Jang Ha-jin, who was a trainee at S.M. Entertainment, performs in an empty practice room at a university...
Jang Ha-jin, who was a trainee at S.M. Entertainment, performs in an empty practice room at a university in Daejeon December 18, 2014. Jang made it to S.M. Entertainment's coveted training programme a decade ago after winning a talent contest. She stuck to a seven-day regimen for nearly three years, before giving it all up to return to a more sedate life. Thousands of Korean children dream of becoming household names like rapper Psy, whose 2012 "Gangnam Style" video was a global YouTube hit, often putting up with punishing schedules in the hope of one day making it big in the music industry. A recent survey of pre-teens shows that 21 percent of respondents wanted to be K-pop (Korean pop) stars when they grow up, the most popular career choice. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji (SOUTH KOREA - Tags: SOCIETY ENTERTAINMENT)
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