Poster carrying photos of top Asian pop artists to take part at Asia Song Festival in September.

By Seo Dong-shin
Staff Reporter

The annual Asia Song Festival will bring 14 top stars from nine Asian countries to Seoul this year.

``The 2007 Asia Song Festival,'' scheduled for Sept. 22 at Sangam World Cup Stadium, will feature popular South Korean boy bands such as SG Wannabe and Super Junior.

Pretty boys will fly into Seoul en masse from other countries although the Japanese line-up has yet to be confirmed. ``Golf & Mike,'' idol duo hailing from Thailand, also enjoys popularity in Japan. Vietnamese singer Lam Truong once sang a Vietnamese version of ``Forever,'' a song from ``Korean Wave'' star Ahn Jae-wook. Peter Pan, meanwhile, is a six-piece pop rock band from Indonesia.

At the festival, fans will also be able to compare female pop stars from five countries. From South Korea, actress and singer Lee Hyo-lee, who mainly sells her sexy image, will perform on stage. From mainland China comes Vicki Zhao, also a popular actress and singer who won the ``Favorite Artist Mainland China'' from 2006 MTV Asia Awards. A-mei, the ``pride of Taiwan,'' has been a pop diva in the Mandarin-speaking world for more than a decade. Gigi Leung is a veteran Hong Kong actress and singer, while Barbie Almalbiz, a songwriter and folk rock singer from the Philippines, enjoys huge popularity in her home country.

JVKV, better known as F4, are four Taiwanese heartthrobs also well-known in South Korea for the hit Taiwanese drama series ``Meteor Garden,'' which is based on a popular Japanese manga and aired here on a cable channel. They will appear as special guests during the show.

Tickets for the festival are free and can be downloaded from early September at the Korea Foundation for International Culture Exchange (KOFICE) website, which has been organizing the event for the last three years. For more information, visit www.kofice.or.kr.

saltwall@koreatimes.co.kr