The strategy is to actively promote the Whoo brand using Young-ae Lee, a Korean actress popular in Asia.

Lee`s first appearance as a Whoo spokesmodel in Korea planned for early July, China in August.

LG H&H will step up its efforts to gain ground in premium cosmetics markets in Korea and other parts of Asia leveraging the popularity of its new spokesmodel, Korean actress Young-ae Lee.

LG H&H recruited Young-ae Lee as its new model for its History of Whoo (`whoo`), a premium cosmetics brand based on Oriental medicine, signing Lee to a two-year exclusive contract for a record-high amount in the industry.

Young-ae Lee will represent the Whoo brand not only in the Korean market but also in other parts of Asia, including China and Vietnam, where the launch of Whoo is scheduled for the second half of this year.

A spokesperson for LG H&H said, `Young-ae Lee is a great choice for the image of Whoo, an Oriental medicine-based premium brand, because of Lee`s elegant, graceful image and because of her popularity throughout Asia. We expect that Young-ae Lee will play a very important role in helping Whoo tap into the overseas markets in the future.`

In selecting Young-ae Lee as its spokesmodel, LG H&H is committed to achieving two goals: capturing the Korean premium cosmetics market and tapping the global cosmetics market.

Competition within the industry to `catch` Young-ae Lee began early this year. In the premium cosmetics market where a luxurious image and global strategy are essential, the choice of a major female model is extremely important.

The story is that Young-ae Lee was thinking carefully about choosing a brand of cosmetics that would help further her reputation after the tremendous popularity of the Korean drama Daejanggeum. It appears that Whoo - a premium brand based on Oriental medicine targeting women in their late thirties or older, and also aimed at markets outside of Korea including China - was what she was looking for.

Young-ae Lee`s first appearance on TV for Whoo will be for Whoo Hwanyugo, a top-quality premium cream priced at 680,000 won. The commercial will begin airing in early July. In August, she will appear on posters at department stores in China and Vietnam.

Launched in January 2003, Whoo is an Oriental medicine-based cosmetic that incorporates unique formulas used long ago at the royal court by empresses for medicinal purposes. Until earlier this year, the spokesmodel for the brand was actress Hyun-jeong Koh.

Marked by a unique concept that distinguishes it from conventional Oriental medicine-based cosmetics available in Korea, Whoo has been able to achieve a growth rate of over 100% each year, despite competition from imported brands, and maintains its pride as a purely Korean premium cosmetics brand.