South Korea Reveals New Boy Band Concept to be Based in Latin America & Asia

The South Korean company that introduced the K-pop industry to the world has come up with a new concept for boy bands -- unlimited members, based in Asia and Latin America.

According to an AFP report published by Straits Times, SM Entertainment has revealed the new concept for boy bands who will be singing in multiple languages.

The company, which is handling big K-pop groups like Super Junior and Girls' Generation, noted that this new idea for the music scene will be the "final incarnation" of the so-called Korean wave.

"This is the true localization of K-pop," said SM Entertainment founder Lee Soo Man during Wednesday's launch in Seoul.

He explained that the new group or the collection of sub-groups will go by the name Neo Culture Technology or NCT.

AFP said that a lot of K-pop fans made fun of the new tag, noting that it sounds like a name of a tech company.

As for the composition of the group, Lee said that NCT now has 40 members, who are expected to perform in the coming months in Seoul and Japan.

"New members will be freely recruited with no limits on the number," he added.

Providing more information about the boy band, MWave said that the NCT was designed by the company using a 3-step system.

Its first step was advancing Korean stars into the international market. This was followed by collaborating with local companies to have international stars in the K-pop industry doing tie-ups and collaborations for Koreans to debut in the local scene.

This new brand also envisions debuting teams or subgroups based on their location in the world.

"Beginning from the first unit in spring, a team centered in Seoul and Japan will be revealed within the first-half of this year. In the second-half of this year, teams centered in the Chinese region will be revealed, starting from Beijing, Shanghai and other major cities," Lee explained.

Meanwhile, Korea Herald said that the group of NCT bands will be the first of SM Entertainment since EXO in 2011.

The company has also expressed its plan to release a single in a country's native language, and then target the music trends in that specific locality.

Lee said this is their plan to "take a leap into the future" using various innovations. Aside from this, he also revealed SM Entertainment's new digital music channel called "Station." Through this, the company's artists will be able to release a new single weekly.