K-pop hologram hit Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore

This reporter was in Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) in Singapore on Friday. The 49-hectare resort attracted around seven million visitors last year. I walked by the Globe Statue, the symbol of "Universal Studios," which is the resort's main theme park. Next to Korean food court called "Insadong Korea Town," there is "K-live Sentosa," a hologram theater designed only for K-pop music. Korea Telecom (KT) and 10 Korean hologram companies including Holotive jointly built the hologram theater. Some 15 people, who appeared to be teenagers or in their 20th, were waiting in line for a performance.

Taking place in an 165-m² area, a K-live performance began with a very realistic hologram video of Jindo traditional dance. It seems like I was looking at real people. After the opening performance were displayed hologram performances of JYP Entertainment's idol bands such as 2PM, Wonder Girls, and GOT7. The audience might have felt awkward at first about the new technology, but soon, they started clapping their hands and cheering.

"The hologram was so realistic that I almost believed that the idol stars were singing for me right before my eyes. I liked the spectacular performance and also the costumes," an 18-year-old visitor (18) said. "I have been learning Korean by myself so that I can sing along K-pop songs."

K-live Sentosa is the first K-live theater that was exported overseas and was launched on Feb. 23. "We have at maximum 50 visitors a day these days. In June when the vacation seasons begin, visitors are expected to increase," said Lee Jeong-eun, a manager of Holotive Singapore that runs K-live Sentosa. "As Sentosa is a world-class tourist spot, K-live Sentosa will introduce to the world K-pop music as well as Korea's hologram technology." Since its foundation in 2012, Holotive has been launching its overseas business through K-live.

Back in 2014, a delegate from RWS visited "K-live Dongdaemun," the world's first hologram theater, near Dongdaemun History & Culture Park Metro Station, and suggested partnerships that later gave birth to K-live Sentosa. KT, hologram company named "District," and YG Entertainment joined to created the hologram theater in Dongdaemun. "We brought in K-live because Korean wave is huge in Singapore," RWS Vice President Serena Pua said. "K-live Sentosa will display new singers' music every six months for more variety."

KT has been investing on next-generation media, which it sees as one of Korea's future growth engines, as tangible contents technology, such as virtual reality, augmented reality and holograms, since 2012.

KT plans to expand K-live both inside and outside Korea. The company signed a contract to build an ICT cultural complex inside shopping mall "Triple Street" in Songdo, Incheon in February. KT will spend in total 11.4 billion won (9.89 million U.S. dollars) to build facilities, such as an outdoor hologram theater and a media tunnel, and will open in March next year. KT is also planning to expand the K-live project to China and Thailand.

"Now, we record a performance in advance and make it a hologram later. However, in one or two years, we will be able to broadcast what is happening in Busan in Seoul in real time hologram," said Song Jae-ho, director of KT's Future Business Development Division. "Interaction between holograms, for example, two holograms talking to each other, may be also possible. When personal media such as VR devices becomes popular, the hologram market will grow explosively."

At the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics, KT will introduce "hologram live," a technique that outputs live video in hologram by using the fifth generation (5G) network.

싱가포르=강유현기자 yhkang@donga.com