22 Korean idols who are unexpectedly fluent in English

Wi Ha-jun is known for his many roles in some of the most popular K-dramas. Aside from his good looks, the actor himself surprised fans when he spoke in English in Netflix’s highly-rated series, Squid Game. In an interview with Vulture, he revealed, “When I was shooting the VIP scene, one of the things I was concerned about was having to deliver lines in English.”

“It was the first time for me to do a scene with non-Korean actors on set, so I did a lot of preparation, and I was very grateful for my co-actor because he had great energy, and just went into it. He made the overall environment very lighthearted, so I was able to really get into the role and get into that emotional scene.”

The leader and main vocalist of Korean pop-rock band The Rose, Woosung speaks English fluently having grown up in Los Angeles. He picked up Korean when he had to move to Korea to start his musical career and jokes that since he’s spent the last 10 years speaking more Korean than English, his mastery of both languages is terrible. Fellow band mate Dojoon can also speak the language fluently having lived in New Zealand for five years.

South Korean actor Song Joong-ki, who is a married man again and an expecting father, is surprisingly fluent in English – so much so that his recent press trip to Singapore for his latest drama, Reborn Rich, was conducted entirely in English. While he occasionally relied on his translator in order to better understand the questions asked by the press, he was comfortable enough to respond to all the questions in English.

We might have found his trump card, though: his new wife, British actress Katy Louise Saunders. Song, who has starred in multiple hit dramas including Descendants of the Sun and Vincenzo, also recently announced via his agency that the couple intends to divide their time between South Korea and Britain. His linguistic abilities will definitely come in handy when he's in the UK!

Although he has never studied in a foreign country, the actor is pretty fluent in English. In fact, he even had a radio show when he was serving in the army, where he taught basic conversational English through scenario-based lessons.

He even nailed a full BBC interview in English, impressing everyone. While we don’t have a clip of the interview, here’s a clip of him speaking English for a Louis Vuitton ad.

The actor revealed in a previous interview that he started learning English when he was younger because of his relatives in America. He started sprucing up on his skills when he made his Hollywood debut. He told the Korean media at the press conference for G.I. Joe: Retaliation that acting in English was difficult and different from speaking English. He added that when one of the staff pointed out a mispronunciation, he ended up focusing on pronunciation instead of acting.

Judging from how fluent he is, you would have thought the BTS leader has lived in an English-speaking country for at least a few years, but in fact, he picked up the language just by watching Friends. He told Yahoo Music, “The show is really good. It’s kind of like the show of my life. Firstly, I had no interest, because I cannot understand a word. But [my mom] thankfully let me watch it in Korean, like, subtitled. So as I watched the show, and I was so into the show – the characters, the love stories. She bought the DVDs, seasons 1 to 10 and I repeated it like a dozen times. I think that’s why [I learned English so well]. Their speech is clear and easy to understand.”

In 2018, the rapper also delivered an empowering speech at the UN in English.

When Rain enjoyed explosive popularity in Asia, he was offered a leading role in a Hollywood production, Ninja Assassin. But unlike most actors who broke into Hollywood, he wasn’t fluent in the language. In fact, he honestly admitted that he had only started learning the language, but his performance in the movie impressed moviegoers. His secret to picking up a new language? He revealed that he practised by talking to himself – he would sit at a coffee shop, ask himself questions and answer them himself.

Although Key was in America for only six weeks for an exchange programme, he continued to learn the language until he became proficient in conversational English. He sometimes uses English in his Instagram captions to communicate with his international fans.

In his first year of junior high, the actor moved to America to live with his aunt and studied in California. He attended high school there before returning to South Korea for university. He revealed in an interview that his fluency in English was one of the reasons his now-wife actress Han Ga In was attracted to him. He said that she had overheard him talking to his cousin, who lives in the US, on the phone and thought he looked charming while speaking the foreign language.

The Super Junior member is often the appointed speaker whenever the K-pop group visits an English-speaking country. His fellow members revealed in a variety show that Siwon tends to slip in English words whenever he’s angry.

Although he’s native Korean and didn’t study abroad, the actor reportedly speaks English fluently. He showed off a bit of his linguistic abilities when he greeted the media in English when he was in Singapore. Another testament of his fluency: he communicates with Chinese actress and former girlfriend Liu Yifei in English.

Taecyeon studied in America from middle school through high school, hence it’s not surprising that he’s fluent in English, and even speaks with an American accent. The Vincenzo actor revealed on a variety show that sometimes his agency’s staff would enlist his help to check English lyrics to make sure they’re grammatically sound.

When the actor was in Singapore, he impressed the press with his fluency in the language. He told The Straits Times, “I’ve been learning English for the past five years. I wanted to travel by myself and wanted to communicate without the help of a translator. I hope to get a chance to work abroad one day.”

Not a lot of people know that Lee Seung Gi is fluent in English until he filmed Sisters Over Flowers, where he expertly navigated Istanbul, Zagreb, Split, and Dubrovnik while leading a group of veteran actresses. After he received praises from netizens, his company revealed that he has been regularly picking up English, but that he’s more fluent in Japanese—apparently, he speaks Japanese like a native.

You might recognise the actor from variety shows such as Grandpas Over Flowers, Three Meals A Day and Youn’s Kitchen. He graduated from New York University Stern School of Business, which explains why he is fluent in English. In Grandpa Over Flowers and Youn’s Kitchen, he was tasked with interacting with the locals because of his fluency in the language.

The comedic Seoul-born actor and former boyband member, who shot to fame for his leading roles in romcoms like Another Oh Hae-young, actually has teaching certificates for English and German. The actor studied in England when he was a teenager, which explains why he’s so fluent in the language.

Best known for his leading roles in Korean dramas like Flower Band and High Society, the actor and model, can speak English pretty well as he’s studied in New Zealand and England. But in an interview with 10Asia, the actor revealed that he’s better at understanding English than writing in English, saying, “People who study in English-speaking countries write good essays, while for me, it’s not like I can pick outstanding vocabulary when I write them”.

Born and raised in Seoul, the Encounter actor surprised fans by speaking fluent English during a fan meet in the Philippines. His efforts to communicate with international fans definitely impressed the crowd, especially as he came onstage with a translator in tow. The heartthrob spoke in English for almost the entire two-and-a-half-hour event, where he also sang and danced to BTS’ hit song Boy With Luv.

Choi Woo-shik flew under the radar until the success of both Train to Busan and Parasite. In 2021, the actor was part of the variety series Youn’s Stay where he showed off his English proficiency. He admitted that he didn’t think he was fluent in English, “Before, I would just think in English and then speak English. But now, I think in Korean, and I translate that into English.” In reality, he spent most of his life in Vancouver, Canada as his family emigrated there when he was younger. He goes by the English name of Edward and the nickname Eddie.

Ahn Hyo-seop is another Korean who emigrated to Canada (Toronto, to be exact) with his family when he was younger. He has an English name too: Paul Ahn. The actor, who was actually about to debut in JYP Entertainment’s boyband GOT7 before he declined, has shown off his crisp pronunciation in the drama Still 17 and Abyss.

Fans of The Penthouse: War in Life might remember Park Eun-seok speaking fluent English as his character Logan Lee. His proficiency stems from his upbringing in the United States, where he immigrated to with his family when he was seven. He later revoked his American permanent residency when he voluntarily served in the South Korean military, in part to learn Korean so that he could pursue his dream of acting. His English name is Danny.

In 2016, Ryu Jun-yeol amazed viewers with his slick English-speaking skills in the variety show Youth Over Flowers: Africa. The show featured him, Go Kyung-pyo, Park Bo-gum and Ahn Jae-jong transversing Namibia and Zimbabwe where Ryu often took the lead and spoke with locals in English.