All Of SM Entertainment's Boy Groups With Every Member Underage At Debut

The topic of whether or not it’s appropriate to debut K-Pop idols underage has become more discussed in recent years, with groups like NewJeans, ILLIT, and BABYMONSTER debuting with several very young members. However, it’s a practice that has actually gone back for quite some time and isn’t a new trend, even if some of the talks about it seems like it is.

Recently, K-Pop fans took a look back at all of the boy groups that SM Entertainment has debuted over the past few decades, to see which of them debuted with all of their members underaged. The original conversation was based on the Korean age system, so we’ll also be converting the listed ages to the international system for ease of understanding for non-Korean readers.

64a67755779bd7418753a97e-p — Jisung (NCT DREAM) | *SBS*

The label’s very first group. H.O.T., was actually also their first to debut with all-underage members in September 1996! Based on the Korean age system, they had three 19-year-olds, one 18-year-old, and one 17-year-old. By other age system standards, Heejun, Woohyuk, and Tony were 18, and Kangta and Jaewon were 16. Since the international legal age of adulthood in South Korea is 19, none of the members were considered adults at debut.

The next group that SM Entertainment debuted with all-underage members was TVXQ. When they debuted in December 2003, based on the Korean age system they had four 18-year-olds and one 16-year-old. This would already mean they were all underage, but with the non-Korean age system, Jaejoong, Yunho, Yoochun, and Junsu were 17, while Changmin was just 15.

SHINee was another group that debuted with all-minor members. Based on the Korean age system, they had one 20-year-old, one 19-year-old, two 18-year-olds, and one 16-year-old at debut. However, Onew and Jonghyun were 18 when they debuted, Key was 17, Minho was 16, and Taemin was only 14.

The label’s fourth and final boy group that debuted with all-underage members was actually NCT DREAM, since they haven’t had a new group debut since then with every member under the legal adult age limit! When NCT DREAM debuted in August 2016, they had one 18-year-old, four 17-year-olds, one 16-year-old, and one 15-year old (based on Korean age standards). Using international aging systems, Mark was 17, Renjun, Jeno, Haechan, and Jaemin were 16, and both Chenle and Jisung were only 14.

As far as other underage boy group members to debut under SM Entertainment, the list includes (by international age) Andy and Junjin (who both debuted at 17) and Hyesung, Dongwan, and Minwoo (who all debuted at 18) of Shinhwa; Kyuhyun and Ryeowook of Super Junior (who both debuted at 18); Sehun, Kai, and Tao of EXO (who were 18); Jungwoo and WinWin of NCT 127 (who were 18); YangYang of WayV (who was 18); and Sakuya and Ryo (who debuted at 16) and Jaehee (who debuted at 18) of NCT WISH.