Korean Soldiers Vote 4th-Gen Girl Group As Favorite K-Pop Artist

Recently, the official newspaper of the Ministry of National Defense, Kookbang Ilbo, published the results of a survey that asked Korean soldiers about their favorite Korean stars.

The survey, which was conducted between April 4 and April 17, asked soldiers which stars they would like to see perform the most on a concert tour just for the military. Around 309 soldiers responded to the survey.

The artist who got the most votes (18.1%) was aespa.

A soldier shared that thinking about Karina helped him get through tough times and made him want to protect his country better. Another stated that aespa’s energetic music helped him heal during his personal time off.

When things were tough and I felt exhausted, I overcame it by thinking of Karina from aespa. Knowing that she’s breathing in the same country made me want to protect our nation even more diligently.

— Private Kim

The second-highest voted name was fromis_9, trailing close behind with 16.2% votes.

Some other artists who also received a high number of votes included IU (6.5%), IVE (6.1%), and NMIXX (4.9%)

Meanwhile, Kookbang Ilbo’s “Military Barracks Chart” is a communication and participation-based content series that gathers soldiers’ opinions on a new trendy topic each month and ranks them. The survey is conducted monthly on The Camp app.