Over the past few decades, the advance of technology and science caused many fundamental changes.
Starting from the transportation system to the way we consume information, series of revolutions truly shaped our life for the better.
But compared to 100 years ago, the biggest difference we could observe today is the people's ability to embrace other cultures.
This specific characteristic of contemporary society created a much-needed platform for everyone in which people could pursue their goal regardless of their nationality.
With that being said, now let's meet these six stars who are actually from other countries but succeeded in getting their name out there as a celebrity in Korea!
1. Joon Park
K-pop boy group god's leader Joon Park is still learning Korean at the age of 50.
Joon Park was born in Korea but moved to the United States at an early age, then became an American citizen afterwards.
Even though he moved back to Korea about 20 years ago, he still loves to utilize some English expressions such as "Man~" and "BAAAM!" even if he is having a conversation in Korean.
2. Eric Nam
K-pop artist Eric Nam was born and raised in Atlanta, the United States but moved to Korea in 2011 to participate in MBC's survival audition program 'MBC Star Audition'.
Making such decision must not have been easy for him since he had to turn down a job offer from one of the top consulting firms in the world to start his music career in Korea.
But after years of trying, Eric Nam managed to became one of the most beloved singers and interviewers in the country and became fluent in both English and Korean.
3. YUQI of (G)I-DLE
K-pop girl group (G)I-DLE's YUQI was born on September 23, 1999 in China.
When she made appearance at KBS' variety show 'Happy Together 3', she surprised the entire guests and the hosts of the show by revealing the fact that her Korean teacher was actor Kim Soo Hyun.
But later on she explained that the reason she referred to Kim Soo Hyun as her Korean teacher was not because she actually learned from him, but she studied Korean with her mother by watching SBS' beloved drama 'My Love from the Star', in which he starred as an alien―the drama's male lead.
4. Jay Park
Jay Park, a hip-hop artist and the head of his label AOMG was born in Seattle, the United States.
When he first made his debut as a member of K-pop boy group 2PM, Korean was not exactly one of his forte since he was born and raised in America,
For the first couple of years, Jay Park made many of his fans burst into laughter while communicating with them in Korean, but now his Korean skill has been significantly improved.
5. Henry
Henry, a former member of K-pop boy group Super Junior's sub-unit Super Junior-M is from Toronto, Canada.
When Henry made appearance at MBC's reality show 'I Live Alone', one of the hosts was quite surprised after finding out the fact that Henry was actually a foreigner not a Korean since his Korean was pretty decent starting from his pronunciation to enunciation.
But since he was not fully fluent in Korean, Henry sometimes had a hard time coming up with the exact vocabularies to describe his situation and such adorable mistakes unintentionally led him to create the famous catch phrase.
6. JACKSON of GOT7
According to JACKSON of K-pop boy group GOT7, the quickest way to learn a new language is falling in love with the person who speaks that language.
In one episode of JTBC's variety show 'Let's Eat Dinner Together', JACKSON revealed that what truly helped him to improve his Korean skills was his past relationship, not books.
JACKSON added, "In order to learn a new language, you have to learn their culture too. The best way to achieve that goal is to be in a relationship."
(Kang Eunbee, Credit= SBS funE, 'Wassup Man' YouTube, MBC, SBS, KBS, JTBC, 'jaypaom' Facebook, 'henryl89' Instagram)