It takes a lot to become an idol in South Korea; jaw-dropping visuals are a known fact, hard-earned body figures. With this in mind, it made the audience scream. Their flexible and quick-witted dancing techniques, unique yet recognizable vocal features, rapping skills that make verses go viral, and amazing personalities to boot.
However, a few selected idols have these assets on top of being an actual genius. Who says celebrities can't be smart? Here's a list of the smartest Korean Idols and their surprisingly high intelligence levels.
1. EPIK HIGH Tablo's 160 IQ
Number one on our list is the incredible leader, rapper, songwriter, and producer of the renowned hip hop group EPIK HIGH. It has been reported and known that Tablo graduated from Stanford University in 2002 and has received a Bachelor's and Master's degree in English Literature and Creative Writing with honors as well. He was consistent in getting a grade of A in university; however, his overall GPA is still unknown to the public.
2. Park Kyung's 156
Aside from being BLOCK B's rapper, Park Kyung has an IQ of 156, which has been verified by MENSA International, a societal group that only consists of individuals who have an IQ in the top 2% of the world's population, and he's also a human calculator. The celebrity has an uncanny habit of calculating the group's financial earnings and documents once they arrive every month. His members have shared how the rapper would break down and compute the numbers in his head as he reads it simultaneously. There has been an instance where he found errors in one of their monthly documents in the past; that's how accurate he is
3. Max Changmin's 155 IQ
Once ranked as the most intelligent or brainiest Korean idol by the broadcasting network Arirang International during his golden days as a member of one of the most successful 1st generation Kpop boy groups with an IQ of 155, which is above average in comparison to South Korea's average IQ of 106. When he graduated high school, he was already in TVXQ, yet he ranked 9th out of his whole batch. He majored in Postmodern Music in Kyung Hee University and Film and Arts at Konkuk University. Currently, he is pursuing a dual degree at Inha University.
4. BTS RM's 148 IQ
The leader of one of the most popular boy groups in the world is known for his genius brain and his English speaking skills, which he revealed he learned from watching the sitcom FRIENDS on television when he was younger. Media outlets reported quite an amount of times that he has an IQ amounting to 148, an impressive score of 900 on his Test of English for International Communication or TOEIC, which he took when he was a teenager in middle school. Lastly, he is in the top 1.3 percentile of South Korea's preparatory university entrance exams, which every student in the country participated in.
5.EXID Hani's 145 IQ
Similarly, Hani also scored 900 out of 990 in the Test of English for International Communication or TOEIC, even though she only started studying English two months before taking the exam! She's known to be fluent in Chinese and Korean. Also though she is the last one on our list, she has an IQ of 145, which is still farther up the rankings in South Korea.
