7 Koreans Make Forbes' List of Young Leaders

Seven Koreans were named among Asia's young leaders by business magazine Forbes on Tuesday.

Forbes annually has selected 300 "young innovators and disruptors across 10 categories who are re-inventing their industries and driving change" in 24 Asia-Pacific countries since 2016.

In its latest list of "30 Under 30 Asia," included were boy band Bangtan Boys, also known as BTS, pianist Cho Seong-jin, teen actress Ahn Seo-hyun, figure skater You Young, skeleton racer Yun Sung-bin, golfer Park Sung-hyun and rock climber Kim Ja-in.

Forbes praised BTS, saying "If you asked most Americans to name just one Korean performing artist in the last year, odds are high the answer would have been BTS." Their music "has taken over the world in recent years, and 2017 was the year they finally cracked the notoriously competitive U.S. market. The seven-member Korean boy band performed at the American Music Awards in November, the first K-pop act to do the honors," it added.

The magazine also praised Cho who "became the first Korean to win first place at the prestigious International Chopin Piano Competition in 2015. His recorded performance at the Chopin Piano Competition gained popularity worldwide, including in Poland, the birthplace of piano virtuoso Frédéric Chopin."

As for Ahn, it described her as "a 14-year-old actress... who had her breakthrough role in the critically acclaimed 2017 Netflix film 'Okja,' which competed for the Palme d'or at Cannes... Ahn starred alongside major names like Tilda Swinton and Jake Gyllenhaal, and received widespread praise for her performance."

Four Japanese and three Chinese celebrities, including figure skater Yuzuru Hanyu and basketball player Zhou Qi, also made the list.

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