This past weekend in Los Angeles, an annual four-day Korean cultural event was held in the city's own backyard of K-Town (Korea Town). Called the Los Angeles Korean Festival, the event kicked off on Thursday, September 30th at the Seoul International Park for its 37th year of holding the event. Couldn't make it out to the event? No worries. allkpop has got you covered! Founded in 1973, the Los Angeles Korean Festival is an event with a mission to "promote racial harmony throughout the Los Angeles, introduce Korean culture to the community and continue to pass it on to the next generations, and celebrate the Harvest Moon." While the event was highly successful in previous years, this year's event boasted the likes of the Wonder Girls, Kim Yuna, and�Clara Chung, as well as up and coming artists Esna Yoon and Paul Kim. So without further ado, check out our coverage of this exciting event below! [Day 1] Kim Yuna & Tal Taekwondo Everyone at the event was looking forward to Kim Yuna's appearance, so as soon as her name was announced, floods of people began to crowd around the stage. When Kim Yuna walked up to the podium, fans began to scream, "Yuna! You're the best!", "You're so pretty!", and "I LOVE YOU!~". She greeted the audience by saying, "Hello. First off, I'd like to say congratulations to LA's 37th Korean Festival, and I'm glad to be enjoying it together. LA is a special city to me, because in �March 2009 I won the World Championship here, and now I'm training in downtown LA. I haven't forgotten the support you've shown in 2009, please continue to cheer me on, I will work to show new sides of me. Also, this October 2nd and 3rd, this weekend, I will be performing in the All That Skate LA ice show at the Staples Center [check out our coverage here]. I wish for many of you to come watch, to show interest and love. Thank you." Unfortunately, her appearance lasted for no more than five minutes, after which she was quickly escorted out to return back to rehearsal. Later that night, Tal Taekwondo put on an epic theatrical performance consisting of Korean national taekwondo athletes, dancers, and percussionists. The cast told the story about a confrontation between two men, one who wanted to rule others, and another who wanted to keep the Taekwondo mindset, seeking peaceful coexistence. While no words were spoken throughout the entire performance, the audience was captivated by the emotions of love and hate expressed by the multi-talented cast, who danced and fought across the stage. From golden glitter and pink confetti to a main character that could pass off as 2AM Jokwon's twin brother, Tal Taekwondo ended day 1 of the Korean Festival on a high note. [Day 2] Clara Chung & the Wonder Girls On Friday, we once again crossed paths with Clara Chung, and it was great to see her because we can't get enough of this talented young artist--who, by the way, just released her album, along with the�music video for her title song, "Offbeat." This up and coming artist performed a number of her original songs off her new album,"The Art In My Heart", alongside Feats in Inches, and she generously gave away copies to two people who correctly answered trivia questions about the album. With her musical sound that's reminiscent of Sara Bareilles and Adele, Clara captivated the audience with a unique performance that included the musical stylings of a melodica, as well as a trumpet. In addition, she also covered John Mayer's "I Don't Trust Myself (With Loving You)." After her performance, we caught up with Clara offstage and managed to get a brief interview with the talented artist, and she was more than willing to share tidbits of herself with her fans on allkpop. Check out what Clara had to say! Q: When did you start writing music and what made you interested in creating your own music? A: I've been doing things musically since I was a little girl. Like if my parents were at a noraebang/karaoke singing, I'd always steal the mic. And they got me my own toy keyboard and I would play Sound of Music songs on it all the time. [From there] my interest just kept growing and I started listening to music that was mainstream. I was like, "I like this but I don't like that," and "I like that message but I hate that message," and I started refining what I liked and then I started doing it. Q: Where do you get your inspiration for writing your music? A: Life experiences, my friends, problems and struggles. The trends I see in the world or a message that I've been trying to tell myself�sometimes I'm just singing to myself, like I'm talking to myself in songs. Q: How do you feel being one of the few Asian Americans trying to make it in the entertainment/music industry? A: It feels amazing! I feel really really lucky and blessed! Hopefully, we can all open doors for ourselves in the entertainment industry to see more diversity there. Q: Which artists do you look up to? A: John Mayer! I think he's an amazing lyricist and he's good at what he does�vocally and songwriting. His lyrics are so good. [Also] Sara Bareilles! She has that fierce power. [But] I actually listen to a lot of indie folk artists like Andrew Bird or Kings of Convenience. I love them too. And then I love bands that really make you feel something like it kicks you in the face like Coldplay or MUTEMATH. Just whatever makes me feel something. Q: Your album was recently released! How do you feel about your album being out? A: Amazing! The response has been really positive. I lost objectivity of this album. I've been working on for so long�I'm biased every which way. To hear it from a fresh set of ears saying that they like it a lot and that certain songs really touch their hearts and make them cry or laugh�it's my dream come true. I have succeeded! Q: And your music video for "Offbeat" just came out recently as well. Could you give our readers an interesting fact about making that music video? A: That water I fell into was like 30 degrees cold! I wish I had the footage because the director and I were the only ones in the water and we kept on reenacting, "I'll never let you go Jack!" We were shaking and our teeth were chattering! It was so cold so we couldn't stop laughing because that was the only way to fight off the pain of the cold, just to keep laughing. It was intense. And we all had like 50 bug bites�we have battle scars from last week [the week of shooting]. Q: Being a site based on K-pop, we have to ask - do you listen to any Korean music? A: I listen to the ones that make its way to me. I actually really like 2NE1. I've never seen the Wonder Girls but I guess I will today. I know of 2PM because of Jaebum and I like their stuff. All of it [K-pop] sounds great, it's just a matter of what makes its way to me. [But] my favorite song of all time is 2NE1's "I Don't Care (Reggae Remix)." It is really really good! Q: And lastly, some of your fans are dying to know - what's your ideal type? A: As in a boyfriend? Hahaha. Well, I'm kind of tall so I like tall guys. He has to be funny and he has to like to laugh. He has to be spontaneous. I like to do random things at random times. He has to love my family because I love my family so much. [He should be] good with kids and love food [since] I cook and bake a lot! As the evening progressed and the night wore on, the anticipation for the Wonder Girls grew and grew.� And when the Wonder Girls finally hit up the main stage, hundreds of people--boys and girls, moms and dads, and grandpas and grandmas - I kid you not! - flocked toward the stage to get a good view of these five girls. And while the fans kept cheering, the girls put on quite a show with performances to a number of their hit songs, including "2 Different Tears", "Tell Me", "Nobody", "So Hot", and others. In addition, the girls went back to their roots with a strong performance of their debut track, "Irony." Make sure you check out all their performance pictures below! [Day 3] 2010 Youth Talent Show Saturday's audience was different from previous days. The audience consisted of people who came in support of their friends and family who were performing in the 2010 Youth Talent Show. While there were many singing acts, the dancers ruled the show. 5th place went to Jjang, a dance team consisting of Cambodian members, who danced to a medley of K-pop hits, including Hyuna's "Change" and SNSD's "Run Devil Run". 4th place went to a group who had performed at last year's talent show and already had a mini-fanbase, Elite. The guys danced to SHINee's "Replay", "Ring Ding Dong", and "Lucifer". 3rd place went to the only singing act in the top 5, a female duet who opened the show with their cover of HOMME's "Still Eating Well". 2nd place went to a 4-member dance group, With Us, that performed original choreography to numerous hit tracks from the American and Korean music scene. Last but not least, 1st place went to White Stone, a b-boy team that proved themselves superior to the other acts as they took over the stage with their energetic performance. After the talent show,�up and coming�Youtube sensation, singer Esna Yoon, and previous American Idol Season 6 Top 12 contestant, Paul Kim, ended the night with their soulful performances. Esna Yoon had the whole audience singing along to her original untitled Valentine's Day song, and she also delivered a cover of Bruno Mars' "The Way You Are." Following Esna Yoon's flawless performance, Paul Kim sang to his song, "Hero", and a cover of Tevin Campbell's "Brown Eyed Girl". We got a chance to meet them after their performances for a quick interview. Check them out below! <Esna Yoon> Esna's Youtube Q: First and foremost, can you introduce yourself to our readers who might not be so familiar with you? A: My name is Esna Yoon and I'm 22 [years old]. I've been on Youtube for about a year and a half now, so I'm just getting myself out there. I sing and my style is soul, jazz, R&B, blues, folk, all mixed. And I live in Tujunga, CA. Q: On stage you said that you've been performed here before? Can you tell us about that? A: I performed on the Korean Festival stage since I was 4. So, I've come back a lot. Q: How did you end up performing at 4 years old? A: When I was younger, my mom was the one who put me on the stage because she saw that I really enjoyed singing. Q: How was your stage presence when you were younger? A: I loved it. I knew how to work a stage, honestly. I always loved being on stage. Q: Since we are a k-pop website, I have to ask, do you have a favorite k-pop artist? A: I really like 2NE1, only because their style is very Americanized... they have so much swagger and a lot of attitude. They command the stage when they perform... I really like it a lot. Q: Now for Korean dramas, I know you watched You're Beautiful in the past... A: Oh my god, I watched almost all the Korean dramas out there. Right now I'm watching DongYi, I just finished My Girlfriend is a Nine-Tailed Fox, and I'm gonna start watching Fugitive. Gotta support Daniel Henney. Q: Could you tell our readers about your Youtube channel? A: My Youtube channel is�youtube.com/esnathesinger. Soon I'll be launching a new one called esnatheperson where it's going to be vlogs and really random stupid things that I do... a more personal one so that people can get to know who I am. Look out for that one. Q: What are your future plans? A: I'm going to make an album... I'm trying to find a good producer to work with at the moment. But, I'll be hopefully releasing an album sometime early next year, a shorter EP album. And I'll be working with Kero One on a short EP album as well. So I'm pretty excited.. [I'll] keep doing the Youtube thing [and do] more live shows... Q: �Do you have any last words for our readers? A: Thank you for supporting [me]. <Paul Kim> www.paulkimmusic.com Q: For our readers who may not be familiar with you, can you introduce yourself? A: Hi, I'm Paul Kim. I'm from San Jose but am currently in Los Angeles. I'm a singer/songwriter. Q: So you were on American Idol Season 6. How was the experience, especially since you were one of the few Asian Americans on the show? A: It was a great experience! I loved every minute of it. It was stressful but it opened so many doors for me. Q: Do you have any future plans in regards to your musical career? A: I have single out right now that just dropped about 10 weeks ago called "Hero." The album is coming soon. I've also been doing a lot of songwriting. I just wrote a song called "Sail Away" for Van Ness Wu on his last album. Q: And we must know--do you know anything about K-pop? A: Yes I do! I actually love the Wonder Girls, Taeyang, and Jay Park. Q: Is there anything you want to say to our readers over at allkpop? A: Thank you so much for showing me love! I love all you guys! Overall, this past weekend at the Los Angeles Korean Festival proved to be a quite a jam-packed, talent-filled cultural community gathering. For those of you who live on the East Coast, keep your eyes peeled for this upcoming weekend's 28th Korean Harvest & Folklore Festival that will be held from October 9th to the 10th at Randall's Island Park in Manhattan, New York! And a big thank you to all the volunteers at the festival who made this event possible! [gallery link="file" columns="4" orderby="title"] Photography by: Daniel Yoon Written by: chloejn & mashimello