Yang Hyun Suk explains why his image on 'WIN' is so different from his image as a judge on 'K-Pop Star'

Viewers, who had been used to seeing Yang Hyun Suk's kind image on 'K-Pop Star', couldn't help but be surprised by his severe and harsh turn on YG Entertainment's survival program 'WIN'.

Regarding the differences in his image, Yang Hyun Suk shared in an interview, "To those who are not my children, I try to be as lenient as possible. But to my children, I try to be as strict as possible. I often hear that my image on 'K-Pop Star' and 'WIN' are so different."

He continued, "Within the YG Family, my role is not to be the person who compliments good work but the person who points out the flaws and fills in the aspects where they're lacking. I purposely hurt them so that they can develop thick skin," revealing that by dishing out some tough love, he is able to better prepare them for the harsh words they'll hear out in the real world. "Although only two teams are battling on 'WIN', when they go out, their competitors are in the hundreds and thousands. So I have to do whatever I can to raise them strong before I send them out."

Yang Hyun Suk also revealed his thoughts on the subject of Korea's unique idol training system as he stated, "'WIN' shows the vivid process of idols being trained and formed through this system in Korea. Thus, I think it serves as good contents for those around the world to understand K-pop. To be honest, it is difficult to find the system like that of major Korean agencies in the States or the United Kingdom. Over there, they don't make idols practice so harshly and it's not possible to make them do so either."

So what is it that allows this strict and harsh idol training system to work in Korea? 
"It is incorrect to say idols are made. Among rising stars who want to pursue music and dance so much, it is my role to discover whoever has talent. Even if I severely train a genius who has no passion for music or better yet, doesn't want to do it, there would be no good results. We create the platform for them to pursue the music and dancing that they want to do," he began.

As Korea's system is one in which an individual is trained and pushed hard from a very young age to help them succeed whether it be in academics or business, Yang Hyun Suk explains that this could be the upside and the competitive edge that helps make the idol training system a success. "Kids are pushed into the world of competition by force from a very young age whether it be in education or what school they get into, so when they actually find themselves doing something they really want to be doing, not something that they're pushed to do, they work really passionately and hard. It's probably hard to find people with such competitive spirits in other countries. Like they say, the smallest pepper is the spiciest. In the perspective of overseas competitors, Korean idols are probably those spicy peppers."

Closing off the interview, Yang Hyun Suk revealed his hopes behind 'WIN' and the new boy group that will emerge as he said, "The purpose of all this is not to just simply put out a new group for the sake of it. It also includes my determination that one agency can create, no, must create, content of this level."