SM Entertainment, the nation’s largest entertainment agency, will launch a worldwide talent search next year.

SM is slated to hold a large-scale global audition with agency representatives heading to nine countries and 28 cities across Asia, Europe and North America, the agency announced Wednesday. And for the first time for a Korean agency, SM will take auditions to Russia, where K-pop has slowly begun to spread and taken on a life of its own.

SM is home to some of K-pop’s biggest and most internationally recognized acts such as Girls’ Generation, Super Junior, TVXQ and EXO.

In search for the nation’s next big act, SM officials will also be heading to Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Canada, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and China, as well as hosting local auditions across the nation for singers, dancers, actors, models and composers looking to make a splash in the Korean entertainment industry.

By Julie Jackson (juliejackson@heraldcorp.com)