1) I don't know much, but I can give you the lowdown on the big lawsuit right now. Three of the members of DBSK are suing SM Entertainment to try to get out of their exclusivity contract, claiming that it is 1) denying them opportunities to further themselves as artists, and 2) is little more than a slave contract. When details were presented in court, it was shown that the group had been worked basically 3 years straight without any days off, and were not getting paid much at all (the numbers are escaping me, but I remember it being possibly in the 5-6 figure US$ range. I read it on omonatheydidnt somewhere, though).

I usually think of the Korean market as smaller... I mean, if the Korean market was large enough, you wouldn't see all of the Kpop groups trying to make a name for themselves in Japan as well (and China and the US and...). Name recognition just isn't going to get you the same amount of fame and money in Korea.

2) Thanks to some people (*cough*swtjemz*cough*) my two favorite videos are Mirotic (DBSK) and Sorry Sorry (Super Junior).