(OSEN)

TVXQ and EXO are similar in many ways. First, they are senior and junior pop group under the same entertainment label, SM Entertainment. Both rose to stardom on the K-pop scene and then they saw some members break away. Despite such hardships, the two groups have managed to keep their top place in the K-pop arena.

Ten years have passed since TVXQ debuted, becoming a pop sensation in Korea. The group celebrated its 10th anniversary at its Seoul concert over the weekend. Especially, the second day of the concert was the 4,000th day since its debut.

Back in 2009, three of the five original TVXQ members -- Junsu, Jaejoong, Yuchun -- filed a lawsuit against SM Entertainment to end their contract, alleging that their 13-year exclusive contract was unreasonably long.


About a year after the revolt, only Yunho and Changmin returned as TVXQ members and the rest focused on their individual activities until the three united as group JYJ -- Jaejoong, Yuchun and Junsu -- in 2010.

Although the 5-member boy group has now became a duo, its popularity has been as solid as it had been in the old days. Also, TVXQ recently became the first foreign artist who held the Japanese Top 5 Dome tour. The group has been active at both home and in Japan, recording 2 million accumulated viewers for the past three years with its live tour “TREE.”

“We could break our record since we’ve received incredibly big love from our fans. We have been lucky and also we think our sincerity and efforts bore fruit. We wish we can be active in the future and keep breaking our records more. Hope we can remain as TVXQ even if time passes,” the group said.

“We like performing onstage, but now we cannot be carefree and we take it more seriously. There might have been hardships but we are the hopes and dreams of someone. So, we’ve decided to put more efforts and focus on our concert. We want to be the artists who show a dramatic reversal onstage,” the group added.

(OSEN)

TVXQ’s words of great resolution may be special for junior group EXO. The veteran group’s success show positive possibilities for the group which now has only 10 members, down from 12. Kris and Luhan left the group in May and October, respectively. They also filed lawsuits for the termination of their exclusive contracts against SM Entertainment.

The boy group made its debut in 2012 and only after a year, it became the top idol group in Korea. The group recently announced that it will come back early next year.
Whether it can follow TVXQ’s success or not depends on its members’ strong determination and their next activity, showbiz experts said.

By Park Gyu-oh (q5park@heraldcorp.com)