Taekwondo
Jungkook (BTS)
Being the maknae of BTS, Jungkook is often taken care of by other members but you should
never be fooled since he’s actually among the strongest members.
In addition to weightlifting and boxing, Jungkook also holds a black belt in Taekwondo at an
impressively young age. Unfortunately, because of the low quality of the video recorded back
in 2009–which was when he was only 12, it’s impossible to tell which degree he was on
for this level.
However, his Taekwondo was still undeniably impressive because later on, he frequently
showed off these skills on stage, at fan meetings and most recently in 2019, he also took them
to the next level for BTS’ mobile game—BTS WORLD. Here, Jungkook played the role of a
Taekwondo student with big dreams and despite the hectic schedule around the world, his
Taekwondo was still at its finest. While he only had some time to learn the martial art
choreography for several fight scenes, he still nailed it effortlessly with sharp and
powerful moves.
Jin (BTS)
Besides Jungkook, Jin is also another member with impressive Taekwondo skills and as he
revealed on BTS x Game Caterers in May this year, he even owned a black belt for this
type of martial art.
After that episode, netizens started to dig up more occasions where Jin showed off his
skills and soon enough, they found out a bunch where he once did a flying front kick to break
a piece of hard plastic and demonstrated a high kick in front of other BTS members without
warming up.
In fact, he had mentioned about his impressive qualifications in Taekwondo but previously,
fans only thought he was just good on an ordinary level for scoring 7/10 and winning 7th grade
at his Taekwondo class.
Kim Yo Han (X1)
Not only famous for the impressive visuals, the former center of X1 is also well-known
for being a multi-talented idol excelling in everything including aspects outside the
realm of music.
When participating in Produce X101, he used to leave everyone in awe with the powerful
moves in Taekwondo and as later found out, since his father was a professional Taekwondo
coach, he had studied this type of martial art ever since being a kid.
At only eight years old, Yo Han had already had a second degree black belt —which often
takes a person around two to three years to achieve and in 2012, he even won the first
prize at Pre-Professional Competition.
In primary school, he was a representative athlete and while he started to be scouted
by many different agencies in the second year of secondary school, Yo Han still decided
to turn them all down to focus on Taekwondo. He even took it so seriously that for thirteen
years in a row, he only spent time on practicing to get a scholarship to university.
Then, he quickly climbed up the ladder, being chosen to be in the back-up of the national
team and won the grand prizes at the young category twice.
Unfortunately, because of his injuries in ankle ligaments, Yo Han’s dream to be a
professional Taekwondo player was put on halt half way.
Jeon Somi
It is said
that Somi had leveled up to a four degree black belt and despite a packed up schedule
of a solo idol, she still spent time practicing and harnessing her skills in this type of
martial art.
The interesting thing is that, while the peak of her schedules was around the time she worked
as a member of IOI in 2018, she still devoted lots of efforts to improve her Taekwondo.
In the beginning of May that year, Somi was spotted at a level test site, executing a
bunch of punches and kicks and since hard word paid off, she received the good news
that her belt was agreed to be leveled up just around one month after that.
According to soompi, Somi once shared that she transferred to a Korean school because
of the love for Taekwondo and while she didn’t mention about it much, you can easily see
how passionate Somi is with the sport considering her choosing Taekwondo to perform at the individual
performance in one SIXTEEN’s episode.
Besides that time, Somi also showed off her skillful Taekwondo on various occasions like
Weekly Idol, Please Take Care Of My Refrigerator, or even a live performance of IOI on M Countdown.
Kumdo/Kendo
Baekho (NU'EST)
While Baek Ho doesn’t usually talk much about his skills in Kumdo—a modern Korean
martial art derived from Japanese Kendo, he has actually practiced the martial art for
ten years in a row.
Since Baek Ho was so skillful, this was even considered one of his salient strengths and
in the debut solo teaser of NU’EST, the company even let him perform Kumdo despite
being a talented main vocalist.
However, people were just as impressed by Baek Ho as when they first heard his singing
because all the lines, all the moves he executed were sharp as if they could cut the thin air
into two.
Chansung (2PM)
Besides Baek Ho, Chansung is another idol choosing this martial art to practice and
actually took it way more seriously instead of going for another popular type of martial
art that he was also skilled at—Taekwondo.
As a video recorded in 2013, Chansung had already possessed impressive skills despite
his young age and besides the solo fight with another student, he also captured attention
for various high jumps and the virtuoso sword-dance at the end.
On an episode of The Star Secret where Chansung appeared with Nickhun in 2009, the production
crew also revealed that they had paid a surprise visit to his high school and met his Kendo
teacher. There, the teacher revealed that Chansung was a typical student with a high
sporty spirit and though he just developed interest in Kendo around this time, his skills
still progressed super fast. His charisma in Kendo was so big that not long after, a
fanclub was even formed because of his popularity.
Hapkido
Baekhyun (EXO)
While Baekho often comes across as a slim idol, he’s actually a super strong member
with multiple nobel plaques in Hapkido.
As revealed when Baekhyun appeared on Our Neighbor Sports in 2015, he used to learn
Hapkido for over nine years, starting from his primary school and even won a gold medal
at the national competition.
The interesting thing is that, while he had to deal with many promotional activities as
a member of EXO, his Hapkido skills were still perfectly good. He even showed off several
techniques like Spinning Kick and Brazilian Kick on the show and left everyone in awe
for the powerful moves in disguise of a slender figure.
Thanks to the athletic background, Baekhyun also managed to jump over seven people and
as clarified by Baekhyun himself, he used to be able to do it with 11 people when still
practicing hard with Hapkido.
Chorong (APINK)
Being a rare female name along with Somi on the list, Chorong also proved she was no less
competent than any male idols with a third degree black belt in Hapkido.
However, considering the athletic tradition running in her family and Chorong’s father
is a master running a whole Hapkido training center, this was nothing much of a big surprise
anymore. As revealed by Chorong, her father had taught her this type of martial art for
eight years in a row and on Running Man, she also took everyone aback with the skilled
moves while first appearing as a soft fragile girl.
In a short predebut footage posted on Onehallyu, netizens were also shook to see how she won
over two male students in front of the class.
Even until recently when Chorong appeared on Running Man in January 2020, she still
showed that her Hapkido skills only aged like fine wine in time and quickly proved her words
by doing a flip-over with just one hand.
Wushu and Kungfu
The8 (SEVENTEEN)
For many Chinese KPOP idols, Wushu and Kungfu were the two most popular types of martial
art that they go for and The8 isn’t an exception.
As researched by fans, he already did the traditional martial art of China at the age
of five and even after becoming a famous idol, he still kept the passion with Wushu/Kungfu
by repeatedly bringing the martial art on camera.
From the pre-debut survival show, practice rooms, performances on music shows to variety
programs, fan meetings and even big events like MAMA, people still often spotted The8
skillfully executed all the moves and proudly promoted the famous martial art of Chinese.
Tao (formerly EXO)
Similar to The8, Tao also learned Wushu and Kungfu from an early stage when he was just
eight years old.
While he’s a talented idol with outstanding music capabilities, his martial art skills
were so impressive that SM Entertainment even let him do a solo teaser as a new member of
EXO with them [chèn 1 đoạn clip ngắn chọn cái đoạn đẹp đẹp - âm thanh
gốc]. Still, people were just as impressed and quickly had his name marked in their mind
after seeing Tao effortlessly nailing the dangerous flying flip, swift spinning kick,
and various arial techniques that only professionals could do.
Not only that, he even brought his Kungfu/Wushu skills onto a famous show in China and performed
them right on the spot without much warming up, showed them off again when appearing on
episode 8 of EXO Showtime, concerts, music show performances and variety programs.
Boxing
Nichkhun & Taecyeon (2PM)
Different from the majority, Nickhun, and Taecyeon opted for boxing as their favorite
martial art but unfortunately, since the two idols weren’t so highkey about their athletic
background, not much information about the time they started boxing and how long they
had been practicing was revealed.
Still, you can easily see how good they are at this type of martial art because Nickhun
and Taecyeon were once chosen to show off their skills in an ad for Coca Cola, though
they apparently did it in an entertaining way, and in 2014, Nichkhun even joined a China
boxing show Cold Heart as a team manager.
Are you impressed to learn that these idols were actual athletes? Which martial art do
you find the coolest? Comment down below to share your thoughts with us.