The Damage of Debuting Minors in K-Pop

Trigger Warning: Depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and unhealthy eating habits are mentioned or discussed. 

Over the years, Korean Pop music (K-pop) has flourished in popularity and become a worldwide phenomenon. With the hundreds of groups that have debuted in the past two decades, there’s a noticeable trend that we can see — which is the increasing rate of minors stepping into the limelight.

Just recently, the group UNIS was formed after the finale of the survival show, “Universe Ticket” on Jan. 17. The show included 82 girls from around the world who trained and competed to be part of the final eight-person line-up. The eight-member group includes Jin Hyeonju —who’s the oldest and was born in 2001 — and Lim Seowon — who was born in 2011 and is the youngest. There have been concerns about someone so young debuting, and about the age gap between the members. Willa Macpherson, a Franklin sophomore, says, “I feel like big age gaps wouldn’t be a big deal if [neither party] was a minor, but I think that having an idol that was born in 2011 is insane.”

In 2022, the debut of NewJeans rocked the K-pop world. The group quickly became a household name, next to senior groups like BLACKPINK (2016) and Twice (2015). The group debuted with high-school and middle-school aged members — with the oldest member, Minji,born in 2004, and the youngest member, Hyein, born in 2006. The group gained popularity rapidly due to their catchy songs and relatable fresh Gen Z concept.

It’s not uncommon for minors to debut; it’s actually considered the norm. There’s even a stigma around debuting people who are “too old,” which adds to why so many minors do. Anyone older than 16 could be considered too old to start training and become a phenomenon. Since the average training period is two to four years, many idols become trainees when they are very young. Jihyo from Twice first became a trainee in 2005, when she was just eight years old. The K-pop star didn’t make her debut until 10 years later, in 2015.

Recently, Lean Branding, the agency for the 13-year old idol Lim Seowon of UNIS, opened up auditions for a new girl group. One of the requirements for the auditions is to be born between 2008 and 2017. Many people find this quite shocking because of the implication that teens over 16 years old are considered too old to be idols, and that the company is looking for kids as young as six. These are children who are just starting to learn their alphabet, basic vocabulary, and basic math. They should be having playdates with their friends; not training to work as idols.

The training process for K-pop is very intense. After passing an audition, you have to commit yourself to training. Trainees from the same company live together, and they commit to around six days a week, 12 hours a day of practice — sometimes more. Trainees are trained to sing, rap, dance, and act. They also undergo media training, learn etiquette, go on diets, and have to take language classes if they are not Korean, and that’s just the beginning. 

NCT’s Jaemin dropped out his first year of middle school when he was only 13 to dedicate himself to his training and pursue being an idol. On the show “My English Puberty,” he said that he couldn’t balance the two and had to choose which one was more important to him. Due to this decision, he didn’t have many friends besides his group members. However, this is not uncommon as many others end up dropping out of school to pursue their career as an idol. 

The debut of minors has been a long standing issue in the K-pop industry. In 2000, BoA, now nicknamed “the Queen of K-pop,” debuted as a soloist when she was just 13. She was one of the youngest idols of her time to debut in the industry. 

In 2008, the group Shinee, now known as “the Princes of K-pop,” debuted with the single “Replay.” The group consisted of Onew (18), Jonghyun (18), Key (16), Minho (16), and Taemin (14). Their song, “Replay,” depicted a group of young lovers addressing their older female lover. The chorus, “Noona neomu yeppeo,” translates to “Noona is so pretty.” Noona is a pronoun in Korean that males use to refer to women older than them. The group was advertised as a “band of youths,” and their target audience was older women.

The youngest of the group, Taemin, who is now 30, has built a reputation for himself as one of the aces — someone who excels in almost all areas, such as singing, rapping, and dancing— of the K-pop industry, and has even been nicknamed “the idol of idols” as many other idols look up to and respect him. He recently came out with the album “Guilty.” Many fans interpreted that the title track, “Guilty,” may depict Taemin’s personal experience of debuting as an idol at a young age. The lyrics portray what appears to be some sort of toxic relationship — but from the perspective of the toxic or guilty party. 

In the opening verse of the title track, Taemin passionately sings: “Poison apple / Spellbound, you wanna take a bite?/Hand outstretched/In danger, sinking deeper / Just a little more, that’s all it takes / Messing you up, I throw it all away / Gift you once as a bait, then I take everything / Make you addicted, you can’t tell pain from love / That’s what we’ve become / It’s all for you.”

After listening to this song and reading the lyrics, the song can be interpreted as Taemin feeling like the industry has manipulated him and taken things away from him — such as his childhood.

Having trained for three years prior to his debut, Taemin has been in the industry since he was just 11 years old. A junior at Franklin, Zar Xie, noted that, “I do think that being an idol as a minor can be damaging … young adults get sexualized easier. Underaged idols are likely unaware of the dangers that await them when they debut.”

Growing up in the idol industry, Taemin was feminized and heavily sexualized. There have been many instances of interviewers making weird remarks towards him, and there’s even instances of interviewers inappropriately touching the idol. 

From an interview in 2009, when Taemin was 15, the interviewer — who appears to be in his 40s — puts his arm around Taemin and calls him good looking. He then asks Taemin if he’s tired, to which the idol says no, then the interviewer persistently says that he must be tired. Another interviewer blurts out, “you’re making it very awkward,” and the other Shinee members can be seen smiling awkwardly. This is just one instance among many. There are video compilations online of these awkward and uncomfortable moments that the idol has had to experience.

Under South Korean law, men between the ages of 18-28 are required to serve 18 to 21 months in the military if they are able-bodied and do not have any special exceptions. During his mandatory military service, Taemin was harassed on multiple occasions; the other men attempted to take pictures of the idol and stared at him during shower times. Taemin struggles with depression and an anxiety/panic disorder, which worsened during his time serving in the military. He was transferred to the public service section of the military to finish the rest of his service after these incidents occurred. 

A big concern with debuting minors in K-pop is the amount of control that trainees and idols are subjected to. With mandatory diets, strict schedules, a long list of rules, and being trained how to act, the physical and psychological damage can be immense. Michael Corenthal, a psychology and social studies teacher here at Franklin, says, “I think, from a psychological lens, that minors are still developing their identity and their brains are still developing … We know that adolescence is a really important time for teens to be exploring who they are, and it can potentially be really harmful for a teenager to be told who they should be and how they should act during that phase of adolescence.” Many idols experience mental health issues such as depression and anxiety, and some even show concerning signs of eating disorders. 

Korean and worldly beauty standards put pressure on idols to maintain an extremely thin body, and to achieve this many idols go on intense diets. IU, one of the most popular Korean singers of all time, had her diet start trending on social media after she first talked about it in a 2013 interview. The “IU diet challenge” consists of one apple for breakfast, two sweet potatoes for lunch, and a protein shake for dinner. IU says that the diet helped her lose 11 pounds in just five days. However, losing more than two pounds a week is an extremely dangerous health risk, so this method of dieting is very damaging. She later revealed that she was suffering from a combination of eating disorders. The “IU diet challenge” became a popular trend, with many people uploading videos of them attempting it to lose as much weight as the idol did. People are still trying the diet to this day.

Debuting a minor in K-pop can end up having a drastic effect on an individual’s life that will last forever. South Korea has come out with certain bills to protect minors in K-pop — such as not allowing idols under 15 to work more than 35 hours a week and prohibiting “over-emphasis” on their looks. Still, the K-pop industry could be doing even more to protect these young idols because it’s very clear it’s still not a healthy or safe environment. During that important time of self-discovery, development, and growth, for these young idols, we have to protect them.