UN was a boy idol duo composed of Kim Jung Hoon (김정훈) and Choi Jung Won (최정원) who used to be in the short-lived boy band group Bronz. Both were about to become solo artists respectively but were then recommended by composer Choi Soo Jung (최수정) that they should be as a duo. Their name's acronym stands for United N-generation. They debuted on July 26, 2000 and disbanded on September 26, 2005. The duo was signed to Raffle (also spelled Laful) Entertainment until their disbandment.
Voice Mail (2000)
Their first album was released alongside their debut date on July 26, 2000. The album at first had little success but as months went on, the album slowly started to gain traction in popularity. The first single Voice Mail was rated #13 on the K-pop charts. You Are The One was also released as a single.
It was around this time of the release of You Are The One, that many live performances of the duo performing together for the album were halted due to Jung Won sustaining a leg injury when they were on the celebrity game soccer show, Let's Go! Dream Team. Jung Won also had to pay 200 million won which is about $76,000 in compensation for not being able to participate for the rest of the duo's live performances that year. Ultimately, Jung Hoon had to perform alone for the majority of their performances that year once Jung Won's leg was healed.
The last single from the album 평생 gained popularity during the winter of 2000 because of it's theme of the winter season.
Label: Doremi Records Sold On: CD & Cassette Genre: Pop Style: Kpop
Traveling You (2001)
Their second album was released in July of the following year. It gained a lot more traction than their last album did. It sold more 200,000 copies nationwide, which was double the amount that Voice Mail sold. The CD was a 2 disc which featured parts such as a screen saver of the duo, a profile bio about them, a special voice mail from the members and a phot gallery. All 3 singles did very well: 파도, 선물 and 40 Days.
Again, Jung Won sustained another injury. This time to his shoulder when they were featured their second time on Let's Go! Dream Team. It resulted in Jung Hoon again having to perform alone for the majority of the duo's live performances.
Label: Doremi Records Sold On: CD & Cassette Genre: Pop Style: Kpop
Extreme Happiness (2002)
The third album was released on November 14, 2002. It was the second-best album the duo had in record sales. It sold around 130,000 copies nationwide. The single Miracle was the main success from the album and was very successful on the charts. The follow-up singles that were also popular were Crazy For You and 나의 사랑 나의 신부.
Label: Doremi Media Sold On: CD & Cassette Genre: Pop Style: Kpop
Sweet & Strong: Kim Jung Hoon + Choi Jung Won (2003)
Sweet & Strong was a 3.5 special album released August 21, 2003. The concept of the album was for the members to sing solo on each song. This album made fans confused because it led to rumors spreading that the duo was going to split. Nevertheless, at the time, these rumors weren't true. Three singles came out of the album: 유리 sung by Jung Hoon, Summer Story and 말하자면 both sung by Jung Won. About 51, 624 copies were sold.
Label: Raffle Entertainment
Sold On: CD
Genre: Pop
Style: K-pop, Ballad
It was during this period that Jung Hoon and Jung Won, while still a duo and performing together, also did side gigs. Both had their own radio stations. Jung Won's being "최정원의 감성시대" and Jung Hoon's "김정훈의 인기가요". Additionally, both members hosted for entertainment shows such as SBS's Inkigayo and KBS's Music Bank. Their agency was already preparing to release the duo's fourth album for the beginning of 2004. However, in the spring of 2004, Jung Won had a sudden hospitalization and needed to undergo hernia surgery. The surgery had unfortunately pushed back their fourth album's release instead to the summer.
Reunion (2004)
Reunion was released on June 30, 2004. The songs on the album 사랑할걸 그랬나봐 and 연인들의 바다 were originally proposed by the members to be their comeback. Both singles were turned down by the composers, lyricists and their agency. Due to their comeback being pushed back Honeymoon was decided to be their comeback single for the summer. Both members opposed this decision. Their opposition was understandable when sales plummeted to about 36,854 copies and the success from the single did not receive rave reviews. In fact, Honeymoon is considered the duo's most forgettable single.
Label: Raffle Entertainment
Sold On: CD
Genre: Pop
Style: Kpop
어쩌면 (2005)
The single 어쩌면 was released in March of 2005.
Label: Raffle Entertainment
Sold On: Digital
Genre: Pop
Style: Kpop
Seventy Five Centimeter (2005)
Their final album was released on May 18, 2005. As being the duo's last album, it succeeded on the charts a lot better than the fourth. The duo's vocal style also changed into a more mature nature than prior. The single 그녀에게 succeeded well on the charts for a short period of time. They released the second single 눈물아 제발. Likewise, it sold about 20,000 copies.
Label: Doremi Media
Sold On: CD & Cassette
Genre: Pop
Style: Kpop
Rumors began circulating off and on about UN considering disbanding because they were becoming less popular. Furthermore, it was considered that Jung Won was suffering from mental health issues and that it also might be a reason. While disbandment was correct from rumors, it was UN's agency Raffle Entertainment who announced that once the duo's contract expired on September 26, 2005 they would disband. Since their contract expired, they have not released any new albums to date.
Goodbye And Best [2000-2005] (2006)
UN's agency decided to release a compilation for the duo on January 26, 2006.
Label: Doremi Media
Sold On: CD & Cassette
Genre: Pop
Style: Kpop
11 years later on July 5, 2016 UN reunited on Sugarman.
As for Jung Won and Jung Hoon after their contract expired, both quickly went on to do acting roles in Kdramas. Nevertheless, they did not receive the same popularity as they did when in UN. Both apparently have released quite a few solo albums. Jung Hoon during his solo career has also gone under the name John Hoon and has sung for Kdramas and is still active in the entertainment industry. The same also goes for Jung Won. Since reuniting on Sugarman, Jung Won and Jung Hoon have been vocal on different talk shows about the true reason for UN's disbandment, which is that their contract had indeed expired and it was not due to Jung Won's mental health or member conflicts.
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