What trip to South Korea would be complete without a reference to the country's famous pop music industry otherwise known as Kpop?

It's hard to miss - everyday on the Shin Bundang metro line, I'd catch these music videos blaring (in silence) on the train and station monitors. Pre-teen and teenage South Korean girls dancing provocatively and dressed in anything from a white-collared shirt and over-the-knee socks with no pants (think school girl gone bad) to head-to-toe skintight rubber. Just to share what I saw:

The Wondergirls:

NS Yoon Ji

With album titles like, "Boys are Toys", the videos reminded me of Britney in her hey day - similar choreography, clothes, hair and set decor. The Kpop industry revenues are estimated to be over $100 million a year, while it takes between $400,000 to $1 million to launch a girl or boy band to cover the costs of training and voice lessons. Kpop's popularity has recently grown beyond South Korea's borders, especially in other Asian countries. With Girls' Generation on David Letterman this past January who knows - maybe the U.S. will be next! Watch out, Bollywood - the Korean Wave may be taking over!