South Korea music star BoA tries U.S. market

SEOUL (Reuters Life!) - South Korean pop sensation BoA, dubbed by fans as her country's version of Britney Spears, plans to take on Britney with the release of her first U.S. single in October.

BoA, 21 who is named Kwon Bo-a, has already conquered Japan and her home country with her high-powered dance music and is trying to be one of a slew of Asian stars looking to make it big in the United States.

"I successfully made it in Asia, so I hope to show more of BoA's songs and performances to more people," she said in an interview last week with Reuters Television.

But some of Asia biggest music stars, such as Japan's Hikaru Utada, a fluent English speaker whose music embraces R&B, have only had minimal to moderate success in the U.S. market.

BoA, who is fluent in Korean and Japanese and also sings in English, entered the music world at 13. The waif of a woman pitches products across Asia, where her face adorns billboards in Beijing and Bangkok.

Her debut single is called "Eat You Up" and was made with a producer who worked with Spears.

"Now is the right time because the perception about Asians is dramatically changing and Asians are seen with great interest in the United States," BoA said.