On September 3rd, SM Entertainment CEO Kim Young Min met with reporters at a restaurant in Tokyo to talk about the success of his artists and the 'new Hallyu wave'. Kim began, "Whether or not there will be another first-rate group like TVXQ will determine the path of future juniors hoping to make their way into the Japanese market. It's important that we focus on the production of content that will make K-Pop stand out from what's already in Japan." He continued, "The power of TVXQ is just huge and impressive. Despite the controversy they're undergoing, it's because of what the five members accomplished that there's a K-Pop market right now." When asked about the 'expiration date' for K-Pop, he replied, "At minimum, K-Pop will be popular for about three to five more years. The reason K-Pop is so popular all over the world is because of the idol groups. I think that it's either going to last for three to five more years, or continue on forever.  In the case of Japan, I heard that Hallyu contents broke all of the sales records in one of Japan's biggest CD and DVD rental and sales chain. The international market is always growing." He continued, "The influence of social networking services is a considerable factor in our success. SNS is just a portion of our marketing, however, not a main tool. SNS is useful for marketing, but not a necessity." On the topic of the anti-Hallyu movement, he replied, "I think that it's a natural phenomenon since our culture is going into Japan.  There will be people with those thoughts anywhere in the world.  Instead of focusing on that, it's more important for us to focus on the creation of better content and the creation of an improved culture." Source + Photos: Star News