Obama gives shoutout to SHINee; K-pop group sends back the love

In case you’ve been living under a rock, the K-pop hype has taken over the world from Asia to America—and it looks like it’s here to stay.

If you need further proof, a world leader has gone as far as recognizing its power.

Former United States President Barack Obama gave a shoutout to Korean pop culture’s influence that has spread across America.

2015 photo of Barack Obama. Image: Facebook/@barackobama

Obama was in Seoul for the 8th Asian Leadership Conference where he discussed the strong relationship between the U.S. and South Korea, and praised “Korean creativity,” reports All KPop.

“Famous movies are being filmed in Korea. Young people in the U.S. learn Korean so they can understand SHINee,” he said, referring to the five-member all-boy group behind the hit songs “Ring Ding Dong” and “Lucifer”.

Image: Facebook/smtown

He added, “Likewise, I heard SHINee likes U.S.A.’s In-N-Out hamburgers.”

SHINee member Key has since thanked Obama for the mention and confirmed the group’s love for the American burgers in an Instagram post:

Thanks for mentioning us, Mr. Obama. SHINee will do our best for the growth of global ‘pop culture’. and YES! We do love ‘IN-N-OUT’ :) #FormerUSPresident #BarackObama #SHINee 오바마 전 대통령님! 샤이니 언급해주셔서 너무 감사합니다. 저희는 앞으로도 문화 발전에 힘쓸것이며 . 네 저희는 인앤아웃을 무척이나 좋아합니다 <3

A post shared by KEY (@bumkeyk) on Jul 3, 2017 at 1:40am PDT

The group has been active since 2008, and has a growing global fanbase. They held their first U.S. concert this 2017 in Dallas as part of a world tour.

SHINee also dropped by in the Philippines last March 2, 2017 as one of the acts in the “One K in Manila” Global Peace Concert. Niña V. Guno/JB

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