 In today's K-pop, we see names like Cho Tui, Miyawaki Sakura, and Lei Jiang, and of course, Lalisa Manoba, dominating the headlines. What do these four idols have in common? Well, they're all non-Koreans in top-tier K-pop groups. In fact, the industry is filled with plenty of non-Korean idols. How did non-Koreans become the stars of an industry that's literally called Korean pop? Starting in the 90s with So Taiji and the Boys, K-pop has been a movement within South Korean media. And because of the language, culture, and country of origin related to K-pop, all Korean idols were, surprise, Korean. And for the longest time, that was the perception. If you were a K-pop idol, you had to be Korean. And that wasn't just people's opinions, that was literally the law. This all changed in 2001, when SM Entertainment held their first overseas audition ever in Beijing, China. 3,000 people auditioned. A certain Hang Geng from Mudangjiang, China, was taken into SM Entertainment. In Korea, he was known as Hang Geng. He went on to debut with Super Junior as the first prominent Chinese member to be in a K-pop group. However, even the thought of foreigners performing in Korean TV was considered absurd, and even preposterous at the time. This became a nightmare for Hang Geng and SM Entertainment as broadcasting laws would not allow his face to be shown on television. For months, Hang Geng could perform, but only behind a mask that covered his face and hid his Chinese identity. And eventually, SM and Super Junior got tired of inequality. So during one particular performance, Hee Chul, fellow Super Junior member, went up to Hang Geng, took his mask, and tore it off, revealing Hang Geng to the world. Eventually, legislation changed and foreigners were allowed to be in TV and in K-pop, largely in part due to Hang Geng. In 2008, other Chinese members Henry Lau and Zhou Mi joined Super Junior's subgroup, Super Junior M, which was a group built specifically for Chinese promotions. Across the Pacific Ocean, another non-Korean idol was making his way into the industry. In Los Angeles, California, Nick Hoon was scouted by JYP Entertainment at a Korean festival. After flying out to South Korea, he passed the audition and later debuted in 2008 as the visual of 2PM. Now, since these four idols, foreign idols have been popping up left and right with the second biggest contributor coming just across the EC, Japan. Hailing from the Japanese supergroup AKB48 and sister group HKT48, lead dancer Han Dehitomi, vocalist Yabuki Nako, and of course, visual and center of their Japanese singles, Miyawaki Sakura, all in the group, IZONE. Additionally, we also have fellow AKB48 member Takahashi Juri in Rocket Punch, Nakamoto Yuta from NCT, Adachi Yuto from Pentagon, Katsu no Risei and Hirokawa Mao from Cherry Bullet, Miyawuchi Haruka from Kira Biosen, and of course, we have the J-Trinity. The biggest Japanese idols in history. Vocalist Mina Tozaki Sana, main dancer Sharon, I mean, Mioimina, and main dancer, and arguably the best female dancer in the game, Hirai Momo. Now, obviously I don't have time in this video to go over every single idol that ever lived. This isn't meant to be a comprehensive list, but I will try to go over some of the big names. Now back to Mainland Asia for the most populated country in the world, China. The biggest contributor of foreign idols. First thing that would come to mind are the boys of XO. Almost all the Chinese members have left except the one and only, Lei, but this used to include the members Luhan, Tao, and of course, Chris Wu. Additionally, we have the visual from Everglow, Wang Yiran, Li Dancer Yuqi from G-IDLE, Handong from Dreamcatcher, Jun and The8 from Seventeen, Yan An from Pentagon, Sally of Gugudan, and then there's the Chinese trio of cosmic girls consisting of Chen Xiao, Wu Xianyi, and Meng Meiqi, and of course the boys of WayV and NCT, Kun, Winwin, Xiao Jun, Benzun, Hendery, and Zhang Chenle. China's autonomous region of Hong Kong has four idols representing the city-state. Visual Elkie from CLC, NCT WayV and SuperM's Alucas, Jackson Wang from 88 Rising fame from GOT7, and of course, one of the most important international idols ever, the cyborg VeeVee from The Avengers of K-pop, Luna. Taiwan has seven idols. He was a former 1-1 member who recently turned soloist, like Wan Lin, Soso from GWSN, Lin Lin from Cherry Bullet, Li Taiyi from Fanatics, Yang Yang of NCT and WayV, Ye Xiuhua from G-IDLE, and of course, Totsui of TWICE, both who happen to be the maknae and visuals of their groups. So Totsui happens to be the visual of TWICE, but not only that, she's the visual of the whole entire world. In 2019, she was voted as the most beautiful woman in the world. So there seems to be representation from almost every East Asian country. I'm just waiting until the day that we get a North Korean K-pop idol. Moving on to Southeast Asia will make a stop at one of my favorite countries. Well, for obvious reasons, the Pearl of the Orient, the Pilipinas. Now you have to understand, K-pop in the Philippines is huge. There was a time you couldn't walk down the street without hearing boom-boom playing from someone's speakers. Everyone and their Lola knew the choreography. However, despite being a huge insane phenomenon, there's only one significant idol from the Philippines. Born in Makati City is Krisha Chu, a soloist from Urban Works Media, the same company of IZONE's Kim Minju. She debuted back in 2017 with Trouble and had her first comeback with Paradise in 2018. But I'm not alone in thinking that the Filipino representation in K-pop is severely lacking. Honestly, someone just needs to convince Filipino artist AC Bonifacio to hurry up and audition for a K-pop company. I mean, it makes sense. She's an amazing dancer and singer and she's been obsessed with K-pop for forever. I can honestly imagine her on YG's new girl group or something similar. AC, if you're out there listening, hurry up and audition for a K-pop company. What are you waiting for? No, seriously, what are you waiting for? Continuing with the rest of Southeast Asia, we have Isaac Vu of Intuit, the first idol from Malaysia, and Dita Karang from Secret Number, the first idol from Indonesia. And although they are technically V-pop, the Vietnamese girl group Lime actually promotes both in Vietnam and Korea. So that counts, right? And last of course is Thailand. The country where most of the Southeast Asian idols hail from. Of course, one of the biggest names in Thailand is GOT7 member Bam Bam, main vocalist of G-idol Mini, NCT and WayV's Ten, Soren from CLC, and let's not forget Natty, who after years of trying and failing to debut with TWICE on 16, missing on a Fromis 9 on Idol School, she finally debuted as a soloist. Well deserved. And that's it. That's all the idols from Thailand. So moving on. Oh, someone's at the door. I forgot about Lisa. Now here's a girl that needs no introduction. Lalisa Manoba, or just better known as Lisa. She is the most famous foreign K-pop idol in the world by a huge, huge margin. With 35 million followers on Instagram, she's become a global sensation all over the world, not just in K-pop, curating more followers than the official Instagram of her own group, BLACKPINK. And like Momo, she's also arguably the best female dancer in the industry right now. Guys, by the way, this video was only made possible by Surfshark VPN. Now Surfshark, oh no, it's Lisa. 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If for some reason you're unsatisfied, there's a 30-day money-back guarantee. So don't hesitate to try it out. Just go to surfshark.deals slash agent theory and enter the promo code agent theory. So if you've noticed all the idols we've mentioned so far, although not Korean, are still from Asia, Japan, China, Thailand. Those are all Asian countries. So this made me curious. Are there any non-Asian idols? Does a group need to be Korean or even Asian to be K-pop? So the first thing that comes to mind is EXP edition. At their debut, the group consisted of two Americans, one Croatian and one Portuguese member. The first non-Korean group to debut. The group actually started as an experiment by Columbia University grad student Borakim, whose sole purpose was to push the limits of K-pop, even if they captured the same energy, choreography, and performance elements of K-pop. Would the community accept a non-Korean group and non-Asian group as K-pop? Well, one of the members is actually half Japanese, but close enough, right? Needless to say, the group was met with heavy, heavy criticism. Even some of them receiving death threats. People said that they were an insult K-pop and that they were trying to culturally appropriate things from Koreans. The common idea is that a group needs to be majority Korean and come from a Korean company. However, Borakim is firm in saying that EXP edition is K-pop. Earlier this year, another controversial group debuted. Kaachi, a four-member girl group from the United Kingdom, cited as being the first fully European K-pop group. And like EXP edition, they were hit with heavy, heavy criticism. In 2019, two groups debuted, Z-boys and Z-girls. Each group would feature an Indonesian, Taiwanese, Vietnamese, Filipino, Indian, Japanese, and Thai member, but no Korean members. And to the surprise of nobody, it was hit with controversy and criticism. That same year, an Mnet TV show called Study Abroad Girl took that concept even further. The idea was to debut 10 girls, all from different parts of the world. The group went on to debut as UHSN, with 10 members from Estonia, Ukraine, Egypt, Norway, Thailand, USA, Russia, Japan, Sweden, and Poland. However, unlike the other three groups, they were actually pretty well received. This came from the fact that they were made by Mnet and managed under Stone Music Entertainment, which are both Korean organizations under CJEM. Their choreography was good. I mean, it wasn't anything special, but it was good and their song had great music production quality and good writing. And lastly, they just spoke better Korean. Well, it turns out being backed by a company worth 60 billion dollars helps. But even with CJEM pushing the group, the public opinions still seem to be split, with most of the responses being like this. I won't go into whether they're K-pop or not. That's not what this video is about. But besides the before-mentioned groups, are there currently any non-Asian idols? The biggest and most recent example that comes to mind is Yudhina Svetlana Demitrevna, or better known to the K-pop world as Lana, a soloist from Russia. So Lana made her debut last year would take the wheel, and it was a very controversial issue. Many people dubbed her as the first Caucasian idol, and of course the first Russian idol. Lana is fluent in Korean, Russian, and English, and even attends a Korean university in Seoul. But despite being fully immersed and respectful of Korean culture, she was bashed for being white. And many were quick to insult her by calling her a Korea Boo. And that got me thinking, why is being non-Asian such an issue for K-pop and K-pop fans? As far as I know, Lana is the only non-Asian K-pop idol in the industry right now, and even she's iffy whether she's a K-pop idol or not. However, before Lana, there was another non-Asian K-pop idol that was getting even more buzzed than her. One who is undeniably a K-pop idol from a Korean company in a majority Korean group. I'm talking about Alex Reed from Rania, the first black idol in K-pop. Why do you think the K-pop community, especially the fans, are so hesitant to accept a non-Asian idol in K-pop? Well, I think that when you're used to something and you see it one way and you love it, you can at first be wary about changes because you can think it's going to change the K-pop that you love so much. Did you ever feel any discrimination as a non-Asian K-pop idol either from, I don't know, other idols or from other fans? I definitely had the moments where I saw some pretty crazy slurs being used. You know, the internet is not always a nice place, but the love that I was receiving and the people telling me I was inspiring them and motivating them, that really drowned out like the racist-sided things because for me it's like racism is so dumb but luckily it was drowned out for me by all the positivity. I guess how do you see the K-pop industry as a whole involving in terms of accepting people of different races and ethnicities? Well, as K-pop expands the globe and basically the popularity grows in places that you would never expect, you're going to see a demand for representation. The more like different people are seeing it, they're going to have dreams of being in it as well. I guess what advice do you have for I guess little girls or little boys out there who are not Asian that have dreams of becoming a K-pop idol? So I feel like my advice would be this, I was lucky to get a chance in K-pop because I loved K-pop but I did not see that as a reality so I didn't chase that specific dream. I was pursuing being a singer, right? I wasn't pursuing being a K-pop idol when I got the opportunity to do it. So for me, I just want to say you have to believe in the dream wholeheartedly and prepare for it as if it's happening tomorrow. Be, learn, career. It's not easy. I'm still working on it, but learning it. For most fans of K-pop, they seem to be fine and have no issue with non-Korean Asians like Lisa, Mina, Momo, Sana and Le in the K-pop industry. In fact, many K-pop fans celebrate the diversity, but if an idol leaves the constraints of East and Southeast Asia, the stigma turns negative. K-pop has been largely viewed as something belonging to Asian culture and when an idol comes from somewhere other than Asia, it's almost viewed as a type of cultural appropriation, especially when it's a white male. But just like how having non-Korean Asians was unheard of in K-pop 20 years ago, is it only a matter of time before non-Asians become a regular part of K-pop? What do you guys think?