Biography & History

Kangin was scouted by a talent agent and was recommended to sign up for SM Entertainment's talent competitions. In 2002, Kangin won first place on the fourth annual SM Youth Best Contest and won the best outward appearance award and signed a contract with SM Entertainment.

Along with Hero, U-Know and future band mate Heechul, SM Entertainment placed them in a small project music group called Four Seasons, with each of the four members representing the four seasons of the year. The prospective group never came through; both Hero and U-Know were chosen to join another all-male singing group TVXQ, which debuted in December 2003. With two members gone, the idea of Four Seasons dropped. Kangin and Heechul were then placed in Super Junior along with ten other trainees under the same company. This project group managed through well, and they debuted two years later on November 6, 2005 under the name Super Junior 05, the first generation of Super Junior.

In early 2006, SM Entertainment was beginning to recruit new members for the next Super Junior generation, Super Junior 06, with Kangin still as an undergraduate member of Super Junior. However, plans changed following the rising popularity of the group and the company declared a halt in forming future Super Junior generations. The group dropped the suffix "05" and became officially credited as Super Junior. The re-polished group hit it big after they released their first CD single "U" the following summer in 2006, which became Super Junior's most successful single in the music charts until the release of "Sorry, Sorry" in March 2009.

During his career with Super Junior, Kangin was put into two subgroups, smaller groups that is branched off of the larger Super Junior group. In February 2007, he was placed in the trot-singing Super Junior-T. A year later, he became a member of Super Junior-Happy.

On October 16, 2009 around 3am, an intoxicated Kangin crashed into a parked taxi that held three passengers and left the scene of the accident. Six hours later, Kangin turned himself in to the police. He was recorded to have a blood alcohol content of 0.082% after he turned himself in. The accident was recorded as being a hit-and-run despite Kangin turning himself in later. He failed to show up in the afternoon for further investigation and had to be called in the following day.

SM Entertainment and Kangin released an official public apology shortly after. All of Kangin's activities were canceled by SM Entertainment until the end of the year due to Kangin's actions. A month later Kangin made an appearance in a new clothing company, SPAO's website. Netizens were enraged due to SM Entertainment's declaration of the suspension of Kangin's activities. It was later found out that the photos were taken prior to Kangin's DUI accident. Kangin was charged and fined 8,000,000 won (approximately $8,000 USD).