Music: K-Pop Group Features Defectors from North Korea

By Paul Singh ||

Boyband 1Verse is the first group to have two members who have defected from North Korea. The group comprises Hyuk, Seok, Kenny, Nathan and Aito. Previously known as SB Boyz, they were formed by the record label and entertainment agency Singing Beetle. The group’s name, 1Verse (pronounced “universe”), means that each member brings a unique experience or life story to the group to form a unified “universe of sound,” and their fandom’s name is 5TARZ.

Yu Hyuk came from one of the poorest provinces of North Korea, North Hamgyeong, which is situated in the northeast bordering both China and Russia. Before escaping, he was begging on the streets and running errands for North Korean soldiers. He also sold foraged mushrooms and had to steal food. From all of this, he had very little room to dream, as his focus was on survival.

The other member of the band who is also a North Korean defector is Kim Seok. He lived in Ryanggang Province, which also borders China. He saw some of the rare videos of K-pop groups while growing up from SD memory cards and USB thumb drives that were smuggled into the country. He also imitated their hairstyles, cool expressions, and outfits.

At 19 years old, after receiving a message from his relatives who had already defected to the South, he finally made the decision to defect himself. Prior to becoming a K-pop singer, Seok used to play soccer back in the North, and after he defected to the South, he even dreamed of becoming a professional footballer. But to adjust to his new life, he had to give up his dreams of playing soccer. Both band members were complete beginners to the music scene but pushed through so many hours and hours of training and with so much determination that their music producer Michelle Cho, founder and CEO of Singing Beetle, thought they were overdoing it.

The band has a pretty diverse lineup, with two of the members being Asian-American and the other from Japan. Kenny is Chinese-American from Los Angeles, California, and Nathan is Laotian-Thai-American, originally from Bentonville, Arkansas. Aito, a former trainee with SM Entertainment, is from Japan.

On Spotify 1Verse’s most famous song is “Multiverse,” which has 1,723,815 listens, followed by “Shattered,” which has both a Korean and English version, has 1,534,599 listens. Both are on their first single album, The 1st Verse. The boyband has toured over eight countries in North America and Europe.

1Verse’s most recent activities include the release of their single album WABIF (Wide awake before I fall) in January of this year, followed by their ongoing Shattered World Tour across North America and Europe.

[1] CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/ index.php?curid=186856637

Cover Photo: Boyband 1Verse: Aito, Seok, and Hyuk (top); Kenny and Nathan (bottom). (The Fourth, [1])