CHOI SUNG-BONG, South Korea’s manual worker-turned-international singing sensation, ended his months-long reality show journey Sunday with a second-place finish to a female dancing competitor in the final round of the “Korea’s Got Talent” TV audition show.

    Dubbed Korea’s “Susan Boyle,” who shot to fame on a British TV talent show, Choi’s episode has hit the headlines of news media at home and abroad, pulling at the heart strings of millions around the world.

    Choi, 22, who ascended to the top-two position with his powerful baritone, was defeated by a 17-year-old female high school student, Ju Min-jeong, who has already been branded “Poppin’ Dance Empress” among her fan groups.

    Top 10 final qualifiers, comprising singers, dancers, harmonica players and magicians, competed in the final, the Korean equivalent of “Britain’s Got Talent.”

    Choi suddenly became an international singing sensation after his first performing “Nella Fantasia (in My Fantasy),” an Italian classical crossover song composed by Ennio Morricone, which was reprised for the final.

    His inspirational life story has also impressed many.

    Choi has confessed that he was left in an orphanage at 3 but he ran away two years later after he was abused.

    He then lived on the streets in a provincial city, selling gum and energy drinks to survive, before a woman from a snack bar at the city helped him enter an evening school at 14 and teachers discovered his talent for singing.

    To earn money to continue the singing, he had a job as a part-time construction worker.

    During the final, Choi looked polished, dressed up in a full tuxedo instead of blue jeans and a checked shirt he wore for the first audition round in May.

    In a country which has spawned countless K-pop boy and girl bands which have churned out hit after hit after careful grooming and rigorous training, Choi’s rise to fame is even more phenomenal than his choice of song. (SD-Agencies)