Will K-pop’s political ambivalence hurt its goals for western expansion in the long-term?

In Olga Fedorenko’s article, “Korean-Wave celebrities between global capital and regional nationalism”, she states that hallyu celebrities function as both representatives of Korean nationalism and, within Asia, symbols of an ethnically blind, cosmopolitan “asianness” (2017). These traits make them lucrative but volatile investments: lucrative because of their wide appeal and volatile because regional disputes (Fedorenko 2017). Fedorenko gives the example of the dispute between South Korea and Japan over Tokto/ Takeshima islands and how it affected the careers of actress Kim Tae-Hee and idol group Kara. In the case of Kim Tae-Hee, who was one of the first hallyu stars to accrue a large audience in other Asian countries, she starred in a Japanese drama in late 2011 after gaining popularity there, however, as the drama was beginning to air Kim’s past support for a Korean Tokto came to light causing avalanche of petitions, protests, and even death threats (Fedorenko 2017: 509, 510). This caused Kim’s popularity in Japan to wane while she received a lot of praise in Korea, and she seems to focus on promoting in Korea these days (Fedorenko 2017: 510). With the idol group Kara we see the inverse happen. After finding success in South Korea, Kara debuted in Japan in 2010. A couple years later, during a press conference in Seoul, a Korean journalist asked them about the disputed islands and the group choose not to answer the question (Fedorenko 2017: 510). While this was met with a positive reaction in Japan, Koreans criticized them for their silence and accused them of choosing Japanese fans and money over Korean patriotism (Fedorenko 2017: 510). Ultimately, Fedorenko argues that the domestic, foreign, and commercial demands placed on hallyu celebrities are “fundamentally irreconcilable” (2017: 499). 

K-pop idol groups tend to take the approach of being apolitical when in the west but will they begin to be caught up in western regional disputes as they gain popularity? I say yes and it’s already started. Case in point: BTS’s concert in Saudi Arabia. Many of western BTS fan were not happy with a concert being held there, many saying they felt that BTS’s values were not compatible with the treatment of women and LGBTQ people in Saudi Arabia, but the concert went on anyway. In the future, this will be brought up again and will influence how westerners think about BTS.

Fedorenko, Olga “Korean-Wave celebrities between global capital and regional nationalism.” Inter-Asia Cultural Studies 18, no. 4 (2017): 498-517.