So Katseye and XG are Kpop groups?

Kpop is a domestic music industry, not a subgenre or some other, more vague ticking of boxes. If you are signed to a Kpop label and even promote in Korea, in all the same spaces that a Kpop group would, you're a Kpop group.

My gut reaction is no, but they are K-pop adjacent.

No, they have been marketed as global groups since the start and have even said themselves that they are not a kpop group.

no, but both groups rely on the kpop market for promotion. Also, both groups used kpop system for development. It's why many consider them kpop adjacent

XG is made out of Japanese people and they are under a Japanese company + they only sing in English

Katseye are at least kpop adjacent, and the vast majority of their audience is the exact same as kpop.

They went through the kpop trainee system, are managed and promoted similarly, sound like kpop, and they're put together by + managed by a kpop label. People aren't going to look at that and think they're more akin to non-kpop GGs than kpop.

Nope! XG is a JPOP and J-Hip Hop.

Katseye is a global group under a Kpop label. To be fair, they fit into the Kpop genre more.

Kpop is not as restricted as it was many years ago, so it doesn't really matter anymore. Back in the day, Kpop was all about Korean members, maybe Japanese, but now it's not really.

ultimately it comes down to what one considers to be kpop and why

kpop adjacent.

People will discuss them in kpop forums but they’ll not be labeled “top of 4th Gen/5th gen” etc. They’ll also never become truly popular in Korea I think.

Which is just a slim difference I think and in fact gives someone like katseye the edge. They’re not restricted by kpop while also being able to part take in it.