The contenders who received prizes at the K-Pop World Audition, the highlight of the Cheonan K-Culture Expo held in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, pose after their auditions on Saturday. Courtesy of Cheonan Foundation for Arts and Culture By Dong Sun-hwa Tsutsumi Rai, 21, an exchange student from Japan who studies at Pai Chai University in Daejeon, was crowned the winner of the K-Pop World Audition — the highlight of the Cheonan K-Culture Expo that wrapped up on Sunday in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province. For the audition, Rai danced to "UN Village" (2019) by Baekhyun of K-pop boy group EXO.
He got the highest score after edging out 12 teams in the finals on Saturday, and won 10 million ($7,300) in prize money, according to the Cheonan Foundation for Arts and Culture, the host of the Cheonan K-Culture Expo. Before coming to Korea, Rai used to work as a dance teacher in Japan. Karen Kim, a Philippine-born immigrant woman in Korea, took second place after singing "Song of the Wind" (1997) by singer Cho Yong-pil.
Kim, who is married to a Korean, received 3 million won. During the audition, she revealed that her childhood dream was to become a singer. "4X4 Studio," a female dance group with 660,000 YouTube subscribers, ranked third, while "SUS4," a team composed of students from Dong-Ah Institute of Media and Arts in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province, secured the fourth spot.
The jury included Lee Sol-lim, the former director of SM Academy — an academic institution of K-pop.
