Number of foreign members in k-pop idol group has been increasing. Compared to the past when there were more 2nd generation Korean involved in the group it seems now there are more non-Korean members such as Nichkhun (Thailand, 2PM), Joy (Thailand, RaNia), Tomo (Japan, A’st1). Now there are more Chinese members in idol groups.

The first Chinese member to join an idol group was Han Geung who joined Super Junior from 2005 to 2009. A’st1’s Hai Ming from China, U-Kiss’ Alexander from Hong Kong, f(x)’s Victoria from China, miss A’s Jia and Fei from China and Hong Kong.
Super Junior launched a sub-unit as Super Junior M to target Chinese market with Henry and Zhou Mi joining the group. There are group such as E.X.O. under SM that is targeting multiple countries with two sub-unit groups E.X.O-K and E.X.O-M with different members.

There are barriers between members who have different background and culture. However there is a reason in the increase of foreign members in idol groups. The reason being to target the international market, especially China with K-pop branching out and plans of global activities are included from the beginning of the launch of new groups.

China is the world’s fastest-growing major economy with growth rate averaging 10% over the past 30 years. There are more than 1.5 billion populations that consider them to be Chinese. It’s not easy to gain overall popularity all over China as the land is too vast. It’s difficult to replicate the same popularity gained in Beijing and Shanghai which is why it requires the groups to have a local strategy with Chinese members to enter China.

Since 2011 the Chinese government has planned to set up a strategy to raise the culture industry in China to help solve issues of copyright and lack of system for holding events and concerts. As Chinese consist of 25% of the world’s population it’s saddening that China has only 4% market share of the culture in the world. This is precisely the reason why entertainment companies in Korea are dreaming to hold global auditions especially targeting Chinese market.