Tae Sa Ja

H.O.T is the hottest group in Korea. There group consists of 5 members and their sound and

style has changed Korean pop music, yet they are not the only group that young girls adore. Tae Sa Ja is also made up of 4 fine-looking young men. They have a distinctive sound and their dance moves are very sharp. Their debut album was released in '98 with the hit song "Do". Since then they have released 2 more albums and their popularity has grown. I met up with them before their first concert in Lotte Hotel. Their lead singer is Kim Young Min who is 20. Kim Hyung Joon is the oldest at 22 and he sings base rap. Lee Dong Yoon and Park Joon Suk are both 21 and both of them sing and rap. Since my Korean is so bad I asked Lee Dong Yoon most of the questions because he's from L.A. and speaks English a little.

So how long have you guys been together?

Almost 2 years

How did you guys form?

Well Kim Hyung Joon and Park Joon Suk were found on the street and Kim Young Min had an audition. I (Lee Dong Yoon) was in L.A. and I saw some information about an audition for a new group. I made a demo tape of me dancing and singing and sent it in.

How many guys auditioned for Tae Sa Ja?

Were not sure but we heard a few hundred.

Who writes the songs?

Kim Young Min, writes some of the songs. He wrote the song "Only For You" which is one of the most popular songs.

Is he the only one that writes songs?

No, we all write rap and remix.

So this is your first concert, are you really excited?

Of course, we're a little nervous because we want to really give a good show to our fans. Also we asked "NRG" to open our concert so we were really happy that they agreed.

Is it hard being a little famous? I mean you just can't walk around Seoul anytime you want.

Sure it's a little difficult. Sometimes we would like to just go wherever we want but we can't. We would like to meet our fans, but it's so hard. We have to practice everyday and sometimes really late at night.

What do you do with your free time?

We'll just hang out and watch TV or go to a PC room (PC room is a place where Koreans go to play computer games with each other)

You guys play Starcraft?

Sure

Who's the best?

Kim Young Min is the best; he beats us all.

What are your plans for the future?

We're releasing our fourth album in the Spring called "3.5" which will be like our greatest hits album. Hopefully that will do very well and we can start working on another album.

Do you have any plans to perform overseas?

The group would like to go to the U.S. if it's possible. My family lives in L.A. so I don't care if we go, but the other members have never been there before.

Hey, have a great show and good luck.

Thanks