For as long as one can remember, K-pop has drawn in a lot of young, queer fans. Entertainment companies have picked up on this, and some groups now incorporate queer narratives and imagery into their lyrics and visuals. And queer idols? Well, while coming out as a queer K-pop idol or artist is definitely less likely to be career-ending in 2025, it still comes with social and professional risks.

So, subtle forms of allyship that avoid any real, outspoken stance on queerness may be ideal for some idols. But the moment an artist publicly shows—through words or actions—that they truly understand and support queer people in a way that can’t be brushed off as vague or neutral, that’s where the difference lies. Whether it’s voicing opinions on queer issues, offering meaningful advice to queer fans or intentionally working with queer people in the industry, they’re making their stance known to everyone. And that’s real allyship.

So, here’s a list of some artists within the K-Pop industry who have publicly shown in their own—big or small, but still meaningful—ways that they care about understanding queerness, and the issues queer people still face.

#1: Jonghyun (member of SHINee)

Besides being recognised as one of the best vocalists and songwriters in K-Pop, Jonghyun is also loved for being one of the few K-Pop idols to openly support queer rights. His most widely recognized act of allyship came in 2013, when he publicly supported a transgender and bisexual student activist who had written about queer struggles in South Korea.

Kim Eunha, a university student, had written a letter detailing the plight of queer Koreans, focusing on the lack of anti-discrimination laws and the resulting discrimination against queer and trans people. Jonghyun changed his Twitter profile picture to a screenshot of her handwritten letter. The student later revealed that Jonghyun had personally messaged her to make sure she wasn’t receiving negative attention from him posting the letter, and to express his support and admiration for her strength.

#2: Tiffany (member of Girls’ Generation)

In 2018, as part of Billboard’s annual Pride Month series ‘Love Letters to the LGBTQ Community,’ where celebrities share messages of support, Tiffany wrote a letter expressing her love for the LGBTQ community “that has given so much love, beauty, inspiration, and light in every corner of the world”. Reflecting on her struggles as a Korean-American, she thanked the community for inspiring her with its themes of self-love, unconditional love, acceptance, freedom of expression, and hope.

Then in 2021, she partnered with NEON MILK, a queer creative collective, for Pride Month, to release a special music video—featuring queer people—for the debut song of Girls’ Generation, ‘Into The New World’. The song has been used as an anthem for various Korean protests over the years, including at queer protests, and Tiffany thanked queer fans for choosing it as their anthem, promising to stand by them as a queer ally and advocate.

#3: Sakura (member of LE SSERAFIM)

Back in 2017, during her J-pop days, Sakura had written a movie review for a Japanese magazine about the Japanese film Close-knit, which follows a young girl who is taken in by her uncle and his trans girlfriend. She wrote about how “Japan needs to deepen its understanding of homosexuality” and that loving another person is about loving their thoughts and their heart, with gender being something that “comes along after all that”.

When she was asked about this review in a 2022 interview with Weverse magazine, she said that “Idols don’t just sing and dance on stage—they can also be role models for people” and that if LE SSERAFIM ever released a song about love, she’d like to sing about love that is universal.

#4: Chungha (soloist)

Over the course of her career, Chungha has incorporated elements from ballroom culture into her music videos and choreographies, including the catwalk, duckwalk, and waacking. Chungha has shared that she has been a waacking dancer since middle school, and has been naturally exposed to ballroom culture and the Korean ballroom scene through her dancer friends—who were mostly queer.

Chungha has also worked with Coming Out, South Korea’s first and only openly queer dance crew, for three of her music videos (‘Stay Tonight’, ‘Dream of You’ and ‘I’m Ready’), and spoke about how the collaboration happened completely naturally, as well as how the LGBTQ community is more than just a community for her—they’re a part of her life.

#5: Kevin (member of THE BOYZ)

Kevin Moon, Korean-Canadian member of THE BOYZ, has shown support to the queer community throughout his career in small, but intentional ways. Besides denouncing gender norms and gendered pronouns in his group’s songs, and talking to fans about his love for RuPaul’s Drag Race on multiple occasions, Kevin has also been vocal about his admiration for queer themes in the shows he loves. On one occasion, he spoke about how “heartwarming” it was that the the writers of The Umbrella Academy worked trans actor Elliot Page’s real-life transition into the show’s script “very naturally”. In another livestream, he brought up his love for Pose, mentioning that “it’s about voguing and the history of the trans community”. Kevin has also been mindful about using the correct pronouns for queer people, whether it’s fans or celebrities.

#6: Shuhua (member of i-dle)

Shuhua, the youngest member of K-pop girl group i-dle, has always been honest, outspoken and even blunt about issues she cares about. Whether it’s scolding fans for not masking during the COVID pandemic, shutting down hate comments aimed at her group members, or speaking out against sexual harassment, she never holds back.

So when a queer i-dle fan left a comment on her livestream asking for advice on liking someone of the same gender, Shuhua was quick to tell the fan to “just go for it”, and that she wanted them to “love bravely”. Another queer fan then commented saying their parents don’t support their queer attraction, and Shuhua advised them to talk to their parents calmly: “If they truly love you, I think they will accept it. You don’t know the power of love”.