SM Entertainment: Location, Artists & Latest News

Full transcript

Annyeong, yeoreobun! It's Yul! Today we're in Seongsu, one of Seoul's coolest neighborhoods, in front of D-Tower at Seoul Forest. Inside lives a company that helped invent the K-pop idol system. This is SM Entertainment!

Our story begins with a singer named Lee Soo-man. In the early 1980s, he steps away from the stage and goes to America to study computer engineering. There he watches the MTV era explode, with stars like Michael Jackson, and he thinks: Korea could do this too.

In 1989 he opens SM Studio in Apgujeong, and in 1995 it becomes SM Entertainment. A year later, H.O.T. debuts and becomes one of the first big waves of Hallyu. After that? TVXQ, Super Junior, Girls' Generation, SHINee, EXO, Red Velvet, NCT, aespa, RIIZE and Hearts2Hearts. What a family tree!

Plot twist! For decades SM lived in Gangnam. Then in 2021 it made its first headquarters move, here to Seongsu. And in 2023, after a famous battle over the company, Kakao became the largest shareholder and the founder stepped away. In January 2026, SM announced a new strategy called SM Next 3.0, with a new boy group on the way. Daebak!

Yul's tip! Visit KWANGYA@SEOUL, SM's flagship store inside the D-Tower, opened in 2022 with albums, merch and see-through OLED screens. The offices are private, so shop, snap photos, and leave artists and staff in peace. And please, never wait around anyone's home.

Next, we head east to a company where the boss still writes songs and dances on stage. Kaja!