Which group paved the way in Southeast Asia?

i paved the way

All 3 of them and Wonder Girls' Nobody. TVXQ was really big in SEA, especially during 2007-2009. Their fans were probably the most hardcore. Rain was big with his dancing skill and a drama named Full House with Song Hye Kyo. And of course SJ with massive hit Sorry Sorry in 2009.
If you ask about what actually paved the way for Hallyu wave, it was a lot earlier than that with Kdramas in late 90s to early 2000s like Star in my heart, Autumn in my heart, Winter Sonata...

Quote from akmoo

i paved the way

OK, I believe it!! :P

It has to be TVXQ. It was quiet on all fronts for kpop in every part of Asia until they debuted.

Probably Rain actually due to Full House

But Suju in terms of group. Dongbang was big but they never had the obsession scale as big as Suju. Suju was just massive in SEA and still is honestly. Almost everyone knows Siwon

the first widely known k-pop artist in Thailand is Baby V.O.X. There was also Paran that promoted in Thailand and somewhat recognized. Earliest K-pop artist to get popular in Thailand possibly is Rain, followed closely by Super Junior.

The first Hallyu content to commercially published in Thailand is the film "Shiri" but not well received. Korean film and drama were glossed over until "My Sassy Girl" and Autumn In My Heart" hit Thailand.

K-drama and runningman

SUJU

Super Junior! Followed by Rain!

K-dramas and Super Junior

Super junior

SuJu for sure. Japan is not part of SEA so it's not tvxq

SuJu for sure.

Also I know that Got7 has a monopoly in SEA( like TVXQ in Japan).

Hot take, but I actually think it's SNSD, and not because I am a fan

2005-2008 was when both K-pop and Japanese pop thingy with cartoon and stuff got into Asia. Of course people do know Winter Sonata, TVXQ and SuJu but Japanese pop culture was more of a thing, cartoons like Dragon Ball and such was much more mainstream

2009 was when neomu banjjak banjjak nuni busheo attack, accompanied by Wonder Girls Nobody( I think the English version was the popular one in SEA) and Sorry Sorry

but yet SJ doesn't really cater to the general public as we know SEA people back then was extremely conservative and seeing two half-naked dudes kissing each other on stage back then was a nightmare for many

Thus why Soshi was the one who soldify K-pop to SEA, others have tried but the ' Soshi Golden Hits' of Gee-Genie-Oh!-Run Devil Run-Hoot-The Boys was THAT thing that makes K-pop a huge ass genre in SEA

I think even Korean government know this thus why the girls was appointed as Korea's Tourism Icon and got invited to the Blue House