▲ Vcha ⓒ JYP Entertainment

JYP Entertainment announced on Thursday its plans to establish a local subsidiary in Latin America and launch an audition program titled "L2K," aimed at creating a new Latin girl group. This move marks JYP's significant entry into the Latin American music market.

The new subsidiary is expected to be launched within the current quarter. This expansion will enhance the company’s artist tour regions and introduce new business opportunities, while fostering better communication with local fans.

The "L2K" program, short for "Latin America to Korea," is designed to create a Latin girl group utilizing the K-pop training system. JYP is also pursuing a strategic partnership with Universal Music Latino, a division of Universal Music Group, as part of the "L2K" project.

▲ The logo of the Entertainment 
“Through 'L2K,' we aim to produce the world’s only global Latin girl group trained under the JYP system, while preserving the authentic spirit of Latin music through our collaboration with Universal Music Latino,” stated JYP Entertainment.

Previously, in 2022, JYP established JYP USA to broaden the overseas tour regions for artists such as Twice, Stray Kids, and Itzy, and to develop new business models and strategic collaborations in North America.

In 2023, JYP launched “A2K,” an audition program created in collaboration with Republic Records, aimed at forming a K-pop-based North American girl group. The program, featuring JYP’s head producer Park Jin-young as a judge, began with auditions in Atlanta, Chicago, New York, Dallas, and Los Angeles.

“A2K” showcased the growth of North American contestants through an intensive boot camp in Los Angeles, with the final stages held in Korea. The program accumulated approximately 65.75 million views, averaging 2.98 million views per episode.

The success of the program led to the debut of Vcha, a girl group consisting of Lexi, Camila, Kendall, Savanna, KG, and Kaylee.

Sayart / Rachel Bae, sungmin.b.213@gmail.com