[theqoo] KIM JUNSU WHO IS REALLY JEALOUS OF IDOLS NOWADAYS

June 2, 2026

KSJ: Nowadays, K-Pop stars aren’t only considered stars in Asia anymore. No matter how you look at them, they’re already global stars

SSK: Meanwhile, you really rose from the bottom

KSJ: We didn’t know anything. At that point, we were already so grateful just to win ‘rookie of the month’, but we even won the Daesang after debuting. We won the daesang and the rookie award when we debuted, and we became the 2nd artist achieving this after Seo Taiji. And nobody even knew about us in Japan. Nobody even cared.

SSK: So you guys really suffered a lot. There were a lot of reports about that. I know that because I also worked in Japan

KSJ: You’re right, you’re right.

SSK: People wondered how far can you rise

KSJ: The first song that made us believe we even gained a bit of popularity was Doushite. And suddenly, NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen became the turning point for us. I can’t really remember clearly which incident came first, but every artist dreamed of performing at the Budokan. Once you’ve achieved that, the next step is an Arena tour. I sang a song called ‘Proud’ at the final stage. It was a stage that represented all the time I could’ve, but never gave up. I thought “Oh? Is all the hard work we’ve put in until now finally paying off?.”

SSK: That was an impressive thing. But nowadays, when you look at YG family, SMTown and JYP too, there are so many hoobaes who think that they can already fill thousands of seats right off the bat

KJS: I’m so jealous of them. Because if you’re already successful in Korea, you can start touring in Domes in Japan right?

SSK: And you guys were only able to do this after all the hard work you’ve put in. And the way BoA was also able to do that was so impressive

KSJ: If BoA never existed, we would’ve never existed

1. My bias are 2nd gen idols, and I can relate so much to what he’s saying ㅋㅋㅋ It was so hard for us to create new avenues of success ㅜㅜ everyone suffered so much

2. If you’re gonna swear at them, study the history of K-Pop before swearing

3. I did think that a singer who won a Daesang in Korea then have to start from the bottom in Japan must have felt seriously disillusioned.

I still remember it. They suffered so much.

4. What he says is the truth

5. These were kids who just won the Daesang in Korea and the next day, flew to Japan and sang on the wooden floor of the Buddhist college auditorium. They seriously suffered so much to enter the Japanese market

6. This is the concert hey held in Japan after sweeping the Daesangs in Korea