From Global News.

A new K-pop boy band made their global debut on Friday with two members who defected from North Korea and an album that includes a song about the consequences of escaping one of the world’s most repressive states.

1VERSE, pronounced "universe", is made up of five men in their 20s from North Korea, Japan and the United States, who go by their first names, Hyuk, Seok, Aito, Nathan, and Kenny.

Yu Hyuk, originally from the northeastern North Korean town of Kyongsong, has lived in South Korea since 2013. He said he values not only the freedom to perform but also the basic comforts of life.

Kim Seok, the other North Korean defector in the group and also 25, used to live in a border town near China. He was exposed to K-pop by a friend who shared music videos on a portable media player, including Psy’s 2012 smash "Gangnam Style."

North Korea has stepped up control over people’s lives since the COVID-19 pandemic, when all borders were sealed, and abuses such as executions, forced labour and reports of starvation continue, a U.N. official investigating rights in the isolated state told Reuters last month.

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