how the aristocracy entered kpop: nepotism or a coincidence?
- steph
- Jul 22, 2021
- 7 min read
DISCLAIMER: I am NOT attacking anyone. This is for my own interest. I do not intend to hurt anyone by writing this, and hopefully no one does feel hurt. Also these sources are not amazing, I wish there were harder sources, but we work with what we've got. If anything is incorrect and you have another source, please tell me and I will edit it!
Click bait title! Yes aristocracy is for dramatic flair on my part but you understand what I mean, let’s move on.
This piece started out as a curiosity. I recently found out Giselle from aespa, has an aunt who is the bureau chief of the ABC News Seoul. Here I was thinking “damn another well connected SM idol?”. I then began to realise there is at least one wealthy or connected idol in almost every SM group.
That begged the question, how far does the rich extend themselves in kpop? The aim of this article is to understand whether or not this has been systematically carried out since kpop’s inception or if it’s merely a preference of trainee companies have shown over time. Unsurprisingly, many of these types of idols come from major companies.
The wealth and connections can also range from Itzy’s Lia attending a school with fees of over $50,000 USD/year to Girls Generation’s Sunny being the literal niece of Lee Soo Man, the founder of SM Entertainment. For my purposes, I will leave out idols who simply live in a nice district. To qualify for this category:
Your parents have to own the company, own shares in a company or be on the board of a successful company; or
You have a family member with political and/or industry connections; or
Have a ridiculous amount of money (not the kind of money that will put you a slightly nicer area but will allow your family to have investment properties or go to expensive private schools etc; think Gossip Girl!)
The term I will use to describe this particular class of idol is ‘trust fund idols’. Yes I know, not exactly original, but chaebol doesn’t really encompass everyone. Also note, that the idols I mention have varying degrees of wealth and connections. Some simply have money, others have a tangible connection in Korea or overseas, whether politically or within the industry they are in.
The beginnings...
There are 4 distinct generations that we can categorise kpop groups under. One of the first major trust fund idols to make headlines was 2nd generation idol, Siwon from Super Junior. But to truly understand if debuting trust fund idols has been something companies have founded themselves on, we must look to early kpop. The 1st generation of kpop spanned from the 90s to the early 2000s. It was led by giants such as Sech Kies, H.O.T, See Taiji and the Boys, Shinhwa, Boa, Rain, G.O.D and S.E.S to name a few. The most interesting trust fund idol is Eun Jiwon from Sech Kies. He had a great uncle and aunt who both became presidents. Yes, the president. Park Chung Hee serving in 1963-79, and the infamous Park Geun Hye serving from 2013-17!
This is quite the connection, however as Park Chung Hee was assassinated decades before Jiwon’s debut and Park Geun Hye impeached well after Sech Kies popularity dropped, it’s not quite what we’re looking for.
That has shown us that trust fund idols are a lot more recent now in the 3rd and 4th generation, than the 1st and 2nd generation. History may also have a role to play in this. The Asian Financial Crisis of 1997-98, began in Thailand but eventually spread to other Asian nations. South Korea was hit hard by this with the value of the won dropping by almost 50%. With how fickle the market was, the increase of trust fund idols could have started as a safety net for companies. If things don't work out at least they have someone who can pay their debts or even support their own endeavours.
The "Big4"
In JYP, the only trust fund 2nd generation idol I could find was 2PM’s Nichkhun. His mother is the CEO of Union Medical Thailand, one of the leading medical pharmaceutical importers and distributors in Thailand. Not to mention he also attended a school in New Zealand where Prince Edward went to. However, 3rd generation trust fund JYP idols include Mina (her father is an accomplished surgeon who was the vice director for medical research centre in Osaka University Hospital in 2008, became the director in 2017), Tzuyu (her mother is a shareholder of a chain of successful plastic surgery clinics and two coffee shops). Jeongyeon's father was the private chef of former South Korean president Kim Dae Jung. As mentioned earlier, Lia is also a trust fund idol.
-
In YG, we only have CL from the 2nd generation whose father is a professor, however it's insufficient to be considered a trust fund idol. In contrast, father of ex-Ikon member B.I, was the former president of Seunghwa Pretech. Every member of Blackpink comes from means of some kind, with Jennie being the real trust fund idol. Her mother is reportedly a shareholder and major stakeholder of CJ E&M, the biggest entertainment company in South Korea. To give you the full picture of how big CJ is, here is a list of relevant companies they own:
-
The baby giant in the industry Hybe Labels, also has idols who come from means. Jin is the BTS member who had money prior to debut, though he was not born wealthy (his father is the CEO of a German company). However, not much is known of the company, so we can't assess if he was a trust fund idol.
Jay's (Enhypen) father runs a travel agency company. It has been rumoured that this company is Sinar Tours. Another Enhypen member, Jake, attended a school in Seoul which averages $27,000/year in fees. While in Australia, his tuition fees at St Peters Lutheran College would have been over $20,000/year. Not as high as some of the other idols here, but it's nothing to sneeze at either. Former Gfriend member Umji, is the daughter of the CEO of Moa Dentist Group which has over 40 practices. (note: Source Music recently came under Hybe Labels, it was originally founded in 2009). It can be said, she was the real trust fund idol under Hybe. RIP Gfriend.
-
SM shows a more consistent trend of trust fund idols. There are three 2nd generation idols with notable connections. With Super Junior's Siwon being the son of the CEO of the acclaimed Boryung Medicine, he may be the first truly filthy rich idol to debut. Sooyoung from Girl’s Generation is the granddaughter of of the CEO of an architect company who built the Seoul Arts Centre.
As mentioned earlier, Sunny is the niece of Lee Soo Man. How’s that for a notable connection! As we transition into the 3rd generation, this continues with EXO’s Suho and former member Tao displaying political connections and wealth. Suho's father was the former head of the Korean Institute for Health and Social Affairs and became an official politician in 2019. Remember that impeached president? His father designed her administration's measures for the reform of the pension system. Tao’s trust fund status is financial in nature, with his father’s assets being valued at over $4 billion USD. His father passed away in 2020, and with Tao being sole heir, he is now a billionaire.
Red Velvet’s Wendy went to Shattuck St Mary School in Minnesota where the fees are over $55,000 USD/year! That’s pretty steep. NCT is has foreign members who also come from wealthy families. For example, Ten attended Shrewsbury International School, one of the most expensive schools in Asia. Chenle was quite the child star in China before he debuted. He is the grandson of a successful entrepreneur in China. Fun fact, he no longer lives in NCT’s dorms. His mother bought a house in Korea so she could live with him! In case you forgot at the start of this piece, aespa's Giselle has a prominent journalist aunt.
So...nepotism right?
Nepotism is a bit of dirty word isn’t it? As soon as we see it we arm up and get really defensive. “My fav worked hard to get where they are!” “What are you saying? They don’t deserve their success?”. Let’s take a deep breath. No one is saying they didn’t work hard or they’re untalented. Ten is one of SM’s best dancers and Wendy is a very skilled vocalist.
But if there’s nepotism in western industries, why wouldn’t there be instances of nepotism in kpop? It would ignorant to completely deny the possibility. After all, the son of the CEO of Naver is currently an artist under the Black Label, a YG subsidiary!
To be honest, any grand conclusion of wide scale, systematic, nepotism would be stretching it a lot. However, there seems to be a prevalence of trust fund idols at larger companies. Is that a coincidence? For some companies mentioned (*side eyes SM*), probably not.
What I will say is definite is that there is more than one consideration for debuting an idol. I have always stressed this. Shockingly, talent and hard work are not the only factors companies will take into account. It could be anything from age, languages spoken, image, visuals, talent, and now how much money your family has or who has what connections. Anything to really sell the group and put them ahead.
Kpop was not founded on nepotic connections. In fact, it’s the opposite. Most 1st generation idols struggled from the ground up. As the idol industry became more standardised and the influence of the major companies grew, so did the amount of trust fund idols. Even now, we are seeing a general preference for trainees that are at least "comfortable". This may be because if the group fails, the company would at least get their investment back from training them.
The vast majority of idols do not come from wealthy families. After all, there are over 300 idol groups and only a handful of those who do well. But, if most trust fund idols are under big companies, there are some questions we should ask ourselves. What does this mean for industry politics? Is this a way bigger companies maintain and extend their power? How should we view the trainee system? Is it a matter of logic? Are we simply overthinking it since its not as widespread as other industries and overseas? How you answer these questions will depend on whether you view this infiltration as “just business” or something consumers should be concerned about ethically.
I’ll end this with a hypothetical.
If there was one trainee who could speak 3 languages, had nice visuals, could dance and sing really well, and another who can do the same things and is son of the CEO of MBC...
Who would you pick to debut?
Other notable 'trust fund' idols
BTOB Sungjae
ZEA Hyungsik
CLC Sorn
Comments