In the increasingly global landscape of K-Pop, it's common to see idols of diverse nationalities within a group. Beyond the familiar Chinese, Japanese, and Thai faces in the industry, there's an intriguing subset of idols who, despite being ethnically Korean, hold citizenship in countries other than South Korea. Dive in as we unveil some Korean idols whose passports might just surprise you.
The rules for military enlistment for male idols tend to be confusing, so this won't be something we'll discuss in this article, but simply just the citizenship they hold.
If her cute accent wasn't a giveaway, Lily, or her birth name, Lily Jin Morrow, is a Korean-Australian who was born in Victoria, Australia.
Rosé was born in Auckland, New Zealand, but moved to Melbourne, Australia, at the age of seven and was raised there. She currently holds two citizenships: New Zealand and South Korea.
ZEROBASEONE Matthew
This cutie who is trying his hardest to push out his "Canada Oppa" agenda is from Vancouver, Canada, where he was born and raised there.
The Boyz Jacob & Kevin
Both of them hold Canadian citizenship. Jacob was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario, while Kevin is from Vancouver, as he moved there when he was 4.
The two Australians in the group, Bang Chan, was born in South Korea, but he moved to Sydney, Australia, when he was very young, and Felix was born in Seven Hills, a suburb of Sydney, Australia.
NCT has a lot of foreigners on their team, but the two Koreans with different citizenships are Mark and Johnny. Mark was born in Toronto but moved to Vancouver, Canada, while Johnny is from Chicago, Illinois, USA.
While The Boyz has 2 Canadians on their team, Seventeen has 2 Americans. Joshua was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, while Vernon was born in New York.
Another Californian on the list, Korean-American Kim Jin Seok, better known by his stage name, BM, is from Los Angeles, California.
Jennifer Huh, or Huh Yunjin, was born in Gangnam, Seoul, South Korea, but was raised in Niskayuna, New York, and grew up in the USA, having American citizenship. However, she moved back to South Korea in order to become a trainee.
This cute bunny was born in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. Her father is Australian, and her mother is Korean.
TXT's maknae was born in Hawaii, USA, and lived there for about a month before moving to China and living there for around 7 years. He then finally moved to South Korea in winter when he was 8.
The Jung sisters currently hold US citizenship as they were both born in San Francisco, California, USA.
She not only holds two citizenships but THREE. She recently flexed that she travels with three passports: South Korea, Canada, and the Netherlands. This is made possible because she was born in Ontario, Canada, to a Korean mother and a Dutch-Canadian father.
Nancy Jewel McDonie was born in Daegu, South Korea, to an American father and a Korean mother. A year after she was born, they moved to her father's hometown in Columbus, Ohio, USA, where Nancy spent her early years and attended school.
Aron is from Los Angeles, California, USA. Prior to joining NU'EST, he was accepted to NYU on a full scholarship but turned down the offer to pursue his dream of becoming an idol in South Korea. He was even in the top 0.5 percentile for the SAT in the United States.
This soloist was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA, to a Russian-American father and a South Korean mother.
eaJ was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, but then moved to California, USA, at the age of 5.
Alongside Johnny, Peniel is also from The Windy City. He was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Jake was born in South Korea but moved to Australia when he was really little, while the opposite was for Jay, who was born in Seattle, Washington, USA, but moved to South Korea when he was nine years old. It was seen that they both hold Australian and American passports respectively.
P1Harmony Keeho
Another Canadian on the list, Keeho, was born in Toronto, Canada, before going to South Korea to pursue his dream of becoming an idol.
Eric Nam was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Before pursuing his dream of being a singer in South Korea, he graduated from Boston College in 2011 with a major in International Studies and a minor in Asian Studies.
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For those wondering why Rosè still holds a New Zealand passport while being raised in Australia since she was 7. Australia and New Zealand have a bi-lateral visa agreement where citizens are automatically permanant residents of the other country on arrival. We can apply for each others medical and services and do 98% of things citizens can. We can travel and live freely across both countries as long as we want. Really the only way you wont get let in is if you have a bad enough criminal record. So most Kiwis and Aussies don't really worry about applying for citizenship as we don't really need to.
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