Rain Singer

It's hardly the triumphant return to the United States that South Korean pop superstar Rain had hoped for. The popular singer-actor, dubbed the "Justin Timberlake of Asia," arrived in Hawaii on Monday facing two lawsuits stemming from the cancellation of dates on his 2006-07 North American Rain's Coming tour. Rain's legal troubles follow his attempts to break into the U.S. market and build the kind of loyal fan base here that has eluded other Asian performers.

South Korean pop superstar Rain may have disappointed legions of fans by postponing several U.S. performances scheduled for this month. But contrary to an announcement made Tuesday by a promoter of his Hawaiian tour stop, the singer -- part of the globally popular "Korean Wave" movement and nicknamed "the Justin Timberlake of Asia" -- will perform as scheduled June 30 at Staples Center, a representative for StarM, Rain's world concert promoter confirmed in a statement.

GIVEN the brain-numbing consistency with which the two performers are compared, South Korean pop superstar Rain is pretty gracious about being referred to as "the Justin Timberlake of Asia." To a point. The Seoul-born heartthrob R&B singer-dancer-actor, who has sold millions of records around the globe and whose every public appearance is greeted with messianic enthusiasm by legions of super-fans from Kuala Lumpur to Taipei, is willing to accept being likened to Mr.

A concert by South Korean pop superstar Rain scheduled for Saturday at Staples Center was canceled, according to a message on the arena's website. "Due to issues related to the show's production, we regrettably have to cancel tonight's Rain concert," the message read. Ticket holders were told full refunds would be made from the original point of purchase beginning Monday.

South Korean pop superstar Rain blamed local concert promoter V2B Global for technical difficulties that resulted in the cancellation of his performance Saturday night at Staples Center -- the last in a string of planned U.S. shows in the singer-dancer-actor's "Rain's Coming" world tour that failed to go on as scheduled. But viewed another way, the show's last-minute cancellation can be partially attributed to a breakdown of the K-pop phenom's celebrity industrial complex.

South Korean pop star and actor Rain and his managers were ordered Thursday to pay a Hawaiian promoter more than $8 million in damages for canceling a 2007 concert in Honolulu. A federal jury found Rain, his former management agency JYP Entertainment and two South Korean companies breached a contract to perform and defrauded Click Entertainment Inc. Nearly $5 million was for punitive damages, with Rain and JYP each ordered to pay $2.4 million.