LSM said this three years ago:
QuoteDisplay MoreLee Soo Man has further explained his decision to debut a NCT Vietnam team.
Last year at the Maekyung Vietnam Forum, the executive producer announced his plan to launch NCT Vietnam. He talked more about it at the Korea-Vietnam Business Cooperation Seminar that occurred on September 11.
Lee Soo Man explained, “When I entered the foreign markets in 1997, I declared ‘Culture First, Economy Next.’ I thought that if a good culture is ahead and it is loved by neighboring countries and spread around the world, it will lead to economic power. Indeed, K-pop is creating greater added value and economic growth effects through its impact on the primary and secondary industries and convergence with similar industries. The success of Korea’s cultural content industry has led to rapid growth of various Korean industries worldwide and the shift to high added value, which describes the economic activity of one component as the ‘spillover effect.'”
He once again mentioned his points on Vietnam, commenting, “Vietnam is a very young and dynamic country with 65 percent of its population under 35 years old. I see it as a positive point that there are many similarities with Korea’s lifestyle, sentiment, and Confucian culture, so Vietnam will be able to create world-class stars and cultural contents based on its population and cultural characteristics as Korea did.”
Lee Soo Man disclosed, “One of my first announcements in Hanoi last December was that SM will discover talent in Vietnam and create the NCT Vietnam team, which will become stars in Asia and the world. I wanted to not only discover local stars in Vietnam but also foster them as global stars to contribute to the development of the Vietnamese culture industry and the economy and to create an opportunity to influence the world.”
At the end of his speech, he added, “If many Asian countries including Korea, Vietnam, and others cooperate and prepare in advance, I believe that Asia will be able to lead their cultural industry through artificial intelligence and entertainment in the massive virtual world that is to come.”
NCT may become the first K-pop group to have an Indonesian member!
Lee Soo Man, founder of SM Entertainment, participated in the Indonesia-Korea Business Summit that took place on March 14. After describing his vision to create a “Hollywood of the East,” he made some important announcements about the next NCT unit.
He explained, “In 2016, we launched a global idol group brand called NCT, and we will continue to produce a group that will create harmony between different cultures worldwide. As part of this strategy, we will hold auditions in Indonesia for the first time and select new members for an ‘Asia’ team. We will recruit members like Chinese members WinWin, Chenle, and Renjun, Japanese member Yuta, and Thai member Ten, to produce a localized group based in Southeast Asia and eventually create an ‘Asia’ team that has the potential become a worldwide star.”
SM Founder Lee Soo Man Reveals Plans To Recruit New NCT Members In Indonesia
Lee Soo Man Elaborates On His Plan To Launch NCT Vietnam Team
But now he wants to do this instead?
QuoteIn the latest business deal to underscore the globalization of K-pop, MGM Worldwide Television Group is partnering with Korea’s SM Entertainment to develop a competition series to scout young American men to form a U.S.-based K-pop group.
To be more precise, the new boy group, NCT-Hollywood, will be the latest subunit of SM’s hit “concept” group NCT, a growing collective of members (currently numbering 23) who can be combined into various subunits: NCT 127 (Seoul-based), NCT Dream (originally a teen-only group) and WayV (China-based).
The talent search will be open to “America’s most talented emerging artists” who are males aged 13 to 25. Contestants will be flown to Seoul for K-pop bootcamp training at the SM campus, where each episode they will compete in dance, vocal and style tests and will be judged and mentored by SM founder Soo-Man Lee as well as various current NCT members.
MGM Television Teams With Korea’s SM Entertainment for U.S. K-Pop Competition Show
Geez, I really wanted to see NCT-Viet 
