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Jungwoo and Lee Know as MCs for ‘Music Core’? NCT and Stray Kids accidentally let the truth out

News about Jungwoo and Lee Know as the new MCs for 'Music Core' hasn't been confirmed officially, but NCT and Stray Kids members have let the cat out of the bag

The music industry in different parts of the world operates quite differently. While music in the West is primarily promoted through radio slots and performances, in the East songs become popular in other ways. In South Korea especially, K-pop culture is pretty distinctive. Apart from promoting their songs through interviews and variety shows, music shows play a big part. Music shows ignite competitiveness among artists, companies and fans as newly released songs compete against each other for music show 'wins'.

These music shows play a very integral role in promoting the artists’ music and hence require moderation. Music shows like ‘Music Core’ and ‘M Countdown’ hire popular celebrities, from idols to actors, to play the part of the MC or the host. These MCs then are the face of the music show as they interview the artists that are promoting their music and moderate the show. Well, it looks like NCT’s Jungwoo and Stray Kids’ Lee Know might be the next MCs for 'Music Core'.

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NCT's Jungwoo and Stray Kids' Lee Know as MCs

Some iconic MCs have been NCT’s Doyoung, GOT7’s Jinyoung, Blackpink’s Jisoo, Seventeen’s Mingyu-Song Kang, DIA’s Chaeyeon, Gugudan and I.O.I’s Mina, NCT’s Mark, Wanna One’s Seongwu with TXT’s Soobin, and Oh My Girl’s Arin. With reports of NCT's Jungwoo and Stray Kids' Lee Know as MCs, fans are excited to see them interacting and hosting together. However, several major music shows are going on a hiatus at the time the Tokyo Olympics 2021 will be airing.

There have been even some more changes quite recently. MBC’s 'Music Core' announced that one of their MCs, SF9’s Chani would be leaving the show after 2 years and 5 months. He was hosting the show with Stray Kids’ Hyunjin and IZ*ONE’s Minju. A day after the news of his departure, reports came in that he would be replaced by NCT’s Jungwoo and Stray Kids’ Lee Know.

However, MBC released an official statement addressing the matter and said that nothing had been decided yet. Their music show ‘Music Core’ will be temporarily halted for three weeks from July 24th onwards. The show is set to return on August 14. Many believe that that’s when the new MCs will be announced. But due to some miscommunication and spoilery V Lives, the news of Jungwoo and Lee Know as MCs can practically be confirmed.

Last month, during a V Live between NCT’s Taeyong, Doyoung and Jungwoo, the boys spoke about Jungwoo’s individual activity. Taeyong and Doyoung wanted to brag about Jungwoo and said that it is something that they’re proud of. When Jungwoo asked what the two were talking about, Taeyong whispered in his ear and Jungwoo replied that it's something the fans do not know yet. Without context, this V Live isn’t enough to guess if they’re indeed talking about Jungwoo’s MC gig. But we have another idol who spoke about it.

An hour after the MC reports were released, Stays started talking about it on Bubble, the K-pop social media app where fans can interact with idols. Stray Kids’ Han saw their messages and said, “Oh an article about Lee Know mc-ing came out…[he’s] going to be mc-ing please take care of him well.” Fans found it funny that Han had no idea that the news had not yet been confirmed. As he realised his error and went on to change the topic. NCTzens also took his message as confirmation for Jungwoo since it seemed to correlate with the vague V Live.

It should be pointed out that only the news of SF9’s Chani leaving has been announced. There has been no news whether IZ*ONE’s Minju and Stray Kids’ Hyunjin will be leaving too. So, some Stays are worried and confused as they wonder if this means that there will be 4 MCs or if Lee Know will be replacing his group member. A Stay ended up tweeting, “Stays trying to celebrate mc lee know while thinking about what is going to happen to mc hyunjin.”

Other fans were excited as they went on to support the boys and creating memes due to the confusion caused by the members of Stray Kids and NCT. An NCTzen tweeted, “OOOHHH so that's what taeyong whispered to jungwoo and doyoung was saying the fans don't know yet.. KIM JUNGWOO MC ON SATURDAYS!!!!!” Another tweeted, “We're gonna see jungwoo in cute outfits every week and hear him sing for special stages.” A Stay tweeted, “Literally han jisung today with 'mc lee know.'” Another tweeted, “From dancer to an all rounder to radio dj to model to fisherman to music show mc? lee know booked I love the progress deserve a documentary.”