"Star Factory" in Korean: the grim reality of training K-Pop singers in Seoul

21-year-old Euodias from the UK moved to South Korea as a child to become a pop star. Unfortunately, the girl's pink dreams were shattered by the gray reality of life in a training center for future singers. There, teenagers were forced to study for 18 hours a day and starve themselves into unconsciousness. Two years later, Juodias decided to leave Korean show business and return to Britain. Find out what the girl had to go through during her stay in the Seoul "factory of stars" from our material.The Korean pop star, who moved to Seoul from the UK as a teenager to become a member of a female musical group, openly spoke about the grueling work at the "factory of stars". The girls had no days off, they were strictly controlled and forced to sleep on the floor in cramped rooms.

21-year—old Juodias is a resident of Sunderland. She spent two years in a training center for future pop singers, wanting to become a star in South Korea. The girl could not stand the harsh regime in which future singers were forced to starve and rehearse until they drop. The producers urged the students to do plastic surgery to make them look more glamorous. In the center there were "uncles" who closely monitored the behavior of the students.

The beauty has Chinese and Korean roots. She grew up on South Korean TV series and dreamed of becoming a star since childhood. When the girl turned 10, she started sending videos of her vocal performances to various companies and soon received an offer to audition in Seoul. 2000 people took part in the casting. A few days later, our heroine was offered to sign a contract. Juodias moved to South Korea, leaving her family to live and study at the center for future singers.

The producers stipulated that if she left the company before the end of the contract, her family would have to pay the full cost of her studies. The mother signed a contract for the shortest period — two years. Juodias moved to an institution where she settled with other students aged 9 to 16 years. Relatives could visit the girls only with the permission of the company. The pupils were allowed to use the phone only for 15 minutes a day, at night.The training was very tough. The day started with dance classes at 5.00 and ended at 23.00. The institution strictly defined the time of lights out, after which the dorm door was closed for the night. Many girls were looked after by "uncles" who controlled whether their wards were in place. There were no weekends and holidays for girls. Within the walls of the institution, they did not even use real names. Instead, instructors assigned numbers to future singers.

Juodias was a favorite of the producers due to her smallness and thinness. The girls' weight was strictly kept under control. None of the pupils of the institution should have weighed more than 47 kg, regardless of age and height. A student who went beyond the limits was put on a strict diet or deprived of food altogether. Because of this, there were cases of anorexia and bulimia, and many girls stopped menstruating. Often they fainted from exhaustion.

Juodias lost consciousness twice during dance classes, and then came to her senses in her bed, not remembering how she got there. In the end, the girl was offered to join a Korean pop group, but she had to pass the casting. However, her opponent turned out to be more beautiful. Juodias did not pass the selection, and the producers offered her to have plastic surgery, adding that her stage image had to be very restrained, sweet and innocent.After the end of the two-year contract, the girl returned to England. She was finally reunited with her family and friends, and began attending courses at the art foundation. Now Juodias is preparing to enter the fashion school in Paris.

Often strict restrictions lead to the irreparable. In recent years in Korea has seen a whole series of suicides among popular young artists.