyuri drew some smile-worthy scribbles on each of the photos.

Nerizens who saw this post showed various responses: “It must have been hard to decorate photos in that nice way,” “So many good memories from them,” “They bring back the old days,” “She is pretty good at decorating photos,” “God, please give me the one of them.”

Check out and enjoy the adorable photos of KARA below!

131004 The End of KARA as we Know it?

Okay, so that title may have been exaggerated, and after all, there have been groups that have managed to keep their name with just half their members still there (witness 2BSK). Still, the impending departure of key members are bound to change group dynamics, and the sudden nature of the news is bound to cause some discussion among fans about the group’s future.

The news, which first broke on Japanese media, spoke of the latest round of contract renegotiations between KARA and DSP Media. What was supposed to have been a simple business formality took an interesting turn when DSP Media suddenly announced that while three of the five members Gyuri, Seungyeon and Goo Hara decided to renew their contracts for the next three years, both Nicole andJiyoung have decided to just let their contracts run out and then leave the group.

In the case of Nicole, who played an instrumental role in international fan relations (given her command of English) as well as the obligatory klutz in the early days of KARA and their attempts at reality due to her weak Korean, she would be leaving next January. Details of her future endeavours are still uncertain, but whether it would be marriage, furthering her studies, acting or just going off to leave quietly ever after, I would still thank her for the entertainment she provided on TV, and wish her all the best.

On the other hand, the youngest member Jiyoung, whose contract runs out next April makes for a less clearer proposition. While the official press release mentioned that she was exploring future options in studying or a solo career, it was also clear that all her plans were still in consideration, and things might still change as of going to print.

Some might have suspected that DSP could have seen this coming given the contract disputes in early 2011, which might have lead to future misgivings about contract renewals.

If there is one thing certain from the press release, it is that with three members, KARA would still continue to promote as a group and continue with performing both in Japan and Korea.

The only thing that remains is which direction would the group take after members leave. Would they be like the Japanese pop groups with whom they perform in tandem (lots of tears shed at departures, but life goes on with change), or like 2BSK (not too many tears shed, business as usual) or like After School (still reeling from the loss of Kahi)?

(Yahoo Japan, Nate News, DSP Media)

131004 Kara denies breakup rumors

A rumor swept Japanese media yesterday that K-pop girl group Kara was disbanding. But the group’s agency, DSP Media, immediately denied the claims, calling them false reports.

One media outlet reported that Kara was going to break up as soon as it completed its current seven-city tour of Japan, titled “Kara Second Japan Tour 2013 Karasia”, which starts Tuesday.

“The Japanese media released a report based on an assumption without checking with us”, said the agency, according to local media reports in Korea. “We are not sure through what sources the media outlet talked to about the group breaking up, but it seems that it didn’t do the proper research when it wrote that story”.

The DSP representative added that the agency is working to find out how the false report emerged and was considering taking legal action if the report damages the group’s reputation.

However, other media reports claimed yesterday that only three members of Karahave renewed their contracts, and that Jiyoung or Nicole or both are declining to renew.

By Lee Sun-min

131003 KARA’s Goo Hara and Hyun Bin to be award for exemplary savings

KARA’s Goo Hara, actor Hyun Bin and more will be awarded for setting a good example on thrift spending and big savings.

A representative from the Financial Services Commission revealed it plans to award the country’s Hallyu stars for their exemplary savings, as part of events to commemorate the 50th Savings Day which will take place on October 29.

Hyunbin and Goo Hara have been mentioned on the list of award winners alongside baseball player Lee Dae Ho and actresses Lee Hye Young as well as Han Hye Jin.

The commission explained, “Hyunbin has been thrifty and has put most of his income into savings since his debut”. Goo was reportedly chosen for her exemplary saving and donations to charity.