3,000 fans greet music idol at airport

Singer Seo Taiji returned home Tuesday from Los Angeles after four years and seven months of retirement and was greeted by thousands of enthusiastic fans who were waiting for him since early in the morning.

His fans, mostly middle and high school girls, greeted their idol, holding placards and signboards, one of them reading, ¡°Brother, we¡¯ve grown big, haven¡¯t we?¡¯¡¯ at Kimpo International Airport. As Seo appeared at the airport at 6:58 p.m., the young girls shouted, ¡°Congratulations on your comeback,¡± and, ¡°Hurrah, Seo Taiji.¡±

¡°I spent my sensitive teenage days with less difficulty because there was Seo Taiji,¡± Chang Hye-Yun, a sophomore at Chung-Ang University, said.

Wearing long hair with a pale look, Seo just waved to reporters without answering a flurry of questions and left the airport heavily guarded by his private bodyguards.

¡°Seo said that he would hold a press conference after the release of his new album around Sept. 7,¡± an aide to Seo said.

Seo¡¯s enthusiastic fans began to flock to the airport at about 7 a.m., and the number soon reached about 3,000, according to a police estimate. They almost jam-packed one floor of the First Terminal of the airport, and many of them were waiting outside the terminal, causing a huge disorder. Police urgently deployed about 700 officers around the airport against possible accidents.