A different kind of American idol! You might be surprised to hear how many K-pop stars are actually from the United States, are American citizens, or at least, lived in the U.S. for a few years. Keep reading to uncover all of the American South Korean pop stars.

SEVENTEEN’s Vernon is one of the few American K-pop stars. He was born on February 18, 1998, in New York. Born to an American mother and Korean father, Vernon moved to South Korea when he was only 5 years old. However, he’s not the only member from SEVENTEEN who is from the States!

The 13-member group also includes Joshua, who was born in Los Angeles, California. He left his family in L.A. at the age of 18 to become a trainee for Pledis Entertainment, ultimately debuting with SEVENTEEN in 2015.

The two SEVENTEEN American members also launched their own podcast in July 2023 called “Summer Vacation,” which is exclusively on Apple Music. The radio show has both K-pop idols playing their favorite song while sharing personal summertime stories.

Following the podcast news, Joshua wrote a statement to SEVENTEEN’s fans, who are nicknamed “Carats.”

“Just the fact that we are launching on Apple Music radio show makes me very excited, and I want to communicate with Carats quickly. I want to deliver good energy to Carats through the Apple Music radio show.”

Vernon echoed his sentiments and shared, “Excited to host my and Josh’s Apple Music radio show. We plan to introduce several episodes through Apple Music radio, and among them, I think the episode ‘Ice Cream & Summer Foods’ will be fun. I look forward to it very much. Hope you enjoy!”

Another American K-pop star is the one and only, LE SSERAFIM’s Yunjin. The K-pop star, whose American name is Jennifer Huh, was born in Seoul, South Korea, however, she later moved to America shortly thereafter and grew up in upstate New York.

Throughout her time in the states, she fell in love with opera singing and starred in multiple opera productions. She transferred to the Applied Music Department of Hanlim Multi Art School in South Korea in 2019. Soon after that, she decided to give K-pop a shot instead of enrolling into an American college, debuting with LE SSERAFIM in 2022.

Click through our gallery to uncover all of the K-pop stars who are from America, grew up there or stayed in the States for a few years.

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