Nine hurt in crush of 'Yong-Sama' fans in Japan
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-11-26 17:22

At least nine women were injured when hundreds of fans of South Korean actor Bae Yong-joon surged forward to catch a glimpse of the heart-throb star as he left a Tokyo hotel Friday.

South Korean actor Bae Yong-joon reacts as he is met by the thousands of screaming fans on his arrival at Tokyo's Narita Airport Nov. 25, 2004. Bae Jong-joon, who spurred a 'Korea boom' in Japan with his soap opera series followed by television commercial appearances, flew in to Japan to promote a published collection of his photographs. Nine women were hurt when fans surged forward to see Bae. [Reuters]

Media reports said that as many as 1,000 fans had flocked to the downtown hotel where Bae was staying on a promotional tour.

"All anybody thought of was getting a look at him," a middle-aged woman told public broadcaster NHK.

No injuries were serious enough to require hospital treatment, an official for the Tokyo Fire Department said.

South Korean actor Bae Yong-joon

The baby-faced Bae, a 32-year-old star of television dramas, has gained a huge following in Japan, particularly among middle aged women attracted to his wholesome image, which for many fans harkens back to a more honorable past.

Bae is popularly known in Japan as "Yong-sama," a suffix denoting great respect and often used to refer to royalty.

A somber Bae later told a news conference: "This news really pains me. I hope none of the injuries are serious."

More than 3,000 screaming fans packed Narita airport near Tokyo Thursday for Bae's arrival from Seoul.

Bae is one of the bigger names in a kanryu boom that has made Korean actors and actresses celebrities in Japan despite the bitter history between the two neighbors.

Japan's brutal colonisation of the Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945 remains a sore point, as does decades of discrimination against ethnic Koreans living in Japan.

Ties, though still sometimes fractious, improved significantly after then-President Kim Dae-jung visited Japan in 1998 and then after the two nations co-hosted the World Cup soccer tournament in 2002.

The influx of Korean soap operas has helped still more.

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