Who Is Park Jihyun? Meet Korea's 'Trot Prince' in 2026

Park Jihyun (박지현) is a South Korean trot singer, born December 12, 1995, in Mokpo, and the man Korean entertainment headlines now call the “Trot Prince” (트롯 왕자). He finished second on the TV Chosun audition show Mr. Trot 2 in March 2023. Then, in February 2026, his first full-length album, MASTER VOICE, put nine of its ten tracks on Melon’s HOT100 the day after release. If his name keeps turning up in your feed, that album and the sold-out tour that followed are why.

Quick answers

• Park Jihyun is a South Korean trot singer, born December 12, 1995, in Mokpo, who took second place (the “seon” rank) in the March 16, 2023 final of Mr. Trot 2.
• “Trot Prince” is a press nickname that was already in headlines before his first full-length album, MASTER VOICE, came out on February 23, 2026, and the album’s roughly 250,000 first-week sales are what made it stick.
• He is signed to Grace ENM, an agency founded in March 2025 that counts him as its first artist.

Who Is Park Jihyun Trot Prince? A Quick Profile

Park Jihyun is a trot singer from Mokpo, a port city on Korea’s southwest coast, and he turned 30 in December 2025. His name is written 박지현, and the surname sounds closer to “Bak” than to the English word park (the R is an English spelling habit, not a Korean sound). The short timeline: four straight wins on KBS1’s singing contest Norae-ga Joha (노래가 좋아) in 2021, second place on Mr. Trot 2 in 2023, a first mini album, OCEAN, in January 2025, and the full-length MASTER VOICE on February 23, 2026. He released that album with a new agency, Grace ENM.

How Did Park Jihyun Go From a Mokpo Fish Market to ‘Trot Prince’?

His path ran through military service and a fish market, not a training academy. After his discharge he worked alongside his mother in the seafood trade at Mokpo’s fish market, for four or five years by his own count on a 2023 visit back (Singlelist). Watching the first Mr. Trot is what made him wonder whether someone like him could still make it as a singer. His first test was KBS1’s Norae-ga Joha in 2021, where he won four rounds in a row and earned the show’s “honorary graduation” (명예졸업). Then came Mr. Trot 2, which started on TV Chosun in December 2022. In the live final on March 16, 2023, he took second place, the “seon” (善) rank, behind winner Ahn Sung-hoon (etoday’s final-night report).

What Made MASTER VOICE Such a Big Deal in 2026?

MASTER VOICE is Park Jihyun’s first full-length album, released at 6 p.m. on February 23, 2026, and its numbers are what made the buzz stick. The day after release, the title track “Mu” (무, 無, “nothing”) sat at No. 13 on Melon’s HOT100, and the album’s other eight tracks were on the same chart, a sweep Korean press calls a chart “line-up” (줄 세우기) (Segye Ilbo, February 24). The tenth track, an instrumental version of “Mu,” is the only one that didn’t chart. The album went on to sell about 250,000 copies in its first week, and on March 11 it was No. 1 on Hanteo’s weekly trot chart (Segye Ilbo, March 11).

Scroll the album credits and you’ll see one name on seven of the nine charting tracks: Yoon Myung-sun, the composer behind Jang Yoon-jeong’s trot hit “Eomeona,” who produced the whole record. The two exceptions are “Opening,” by arranger Haegu, and “Dancing In Love,” written by GLABINGO and Nickko Young.

The tour turned the chart run into ticket sales. “SHOWMANSHIP SEASON 2” opened at Olympic Hall in Seoul on April 10–12, 2026, ran as an eight-city tour (both nights at Seongnam Arts Center on July 18 and 19 sold out), and was set to close with a two-night Seoul encore at the same hall on August 29–30. The encore sold through YES24 Ticket (encore listing), one of the four main platforms for Korean concert tickets.

Why Is Park Jihyun Called the ‘Trot Prince’?

“Trot Prince” (트롯 왕자) is a label from the Korean entertainment press, and it came before the chart run rather than after it. iMBC put it in a headline on February 14, 2026, nine days before MASTER VOICE came out, and the story’s first line bumped him up to “Trot Crown Prince” (트롯 황태자) (iMBC). What the album did was make the label his default tag: Segye Ilbo’s March 11 wrap-up of the album campaign leads with it, and it was still in headlines in July 2026 when he went street-busking in Japan for a travel show. Fans have their own names for him, too: “Mokpo’s Son” (목포의 아들) and “Hwaleo Voice” (활어 보이스, literally “live-fish voice”) for how lively his tone sounds, which suits a singer who spent years on a fish market floor.

Korean outlets also frame his agency move as him standing on his own (홀로서기). His earlier agency was TN Entertainment, and Grace ENM is a newer company whose management largely came over from TN (TrotMagazine). It was founded in March 2025 around the manager who had worked with him since his rookie days, and he was its first artist (OSEN). In May 2026, fellow trot stars Lee Chan-won and Kim Hee-jae left TN Entertainment and joined him there.

Photo © GRACE E&M

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How old is Park Jihyun?

He was born on December 12, 1995, in Mokpo, so he turned 30 in December 2025 and turns 31 on December 12, 2026.

Q: Is trot singer Park Jihyun the same person as actress Park Ji-hyun?

No. They share the Hangul name 박지현, which is why search results mix them up, but the actress from Reborn Rich (2022) and the film Hidden Face (2024) is a different person, born in 1994. The trot singer is the Mokpo-born Mr. Trot 2 runner-up.

Q: What show made Park Jihyun famous?

Mr. Trot 2 on TV Chosun, which started in December 2022; he finished second in its March 16, 2023 final. Before that, he had won four straight rounds on KBS1’s Norae-ga Joha in 2021.

Q: What kind of singer is Park Jihyun?

A trot singer, working in the two-beat, heavily ornamented style that Koreans also call ppongjjak. On MASTER VOICE most of the songs come from one trot composer, Yoon Myung-sun, with “Dancing In Love” as the outside-team exception.

Q: Which Park Jihyun song should I listen to first?

Start with “Mu” (무), the MASTER VOICE title track, which was No. 13 on Melon’s HOT100 the day after its February 2026 release. For his audition-show side, compilation albums of his Mr. Trot 2 stages are still coming out, with Part 9 released in May 2026.

Q: Which agency is Park Jihyun signed to?

Grace ENM. It was founded in March 2025 around his longtime manager, he was its first artist, and Lee Chan-won and Kim Hee-jae joined in May 2026. Profiles that still list TN Entertainment are out of date.

If Park Jihyun is your ipdeok moment, the point where a casual listen tips into fandom, start with MASTER VOICE and work back to the Mr. Trot 2 stages. It’s the record that turned an audition-show runner-up into the singer Korean headlines call the Trot Prince.