After a hiatus during which Jang continued to attend university, he debuted again in 2004 as part of a ballad duo called Baram – which means “wind” in Korean. He changed his stage name to Jang-goon and the duo was active until 2005 before disbanding.

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He has his own YouTube channel

Despite his packed schedule, the singer gives us glimpses into his life on his YouTube channel, also named Jang Minho. Through various types of content, from behind-the-scene vlogs to short Q&A sessions, he constantly keeps his fans entertained. Just in case there was any doubt of his popularity, his channel gained over 20,000 subscribers in two hours after he created it in 2020.

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He can speak Chinese

According to W Korea, Jang can speak Chinese, having learned it later in life. When the duo Baram was active, they had an opportunity to perform in China, and Jang noticed that fans were much more receptive to when singers spoke on stage in Chinese. In preparation for future performances in China, he started to learn the language and found that he picked it up quite quickly. Thus, he kept learning and is now practically fluent. He even recorded a Chinese version of his hit song The Man Says.

He was a swimming instructor

Not only is he versatile musically, Jang has also experimented quite a bit with his career as a whole. During an appearance on Radio Star, he mentioned that in his early 20s, he quit singing for a while and became a swim coach. He started off teaching evening classes catered towards young office employees, teaching for two months. Towards the end of those two months, the older women who were part of the pool’s morning classes actually complained to the pool staff, saying they wanted to see the rumoured “handsome former idol coach” – which led Jang to lead the morning classes instead. He worked for two years as a coach, even becoming friendly with the regular students he taught.

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He’s incredibly generous

Not only has Jang been sponsoring a child through Compassion International for over 10 years, he’s known for being very generous towards his juniors and friends as well. On an episode of the variety programme Bob Bless You, it was revealed that although he wasn’t wealthy, he didn’t hesitate to give money to fellow trot singer Lim Young-woong – who also shot to fame after his appearance in Mr Trot – after hearing that he was struggling.

According to the episode, Jang often makes random promises just so he has an excuse to give gifts to his juniors. In one case, when he first made his YouTube channel, he declared that if his channel passed 10,000 subscribers in a week, he’d gift his juniors, Lim Young-woong and Lee Chan-won, shoes and clothes. When his channel surpassed that number in a matter of hours, though it was unexpected, he indeed came through with his promise.