[Features reporter] Meet K-pop rookie group 1VERSE featuring N. Korean defectors

Kun-woo, you've been introducing us to many of the freshest K-pop acts while meeting them face-to-face along the way.

This time, I hear you've sat down with yet another new boy band.

Tell us more.

Yes, this brand-new boy group is called 1VERSE.

What really caught my attention and why I decided to feature them is their diversity.

That's because all of the members come from outside South Korea, including North Korea.

But before I dive into the story, here's a look at my meeting with the boys.

Alone, they're just individuals with different verses, but together, they create a story, a song, and a universe.

That's how you could describe this brand-new five-piece K-pop group 1VERSE, which has two members who are North Korean defectors.

It's extremely rare to see North Korean-born "idol" stars debut on the K-pop scene, which makes you wonder how they first got into K-pop.

"I came across F(x)'s 'LA chA TA' music video when I was young and heard K-pop songs through USBs passed around secretly."

Coming to South Korea at a young age was already a dangerous journey, but their struggle didn't end there.

"My beloved family were still in the North, and while coming here allowed me to finally dream, I still felt like the loneliest of the lonely. The biggest battle was with myself, a fight I kept losing. But just having our members by my side filled that emptiness and gave me strength."

Even language was a hurdle, especially for rap.

"I naturally speak in a North Korean dialect, but when I rap, I train myself to turn it off. As for English, I started with the ABCs and kept practicing until it finally started to feel natural."

Other members -Asian-Americans "KENNY" and "NATHAN," and Japanese "AITO" -also faced their own challenges.

"The hardest part about like training was the barrier of cultural barrier. There's a lot of getting used to that and also sentence structures. So I had to learn how to shape my mind into a Korean person."

"I've never been away from family for the past twenty-three years in my life. There was a lot of adjustment to do. However, with the guys now and the staff and everyone, they're like my second family."

Despite their different backgrounds, they found common ground in pursuing their dreams through music.

"With diversity being a factor in our group, we learned that hey, everyone's story is important, everyone matters, and everyone deserves to be heard and deserves to be respected, despite wherever they come from."

They hope to be of comfort to others, and that very hope is what's guiding them toward their own dreams.

"I had a time when I didn't even look up at the sky. Those hard times live in my lyrics now. To anyone watching us, even from the North, I want to say: dream."

Five different dreams in one universe(1VERSE).

1VERSE is showing that K-pop no longer solely belongs to South Korea, but to those with dreams and passion, regardless of where they are from.

Park Kun-woo, Arirang News.