1Verse (; pronounced and stylized in all caps) is a South Korean boy band. The group consists of five members: Hyuk, Seok, Aito, Kenny and Nathan. Two members of the group (Hyuk and Seok) are from North Korea. They are the first K-pop boy band with North Korean defectors.
History.
Pre-debut.
Two of the five members of the band are North Korean defectors. Yu Hyuk, one of the members, is from North Hamgyong Province and grew up with his father and grandmother, after his parents separated and his mother defected to South Korea. His family was poor and as a child he worked odd jobs, begged on the streets and sometimes stole food to survive. He said that he usually ate only one meal a day and he never heard of K-pop music while in North Korea. Hyuk was contacted by his mother who requested he join her in South Korea, and he undertook a six-month journey through several countries to escape, arriving in Seoul, South Korea, at age 13, in 2013. After arriving in South Korea, he became interested in K-pop, joining a music club in his first year of high school and writing rap lyrics.
The other North Korean member, Kim Seok, grew up in a region near China and was from a "relatively better-off family." He was able to listen to K-pop and watch South Korean television shows that were smuggled in with USBs and SD cards. He defected to South Korea in 2019 after several of his uncles had done so. He had been a football player in North Korea, but gave up the sport after defecting.
In 2020, Hyuk met Michelle Cho, a former representative at SM Entertainment and the founder of independent label Singing Beetle. She offered to provide rap lessons and Hyuk left his job as a factory worker to enter music full-time in 2021. He thus became the first member of the boy group SB Boyz under the Singing Beetle label, later renamed to 1Verse (pronounced "universe"). A year and a half later, Seok was added to the group. Cho, their trainer, described the two as "blank canvases" and complete beginners, noting "they had absolutely no grasp of pop culture," but praised their development and ability to "endure physical challenges."
In 2024, Hyuk released a rap song, titled "Ordinary Person", as part of a pre-debut project. By early 2024, the group had added two more members: Aito, who is Japanese, and Kenny, who is Chinese-American. A fifth member, Nathan, an American of Lao and Thai descent, joined by the end of the year.
1Verse is set to debut on July 18, 2025, with a pre-release on July 4. They are the first K-pop boy band with North Korean defectors.