6 Korean stars who are finally on Instagram: Song Joong-ki and Kim Tae-ri made accounts after Netflix’s Space Sweepers, while NCT’s Taeyong nearly stole a Guinness World Record from Harry Potter’s Rupert Grint

Mar 9 , 2021

Finally on Instagram – Taeyong from NCT, Song Joong-ki, Choi Ji-woo and Mijoo from Lovelyz. Photos: @neocityachoo; @songjoongki.kg/Twitter, @choijiwoo_cjw; @queen.chu_s/Instagram

K-pop idol Taeyong gained one million followers in just six hours – which still wasn’t enough to beat Rupert Grint – while bandmate Mark gained 630,000 in a day

Veteran K-drama actress Choi Ji-woo also joined the social media platform after her cameo on Crash Landing on You, as did Lovelyz member Mijoo

While some South Korean stars might boast an Instagram follower count the size of a small country, others have been acting or singing for years without making a single post on social media.

Song Joong-ki finally opened his official Instagram account on February 14 – over a decade since he debuted as an actor in 2008 – and attracted over 680,000 followers in just two days.

His Space Sweepers co-star, Kim Tae-ri, is another relative newcomer to the Instagram scene, having opened her official account on February 5 – the same day the hotly anticipated (if plot hole-ridden) film came out on Netflix.

Here we look at them and four more Korean stars who just joined Instagram, and why we can’t wait for more glimpses into their fabulous off-screen lives.

Taeyong and Mark from NCT

The new year started off with a bang for the NCTzen – the official name of NCT’s fandom – when two of the boy band’s members opened new Instagram accounts. Mark opened his feed to the world in late January, gaining 630,000 followers in a single day, while Taeyong made his IG debut in mid-February, getting one million followers in just two hours. (Unfortunately, he didn’t set a new Guinness World Record – which is still held by actor Rupert Grint – due to having made his first post four hours before announcing his account on a live stream, meaning he technically made one million followers in six hours, not two. Boo.)

The bandmates both debuted with NCT in 2016 and initially only used NCT’s official account, which is managed by their agency SM Entertainment. They share other similarities too – they are both in NCT sub-units NCT U and NCT 127, as well as supergroup SuperM. They are also well known for their rap talent, having both achieved the title of “main rapper” among NCT’s 23 members.