# Haechan

Lee Dong-hyeok (Korean: 이동혁; born June 6, 2000), known professionally as Haechan (해찬), is a South Korean singer. He is a member of South Korean boy band NCT and its subunit NCT U alongside its fixed subunits NCT 127 and NCT Dream.

## Early life

Haechan was born on June 6, 2000, in Seoul, South Korea, where he lived until age seven. He then moved to Jeju, South Korea for five years before returning to Seoul, where he attended the School of Performing Arts Seoul. He is the oldest of four siblings.

## Career
### 2013–2015: SM Rookies

In 2013, Haechan joined SM Entertainment after passing the SM Saturday Open Auditions, where he sang "Baby" by Justin Bieber, "Hello" by Huh Gak and "Ugly Duckling" by Son Seung-yeon.
On July 17, 2014, he was introduced as a member of SM Rookies, a pre-debut training team managed by SM Entertainment. That year, Haechan, alongside other SM Rookies members, appeared in Exo 90:2014, a reality television series in which labelmate Exo recreated music videos and performed popular K-pop songs from the 1990s and early 2000s. In 2015, Haechan starred in the Korean revival of The Mickey Mouse Club. The show aired on Disney Channel Korea from July 23 to December 17, 2015, and was hosted by Leeteuk of Super Junior.

### 2016–present: Debut with NCT

On July 2, 2016, SM Entertainment revealed that Haechan would debut as a member of NCT's second sub-unit, NCT 127. The group released their first single, "Fire Truck", on July 7. On August 19, SM Entertainment announced that Haechan would also join NCT's third sub-unit, NCT Dream, which debuted with the digital single "Chewing Gum" on August 25. On December 19, 2018, it was announced that Haechan had fractured his shin bone while preparing for the Neo City – The Origin tour (2019–2020) and would be taking a hiatus from group activities to recover. During his recovery period, he participated in the January 26 and 27 concerts. He officially returned from his hiatus with an appearance at NCT 127's concert in Saitama several months later on March 29, 2019. On December 13, Haechan joined the rotational sub-unit NCT U with the release of the single "Coming Home" under the SM Station project.
At the Neo City – The Link tour (2021–2022), Haechan and fellow member Taeil performed an unreleased R&B track titled "Love Sign", which they composed with producer Deez [ko]. In 2021, Haechan released a remake of the 2006 SM Town's song "Snow Dream" for SM Town's album 2021 Winter SM Town: SMCU Express. Haechan recorded a remake of the 2001 Toy song "Good Person" for the soundtrack of the Playlist Studio web drama Ply Friends: Seoyeon University Class of '22 for release on March 6, 2022. However, CJ ENM announced that the release of the song would be moved forward by one day to "repay fans" for their enthusiastic reactions. Haechan and Taeil released "N.Y.C.T." under NCT U on September 7, 2023. They had previously performed the song at the Neo City – The Link tour.

## Artistry

Haechan stated that his mother greatly influenced his music taste by introducing him to songs such as "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson, whom he has cited in multiple interviews as one of his role models and the reason he wanted to pursue a singing career. Haechan also named labelmate Taemin of Shinee as a major influence, crediting his group's debut single "Replay" with inspiring him to become an idol and audition for SM Entertainment. The first album Haechan ever purchased was Shinee's Romeo (2009).
Music critic Kim Young-dae described Haechan's voice as the MSG in NCT 127's discography as it "connects all the different flavors and has a powerful impact on the adlibs". Changuk of Drippin cited Haechan as his role model.

## Philanthropy

In February 2023, Haechan donated ₩100 million to the Community Chest of Korea, thus joining its Honor Society, to help victims of the 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquake. In August 2023, he donated ₩50 million to the Korean Red Cross to support the victims and areas affected by the wildfires that broke out that month on the island of Maui, Hawaii.

## Discography

| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album |
| Title | Year | KOR | Album |
| "Snow Dream 2021" (with Yeri, Chenle, Jisung, Ningning) | 2021 | — | 2021 Winter SM Town: SMCU Express |
| "Good Person (2022)" (좋은 사람 2022) | 2022 | 115 | Non-album single |
| "N.Y.C.T." (with Tae-il) | 2023 | — | Non-album single |
| "—" indicates that the song did not chart or was not released in that region. ||||

### Songwriting credits

All credits are adapted from the Korea Music Copyright Association, unless cited otherwise.
List of songs, showing year released, artist name, and name of the album :
| Title | Year | Artist(s) | Album |
| "Like We Just Met" | 2023 | NCT Dream | ISTJ |
| "N.Y.C.T." | 2023 | NCT U | SM Station: NCT Lab |
| "Flying Kiss" | 2024 | NCT Dream | Dreamscape |
| "Best of Me" | 2024 | NCT Dream | Dreamscape |