Finally tonight, the debut of a new K-pop boy band with an improbable origin story that

includes two North Korean defectors.

And a note for viewers, there is some flash photography in this piece.

The world of K-pop has fresh new faces.

The band, Universe, with a debut album and lead single, Shattered.

That's more than a pop hook.

It's an anthem, especially to band member Yu Huk.

He escaped North Korea as a child, joining his mom in South Korea.

She arranged to get him across the border.

His father chose to stay and died a few years later.

My song Shattered captures the feeling of my life breaking apart.

I'm sharing the story for the first time.

I wrote it drawing on the emotions when I heard my father in North Korea passed away.

He remembers starting work at nine years old and having to resort to desperate measures for food.

After I was caught stealing, I was beaten hard until I was bleeding. I've been through a lot in North Korea.

I've eaten spoiled, smelly rice.

Now that kid is a pop star in the making, worried no longer about basic survival,

and instead pushing back with music that

is pointedly illegal in the North and risky.

Reports indicate the North Korean government is cracking down on consumption of South Korean

culture.

A group working with defectors released this video.

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