Boy band ZeroBaseOne to debut in mid-2023

Boy band ZeroBaseOne at the final episode of Mnet's audition program ″Boys Planet″ [WAKEONE]

Boy band ZeroBaseOne (ZB1) will debut in mid-2023.

“ZeroBaseOne has currently started preparations for its debut, planned in the middle of 2023. Detailed dates will be notified when confirmed,” WakeOne told the Korea JoongAng Daily on Monday.

ZeroBaseOne is a nine-member project group that was formed through cable network Mnet’s audition program, “Boys Planet” (2023). The nine members — Zhang Hao, Sung Han-bin, Seok Matthew, Ricky, Park Gun-wook, Kim Tae-rae, Kim Gyu-vin, Kim Ji-woong and Han Yu-jin — will be signed for two and a half years under WakeOne, an entertainment agency subsidiary of CJ ENM.

“Boys Planet” started airing on Feb. 2 and aired 12 episodes in total. The 12-week journey saw a total of 98 contestants perform in group missions and slowly get eliminated by viewers’ votes each week. Divided into the “K Group” of Korean contestants and “G Group” of global contestants, consisting of 49 each, “Boys Planet” saw more than 200 agencies in 84 countries submit hopefuls.

Viewer votes from Korea accounted for 50 percent of the tally, and the other 50 percent was determined by votes from abroad.

BY CHO YONG-JUN [cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr]