We have heard and read many stories who have made it to the top from scratch. Yu Hyuk’s story is also similar story who had nothing in his hands but just dared to dream big and achieve it in the future. A street boy from North Korea will debut in the K-pop boy band this year.1verse (Pronounced universe) is made up of 5 members including Yu Hyuk and Seok from North Korea, Atio from Japan, and Kenny and Nathan from Asian and American countries.
Yu Hyuk’s Struggles
Yu Hyuk was just nine years old when he started begging on the streets of North Hamgyong, one of the poorest provinces in North Korea, nestled along the northern border with China and Russia.
Besides begging, he ran errands for soldiers and sold foraged mushrooms. Sometimes he stole food out of sheer hunger: Once he snatched a lunchbox that was left unattended at an underground station. Inside was a scoop of spoiled rice.
Yu Hyuk’s Family
Hyuk was born in a seaside village in Kyongsong County and raised by his father and grandmother after his parents broke up when he was just four. As his parents were divorced, he had to choose between his father and mother. He chose to live with his father primarily. He struggled a lot because his grandmother was aged, and his father was not willing to work. Upon his mother and father’s insistence, he traveled to the South to live with his mother.
It took months for him to arrive in South Korea, after going through several countries. He has chosen not to reveal specifics of the route, as he fears putting other future defectors at risk. After reaching south, he lived with his mother for just a year and joined a boarding school with the help of his mother. He struggled to cope with the education system of the South as he had barely completed his primary education.
During such times writing and music were his only escape from reality. He started with short poems alluding to his past life in North Korea. “I couldn’t openly share what I’d been through, but I still wanted to make a record of it.”
At first, Hyuk believed his story couldn’t be understood by others, but was encouraged by friends and teachers in his school’s music club – and eventually found his passion in rap.
Hyuk’s Journey Into The Limelight
Hyuk graduated from high school at the age of 20. After that, he worked part-time in restaurants and factories to support himself. It was in 2018 that his life took a dramatic turn when he was allowed to be featured in an educational TV program. His unique background and rapping talent caught the eye of music producer Michelle Cho, who was formerly from SM Entertainment, the agency behind some of K-pop’s biggest acts. She offered him a spot in her agency, Singing Beetle.
Initially, though Hyuk didn’t have any belief in Ms Cho but started trusting her after seeing her investing time and money on him to make it big for him.
One More Talent From The Scrap
Kim Seok, 24, arrived in the south in the year 2019 and has a very different background compared to Hyuk. Coming from a relatively better-off family, Seok lived close to the border with China and had access to K-pop and K-drama through smuggled USBs and SD cards.
Ms. Cho reveals that she was amazed by their ability to endure physical challenges and the determination and hard work they do to have a perfect completion of the steps. She also emphasized that boys didn’t raise many questions initially but have matured with time and now they question “Why is this necessary”, in a funny way regretting that she was the one to teach all these things to them.
Other Bandmates
“I was kind of afraid at first because North Korea has a hostile relationship with Japan. I thought North Koreans would be scary, but that turned out not to be true,” says Aito, who at 20 is the youngest of the four.
Kenny, who spent much of his life in the US, adds that there were also small cultural differences that have taken him time to get used to.
“Korean culture is very [communal] in that you eat together… that was a culture shock [to me]”, he said. “I usually don’t like eating with people, I prefer Netflix in my ear. But their joy comes from being collective.”
We hope that the band successfully debuts this year and achieves great success with a band that has people trying to come up from scratch.
With a passion for news writing and a deep interest in Journalism, Bowrna wants to write articles that create an impact. Not only writing, she also has a passion for voiceovers and also aspires to become a Radio Jockey in the future. When not writing, she likes to listen to songs and dance to her heart's content. She is proficient in English, Tamil and Hindi.
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