Kim Ji Hoon reveals story before Super Junior’s creation when Donghae & Leeteuk were in a group called ‘Smile’

ActorKim Ji Hoonrevealed some behind the scenes stories before the formation ofSuper Junior.

Kim Ji Hoon was a recent guest onSBS‘s ‘Strong Heart‘, and shared a few stories when he used to be a part ofSM Entertainment. He revealed that he had practiced dancing withLeeteuk,Eunhyuk, and evenTVXQ‘sYunho.

He said, “I think Leeteuk and Eunhyuk are amazing. Before Super Junior was created, a group named ‘Smile‘ was formed. Ultimately, it didn’t come to fruition but Leeteuk andDonghaewere members in that group.”

Leeteuk confessed, “‘Smile’ was supposed to be the match to TVXQ. I always greeted people brightly and said, ‘Hello, I’m Smile’s Jungsu.’ We were just about to debut, but we didn’t. We didn’t know that South Korea would make it to the semi-finals at the 2002 World Cup. The soccer passion was so hot that we figured we wouldn’t gain attention even if we debuted.”

Kim Ji Hoon added, “It was actually for the better. There were five members, and Leeteuk along with Donghae stayed but the other three members couldn’t stand it and left the group. So in the end they became Super Junior.”

He also revealed his surprise at Super Junior’s success. When Super Junior was first announced, he revealed that he had his worries and said, “There was no past history in Korea indicating that a 13-member group could succeed, so I had a serious talk with them. Lets say they make 100 million KRW (approximately $90,000 USD), then they’d split half of that with the company, and then split it 13-ways once again with all the members. What would they do in terms of transportation? Would they use a tour bus? I sincerely worried about them. I had no idea that they’d one day be 1st place in Taiwan for 110? 117 weeks.“