"We plan to establish a subsidiary in Latin America in the third quarter of this year," it said Thursday.
The exact location of the subsidiary was not revealed yet, but it apparently aims to make its presence in the Spanish-language market, starting with its global audition project called "L2K," which stands for "Latin America to Korea."
In collaboration with Universal Music Group, the Korean talent mill giant wants to discover and nurture aspiring stars to form a Latin girl group through the project.
The latest project follows its successful collaboration with the American record label in 2022, which led to the debut of sextet girl group VCHA through "A2K," an audition show in the U.S.
Latin America is a burgeoning market for K-pop with an estimated market value of about $1.3 billion as of 2022, according to Korea's largest entertainment behemoth HYBE, which established its Latin American subsidiary in Mexico last year.
