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Even if Korean pop culture (“K-Pop”) isn’t one of the things you find yourself most passionately pursuing, or even count among your list of interests, the music duo Clon and, specifically, their wheelchair dance is something you might find quite interesting. The wheelchair dance is featured in a music video and is designed to help fight social prejudice against physically challenged people according to Clon members Kang Won-rae and Koo Jun-yup.

Hyun Jin-young and Wawa was the duo’s first release in 1990; however, the two didn’t hit it big until they teamed up with Kim Chang-hwan, a heavy-hitter in Korea’s music industry, and formed Clon. The three combined hip hop and techno beats with exceptional dance skills that helped them sell their unique sound.

At the height of Clon’s career, in November 2000, as Won-rae headed to his home on his motorcycle, he was hit by a drunk driver and fractured his spine. The accident left him paralyzed from the waist down. Within a few months, Won-rae had isolated himself from his music partner and from the world to the point where he was all but forgotten.

“I could not endure other people’s eyes staring at me,” Won-rae told The Korea Herald. “When I met somebody outside, I felt everybody around me took pity on me. It was so unbearable.” Yet, as he struggled to transition to life in a wheelchair, Won-Rae’s devotion to music remained steadfast.

Clon reunited and went on to release 2005’s album, Victory. Offering a brand new musical style with both slow and up-tempo tunes, the work clearly reflected the anger, pain, and happiness of the duo’s journey together. Several songs, including Lonely Outcry and Quiet Steps, even addressed the issues facing disabled people.

The track My Love, Kim Song is dedicated to Won-rae’s wife, who stood by him and helped him through the tough times he experienced after his accident. The music video for the song includes a 20-second scene in which Won-rae stands up on his own two feet, gives Jun-yup a high five and begins to dance. It was later revealed that Won-rae used the help of an assisting device to stand up and computer graphics had created the dancing scene.

The wheelchair dance, performed by both Clon members, was a natural extension of the group’s growth since those times. “Even families and patients with spinal injuries despise wheelchairs,” Won-rae said at a press conference. “We want to prove that kind of perception is wrong through our dance.”

Won-rae practiced for a year, until he said he felt that his wheelchair was a natural part of his body, before choreographing the dance. He hopes the impressive moves included in the dance, like a 360 degree wheelchair rotation, will inspire others. “We practiced really hard so as not to give up,” said both Clon members.

Today, Won-rae lectures at universities, talking to students about dance, pop culture, and overcoming physical obstacles. He was also appointed adjunct professor at Korea Nazarene University, where he said he’d like to be known as the “passionate professor in a wheelchair.”

“I have a different mission in life now that I have become a physically handicapped person,” Won-rae said.