A new K-pop boy band, named ‘1VERSE’ and pronounced as ‘Universe’, which features two defector members from North Korea, have made their global debut.
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As reported by foreign media, K-pop quintet 1VERSE, consisting of Hyuk, Seok, Aito, Nathan and Kenny, includes three men from Japan and the United States, in addition to the two who defected from North Korea. They released their debut album on Friday, featuring a song about the consequences of escaping one of the world’s most repressive states.
Moreover, the band also performed a live-streamed showcase of their first EP, ‘The 1st Verse’, featuring three tracks, including the debut single ‘Shattered’, at midnight.
According to the details about their members, Yu Hyuk, who hails from the northeastern county of Kyongsong in North Korea, has been living in South Korea since 2013. Besides the freedom that he enjoys to show off his talent to the world, the 25-year-old also appreciates being able to eat three meals a day.
Hyuk, who started working at the age of nine in North Korea, said he was sometimes forced into desperate measures to get food, eating spoiled rice or worse, and resorting to theft. “After I was caught stealing, I was beaten hard until I was bleeding. I was really hungry and instinctively, I was thinking about survival,” he said.
He escaped the country as a child, fleeing to China and then across other international borders with the help of a broker arranged by his mother, who was already in South Korea.
While he is happy with his new life, he recalls that it was a wrench to leave his home. “I was hungry and tired, but I was happy surrounded by the people I like, which made it tougher for me to want to come here at first,” he said.
Meanwhile, Kim Seok, the second defector from North Korea, also 25, used to live in a border town near China. He was exposed to K-pop by a friend who shared music videos on a portable media player, including Psy’s 2012 smash ‘Gangnam Style’, and later escaped the country with his father and grandmother when he was 20.
Despite their diverse backgrounds, the bandmates had plenty in common. “I mean, isn’t it fun? Like our group is just a unique type of global,” said Kenny, a Chinese American.
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