Bae Yong-joon promotes Korean learning with Nintendo DS

Hallyu star Bae Yong-joon will be reprising his role as a virtual Korean language teacher for Nintendo DS, a popular hand-held game console created by the Japanese maker.

Bae's agency KEYEAST announced in a press release Thursday that the actor collaborated with Nintendo for the second time to follow-up on their hit software creation named "Learning Korean with Bae Yong-joon DS." Last September, the Japanese video game developer had released a Korean learning game featuring Bae, which became a best-selling education software on the Japanese Amazon website and sold over 30,000 copies in just three months of its release.

"After releasing the beginner-level software, we had received numerous inquiries and requests whether we will be launching one for intermediate and advance level users," an official at KEYEAST was quoted as saying. "We hope that this software will further promote Korean language overseas and help many more foreigners to study Korean effectively."

The new software comes in two versions -- the "Dating" version and "Test" version. While the former version helps users learn the language in natural settings such as at the airport or dining out at Korean restaurants, the latter focuses on more academic elements of Korean learning for advanced-level users and includes a sample TOPIK (Test of Proficiency in Korean) exam. The Hallyu star appears in the program as a virtual Korean teacher and provides easy, friendly explanations for users during the language lessons.

Bae, 37, shot to mega-stardom in Korea and throughout Asia with the success of 2002 KBS TV series "Winter Sonata" and gained a huge following in Japan in particular, where he earned the nickname "Yonsama".

He has also been actively promoting Korean culture in Asia, publishing a photo essay titled "Discovering the Beauty of Korea" last year, which contains self-taken photographs of various cultural artisans that the actor met during his year-long travel around the country.

The new Nintendo DS software will be released in Japan in August with advance sales orders starting this month.

Reporter : Lynn Kim lynn2878@
Editor : Jessica Kim jesskim@
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