It’s official: virtual idols are a thing in Korea. Plave, Stellive, Isegye Idol, IITERNITI, naevis and the list goes on. Newly debuting virtual K-pop acts have fandoms growing by the day, attracting not only attention from domestic market watchers but also from tech and entertainment experts from outside of Korea.

Earlier this year, Plave topped MBC’s weekly music show “Show! Music Core” on March 9, and it held its fan concerts on Oct. 5 and 6. SM Entertainment, one of the largest K-pop agencies in Korea, rolled out its first official virtual artist, naevis, and bagged a deal for it to become the ambassador for the Seoul Design 2024 event. HYBE Japan officially signed a partnership deal with Plave’s agency Vlast to help it debut in Japan.


And amid this rising interest in these so-called virtual humans, the most important thing is to prepare both the audience and the human actors behind the animated characters for what they can expect in the future, as well as to establish the legal policies to encourage the growth of the burgeoning market, according to Seo Kook-han, the Korea Virtual Human Industry Association (Kovhia).

“There are seven major virtual idols this year in Korea, but we expect to see that number grow to at least 10 by next year,” Seo said.

“These idols already have a steady fan base outside of Korea, especially in Southeast Asian countries, where they share a lot of cultural similarities with Korea. There are virtual artists around the world, but the band-style groups with multiple members are only seen in Korea. Adding that with the already-popular genre of K-pop music, they are seeing steady growth in other countries.”

Kovhia was formed in June this year under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Its major goal is to spread and refine the virtual human industry and also train the talented people working in different parts of the market to help it grow in the most sound form, according to Seo. There are 102 companies in different fields that are members of Kovhia, including the virtual idol agencies and production companies of virtual YouTubers, also known as virtubers.

“We’re especially staying alert on the deepfake issue,” he said. “The virtual human market is a relatively small one as of now, but our goal is to make it mainstream and acquaint the general public with these artists so that many more people will start making their own virtual humans and create their content.”

Seo sat down with the Korea JoongAng Daily for an interview held last month as part of the MWM music conference.The following are excerpts from the interview, edited for length and clarity.

Q. How was it that virtual idols quickly began in Korea and not elsewhere?

A. One aspect that greatly affected it is the Korean public’s affinity toward webtoons, added to the well-established K-pop industry. Korea has a large webtoon consumer base that has already made people familiar with the idea of animated human characters, which are different from the Japanese manga style.

The K-pop industry acted as a well-established infrastructure for these virtual humans to grow by implementing the same fandom culture. The K-pop industry’s existing pool of talented songmakers, choreographers and producers has also made it easier for newcomers to get access to K-pop content of their own.

Is the idea of the uncanny valley, where something too familiar with humans but not exactly the same, a big issue with virtual humans?

It’s actually not the determining factor of a virtual idol or a virtuber. Fans aren’t really that interested how real or not real the virtual humans look — it’s the talent behind these virtual humans, the real humans’ actions, that they are drawn to.

In fact, the technical glitches of virtual humans, where their body parts suddenly grow bigger or fall apart, are made the subject of entertainment depending on how the real actor deals with them. We call these human actors the “inside humans,” and it’s these people’s abilities to engage with the audience behind the digital mask that decide the fate of the virtual human.

Does that mean we’re still far away from a wholly AI virtual human that’s run by AI programs?

At the moment, yes — it’s impossible to exclude the human element to virtual humans. That’s why virtual idols that have no inside humans behind them are falling behind the ones with those that have distinctive and attractive actors behind them, like Plave. We can even say that the human element has become even more crucial in his industry.

This opens up the doors to talented people who were not able to become celebrities due to their appearance or those who were too shy to come out to the front with their real identities. AI could open doors to automated virtual humans in the future, but not for some time now.

What is the biggest goal of Kovhia next year?

Our biggest focus is on what’s called literacy education for both the people acting as and consuming these virtual humans. One big problem we’ve found with the inside humans of virtual humans is that they’re exposed to new kinds of online bullying and cyber violence because even if they receive threats or harassment, they can’t make a complaint to the police because it’s not technically aimed at “them.”

The risk is even greater for them to reveal their true identities, and it’s been leading to these people to depression and even suicidal attempts. Deepfakes are a major issue because it’s easy for people to create such derogatory content without much damage to their consciousness. So, we’re concentrating on holding campaigns to raise consumers’ awareness on such issues and put forward related bills.

We’re also planning to hold a virtual human festival in the latter half of next year.

BY YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]