Baekho

Baekho

Nickname(s)

Sexy Bandit

Birth name

Kang Dong-ho (강동호)

Birth date

July 21, 1995 (1995-07-21) (age 27)

Birth place

Jeju Province, South Korea

Occupation

Singer

Years active

2012–present

Agency

Pledis Entertainment

Associated acts

NU’EST
Kang Dong-ho, better known by the stage name Baekho (백호), is a South Korean singer and actor. He debuted in 2012 as the main vocalist of South Korean boy group NU’EST.

Early Life

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Baekho was born and raised in Jeju, South Korea. He is the oldest child in his family, having one younger brother.

According to Baekho, he was playing with his friends in his hometown (Jeju Island) when he was casted by the Music Director of Pledis.

After becoming Pledis’ trainee, he attended Seoul Broadcasting High School, along with JR, and graduated in 2014. He is currently attending Paekche Institute of the Arts in the Music Department. 

Career

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Pre-debut

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Baekho became a Pledis trainee after being scouted in by the company in 2010. He gained more attention after he appeared in After School’s Music Video “Play Ur Love”. In 2011, JR and Baekho appeared on KBS‘s Hello Counselor and were revealed by After School Kahi as two of the members of the group. This drew attention from the viewers, so they became a topic of interest on the internet.

Prior to debut, Baekho made numerous appearances in their labelmates’ music releases as a member of Pledis Boys. He was backup dances for After School Blue’s Wonder Boy, and appeared in their label’s Christmas release Love Letter, along with releasing their own music video for the song.

NU’EST

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On 15 March 2012, Baekho debuted as the main vocalist of NU’EST. In 2013, Baekho and Ren began acting with appearances in Uee’s drama Jeon Woo-chi.

In early 2014, Baekho was diagnosed with vocal fold nodule. However, Baekho wanted to continue performing and he proceeded to promote and practice with NU’EST while receiving treatment. Pledis Entertainment announced in November that Baekho would be taking a temporary hiatus from all group activities. His doctors advised that he completely rest his voice and underwent vocal cord surgery. In February 2016, he has revealed that he’s recovered from his vocal cord nodules entirely.

Produce 101

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In 2017, NU’EST halted all promotions since JR, Baekho, Minhyun and Ren were announced to be participating in the second season of Produce 101.

First Round of Elimination

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He started off being placed in group D due to the weak group performance in the first episode. In the first live-audience mission, his team performed “Boy In Luv” by BTS, but they lost to the competing group. He ranked #58 in the first round of elimination.

Second Round of Elimination

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In the position-based challenge, he chose vocal, and, with his team, covered “Playing With Fire” by BLACKPINK. His was ranked #2 in the vocal group, and was not able to win the bonus points. In between the second elimination round, a mini contest of who punches the strongest is conducted. Baekho won the contest, and was given the title “Punching King”. He ended up ranking #13 in the second round of elimination.

Third Round of Elimination

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During the third challenge, Concept Evalution, Baekho and his team were assigned to perform Devine-Channel’s Open Up. His team won the live votes, resulting in at least 20,000 benefit votes for each member. In addition, the group also got to perform on M! Countdown. He was ranked #12 in the third round of elimination.

Final Round of Elimination

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In the last challenge, debut song evaluation, he joined his groupmates, JR and Ren, and other contestants to perform Super Hot by Ryan Jhun. He finished the competition in 13th place, and could not debut with Wanna One.

Controversies

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On June 21, 2017, an Naver user claimed that she was sexually assaulted by Kang Dong Ho when they were in middle school. She also provided proof of knowing Baekho by posting photos of messages between her and Baekho as well as a video of her calling him.

On June 23, 2017, Pledis Entertainment provided an official statement, stating that Kang Dong Ho did know the accuser since they were both from Jeju. However, the statement claimed that the accusation was false, and that Pledis would file a lawsuit against the accuser.

At the moment, Pledis is proceeding with a criminal case instead of a civil case regarding the Dongho sexual assault allegation. If charged, the accuser could face upto 8 years in prison and a fine of almost 10 million won (almost 9000 dollars).

Personal Life

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On July 3, 2017, Baekho’s father, Kang Ikhyun, passed away in an accident.

Trivia

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• His stage name means White Tiger.
• He got the name, Baekho, from labelmate, Uee, because she thinks that he looks like Slam Dunk’s character “Kang Baekho”.
• He has 4 tattoos: a star with “what you give is what you get” on his right chest, “N’abandonnez paz” on his left chest, a white tiger on his arm, and a compass on his leg with “as the divine will, as the divine judgement” added.
• His favorite K-group is Bigbang.
• DBSK are his role models.
• He knows Kumdo and has been practicing it for 7 years.

Social Media

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