Blackpink's Lisa, Exo’s Lay Zhang, Twice's Momo and 13 more K-pop stars that aren’t Korean – but from Japan, China, Thailand and more
Korea's music industry has long been aggressive in finding talent overseas, scouting the best from the US, China, Japan and many more locations. As K-pop continues to dominate the world, more and more non-Korean members are slowly sharing in the hallyu spotlight, most often standing shoulder to shoulder with bandmates in border-strafing band line-ups.
Not convinced? Here are a few of those who’ve made their mark in Korea and the rest of the world.
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Twice’s Tzuyu, Mina, Momo and Sana
Girl group Twice has four non-Korean members. Maknae Tzuyu is Taiwanese, while Mina, Momo and Sana are from Japan. As per Koreaboo, members Momo and Tzuyu were spotted by JYP agents through their YouTube dance videos, while Mina and Sana were scouted while shopping in Japan.
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(G)I-dle’s Yuqi, Minnie and Shuhua
Half of the girl group (G)I-dle are non-Korean. Vocalist Minnie is Thai and maintains a friendship with other Thai K-pop stars such as Blackpink’s Lisa. Face of the group, Yuqi, is Chinese while the group and maknae, Shuhua, is Taiwanese.
Blackpink’s Lisa
The only non-Korean member of Blackpink – arguably the country’s biggest girl band – Lisa is naturally one of the most popular foreign K-pop stars. Called “Thai Princess” by fans, Lisa is also the pride and joy of her home country. She successfully passed a YG audition at 14 years old – the only one out of 4,000 who made it.
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Got7’s Mark, Jackson and BamBam
Boy band Got7 has three non-Korean members. Born in California, Mark is of Taiwanese descent and was scouted while he was in high school. Jackson, who hails from Hong Kong, was a champion national fencer before becoming an idol, while BamBam, who is from Thailand, is also part of the We Zaa Cool dance crew together with Blackpink’s Lisa.
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Amber Liu and Victoria Song, formerly of F(x)
Amber, whose parents are Taiwanese, was born in California and was discovered at a Koreatown festival. Former bandmate Victoria is Chinese and was scouted while in a dance competition in Beijing.
Exo’s Lay Zhang
Exo – which has a subunit, Exo-M – dedicated to Chinese fans, used to have four Chinese members, but only Lay has remained in the group. Born in China's Hunan province, a South China Morning Post story revealed that Lay was a child star in drama shows before auditioning at SM Entertainment.
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Henry Lau, formerly of Super Junior-M
Lau, whose father is from Hong Kong and mother is from Taiwan, was born and raised in Toronto, Canada. In 12th grade he auditioned at SM Entertainment by singing, dancing and playing the violin.
2PM’s Nichkhun
Nichkhun, who has been active since 2008, is of Thai descent. The artist was born in the US to a Thai father and a Thai-Chinese mother. A CNN report says that when Nichkhun was approached by talent scouts in Los Angeles, he was in disbelief as he didn’t know how to sing or dance.
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Tzuyu, Mina, Momo and Sana from Twice, Mark, Jackson and BamBam from Got7, (G)I-dle’s Yuqi, Minnie and Shuhua … many of K-pop’s biggest boy bands and girl groups feature foreign-born idols from Japan, China, Taiwan, Thailand and Hong Kong – so who is from where again?