Wonder Girls to replace group member

SEOUL, Jan. 23 (Yonhap) -- South Korean female pop group Wonder Girls has a new
lineup after one of its members decided to quit to return to school, its agent
JYP Entertainment said Saturday.
Sun Mi, 18, who dropped out of high school to take part in the five-member
group's U.S. debut last year, will return to Korea in March to focus on
preparations for entering university, the agent said. Hye Rim, who is the same
age, will replace her.
"Sun Mi will take a break to prepare for college admission," JYP said in a
statement.
Wonder Girls is composed of five young females -- Sun Ye, Ye Eun, Hyun A, So Hee
and Sun Mi -- all in their late teens to early 20s. The group made its local
debut in 2007 and gave its first official performance in the United States in
July 2009 as the opening act for American Idol group the Jonas Brothers in
Washington D.C.
Selling 30,000 copies of their debut single in the U.S., the group earned the No.
76 position on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, the first time that a South
Korean music group has debuted on the chart.
"It was such a happy and precious experience for me to be on the tour of 50 U.S.
cities and perform on the stage, but I came to wonder -- Can I go on living like
this?" Sun Mi said in the statement.
JYP Entertainment said she will still train as a singer in Korea and may make a
comeback in the future.
The new member, Hye Rim, has trained under JYP for three years and is fluent in
English, Mandarin, Cantonese and her native Korean, it said.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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