Kangta
South Korean singer
An Chil-hyun (Korean: 안칠현; born October 10, 1979), known professionally as Kangta (강타), is a South Korean singer, composer, songwriter, record producer, actor and radio personality. Known for his work as a member of boy band H.O.T., he is currently an executive at his longtime agency SM Entertainment since 2005. He is also the chief producer of Smashhit from SM's label Kreation Music Rights since 2023 and the general producer of SM's music label SMArt since 2025.
Career
1996–2001: H.O.T.
Kangta was discovered at Lotte World, a theme park, when he was 13 years old. He made his debut on-screen appearance as a backup dancer together with future bandmate Moon Hee-joon for labelmate singer Yoo Young-jin. Kangta eventually decided to become a singer with Moon and three others, Jang Woo-hyuk, Tony An, and Lee Jae-won to form H.O.T. in 1996.
The group disbanded in 2001 when the group's contract expired and the members decided not to renew it.
2001–2002: Solo debut, Polaris and Pine Tree
Kangta released his first studio album Polaris on August 16, 2001, and began his solo career with the title track "Polaris". On this album, he wrote, composed and arranged seven songs and produced the album. Even at the beginning of the recession in the music market, it sold 300,000 copies within a week of its release, ranking first in record sales, and was a great success with sales close to 500,000 copies.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Kangta” as south Korean singer. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as south Korean singer. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q482847. VIAF identifies the subject as 3149616703903750995. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1979, 2005, 2023 and 2025.
Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Kangta”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Kangta primary sources, Kangta archive and Kangta research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Kangta”?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
- How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Kangta” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.