LONDON • You have heard of K-pop. Now, tune in to UK-pop, with Simon Cowell set to unleash new boy and girl groups to take on an army of Korean rivals, from BTS and EXO to Blackpink and Twice.

He will draw recruits from a show called X Factor The Band, he told The Sun, adding that the talent quest will start next year.

"K-pop is ruling the world. This is a show to find a band to launch UK-pop," said music mogul Cowell who has made a name with such contests as American Idol and Britain's Got Talent.

"It's more than winning a record contract, it's starting a new music wave," he added. "Every group will be put together by us - just like One Direction, Little Mix and Fifth Harmony. It's people who represent Britain's version of K-pop."

Cowell masterminded the careers of boy band One Direction as well as girl groups Little Mix and Fifth Harmony, after they caught the public's eye in his show The X Factor.

While netizens note that what he wants to do now is not revolutionary since the term Britpop has been bandied around for a long time, they feel that the music industry can only benefit from his injection of fresh ideas into existing formats.