The French fans were members of Korea Connection, a group of French people who love K-pop. Their immediate goal is to successfully hold the first “Korean Culture Festival Korea Connection 2011” next month.

“We will make this festival the first hallyu festival in Europe,” said Maxim, a representative of Korea Connection.

Members of the fan club are already driving a campaign to collect signatures to host a K-pop concert in Paris. “We want people to know that there are so many people who love K-pop in France,” said a French fan. “K-pop singers are the type of singers who cannot be found in France. They can sing well, dance well, and they look great.”

SHINee was interviewed on Wednesday by Le Monde, a French daily, said its agency. When asked how they felt about their popularity in Asia and Europe, SHINee answered, “We didn’t know about the local response, but we felt the fervor through Youtube when we saw people dancing to our songs.”

SM Entertainment, SHINee’s agency, said the fan meeting marked the first occasion in which European fans visited Korea in a group.

By Yun Suh-young (syun@heraldcorp.com)
Intern Reporter