Who’s the smartest K-pop idol? Hallyu IQs ranked – from BTS member RM and Astro’s Cha Eun-woo to K-drama hottie Song Joong-ki
- Long before starring in Netflix’s Vincenzo, Song Joong-ki graduated from the prestigious Sungkyunkwan University while 2PM’s Taecyeon is a notorious polyglot
- Exid’s Hani scored 900 out of 990 on the TOEIC after just two months of studying – and Block B’s Park Kyung was the first K-pop idol to get into Mensa
That’s right – a handful of our fave K-pop and K-drama stars boast ridiculously high intelligence quotient (IQ) scores (alongside their invariably jaw-dropping good looks.)
According to Healthline, only two per cent of people in the world have an IQ score above 130 – an elite category indeed. So just how many of these mini-Einsteins can be found among the Hallyu set?
Epik High’s Tablo: 160
Daniel Armand Lee, aka Tablo, is not just a chart-topping rapper and recording artist, but a graduate of Stanford University. What’s even more remarkable is that he has an IQ as high as Stephen Hawking and Albert Einstein. Once when he was a guest on TVN’s Problematic Men, he was able to solve a brain-melting puzzle in less than 20 seconds.
Block B’s Park Kyung: 156
Park Kyung from boy group Block B comes from a family of geniuses; during an appearance on MBC’s Daehan Foreigner, he revealed that his elder sister is a renowned English teacher in South Korea.
According to The Korea Times, he was the first K-pop idol to become a member of Mensa, the largest high IQ society in the world. A maths prodigy, he also revealed on Daehan Foreigner that he attended a school for gifted students when he was in high school.
Changmin from TVXQ: around 150