For J.Y.P., music sales are nearly a rounding error. It's everything else that creates the success. According to a report from the Korea Times and business portal Chaebul.com, J.Y.P.E. generated $16.3 million in revenue in 2006 and $10 million in the first six months of 2007, of which music sales were the smallest part. The report estimated the company to be worth in excess of $100 million, making it the most valuable independent entertainment company in Korea.

"That's because we don't make music,” says Park. "We make stars."

It all begins with the J.Y.P. Academy, an institution in Seoul founded by Park to shape raw talent into all-around entertainers. The academy isn't just an instructional program—it's a way of life, with students receiving daily instruction in everything from singing, dancing, and acting to media interaction and languages.

The hundred or so students, most of whom are admitted before the age of 15 and train for a minimum of four to seven years, live together in dormitories, with all expenses—clothing, travel, personal allowances, and so on—covered by the academy. (Park estimates that he spends up to a half million dollars on an act before it's launched.)

Park is now actively trying to break into additional markets with the help of Korean wireless giant, S.K. Telecom, which bought a 50 percent stake in his company in 2001. The two initially hooked up when Park led an extremely successful drive for S.K.T. to sign up its first 3G subscribers back in 1997 (the program's target was to sign up 1 million subscribers in the first year; Park delivered 1.8 million). S.K.T. subsequently invested in J.Y.P.E., with the deal giving Park's artists unparalleled access to a large swath of South Korea's digital consumers via S.K.T.'s cellular and music-download services, as well as through its social-networking site CyWorld, which is used by 90 percent of the 20-to-29-year-old population in Korea.

Park is also able to follow S.K.T. into new territories. "They move into a market as a platform, we move in as the content," says Park. For example, S.K.T. exercised an option last year to take a 6.6 percent stake in China Unicom, whose 150 million users make it the second-largest mobile operator in K-pop-loving China. In April, Park will open J.Y.P.'s newest subsidiary, based in Beijing.

Here in the U.S., Park recently launched a national concert and live audition series sponsored by S.K.T.-owned mobile operator Helio. The tour is designed to find and develop new Asian American talent, as well as to showcase several of Park's new acts, including 15-year-old dance diva Min, bluesy crooner J.Lim, and R&B belter G-Soul, who for the past year have been working with top American names in hip-hop and R&B like R. Kelly and Outkast's Big Boi in anticipation of their Stateside debuts.

"J-Y doesn't do anything half-assed," says rapper/producer Lil' Jon, who is helping develop Min's first album. "And he's got fresh ideas on the business side, about relying on revenues other than just CD sales and targeting global markets, that people are just going to have to take seriously."

$494 million ^{Size of music market in 2007 $11.5 billion $440 million Downloads as percent of music sales in 2000 <1% 14% Downloads as percent of music sales in 2007 10% 84% Broadband penetration 50% 80%}

Flown in for a brief spotlight appearance on the J.Y.P. U.S. Tour, the Girls have already captivated the attention of American music labels and TV producers eager to launch them into the burgeoning tween market, despite the girls' limited English.

"Language doesn't matter," says Park, pointing out that song and dance—especially dance—transcend language. "'Tell Me' was number one in Thailand—does anyone understands Korean there? If the performers are charismatic and the music is written for global tastes, it'll cross over. A star is a star in any language."