China saw it as a security threat and reduced cultural ties with Korea. With limited information on the situation, China chose to further restrict foreign cultural engagement.
We can still see the impact in China, where only 34 foreign revenue-sharing movies can be screen per year

Given China’s is really cautious when it comes to collaborate with foreign influence, working with Korea made sense. However, this changed after the 2016 deployment of the U.S. THAAD system in South Korea.

Politics play a major role in shaping ideologies, consumption, and popular culture. Before 2016, South Korea and China often collaborated on cultural exports like films and dramas, benefiting both sides.

In my eyes I do think that cultural appropriation is less seen in Kpop, but at the same time, I dont follow it and the trends. It is than hard for me to get a bigger picture of the problem

Because of online discourse about cultural appropriation, a lot more of Korean artists interact with many people from different countries and are starting to be more educated on the matter. I think more artists are realizing that some things are not okay and they should get more educated

These days, even if the influence is still quite present, Korea started being more open to the world and I think that the industry is reflected by this change. By being more open and by people gaining more interest towards Korean artist, I think a shift is starting to appear

In Kpop, cultural appropriation as been largely seen since the early 2000. By appropriating hairstyles, to stereotypical clothes and practices during performances. Even 10 years ago, I remember seeing African-American influences in many different videos.

Cultural appropriation is something that we oftern hear about in the media. Being from Canada I think that this subject is particularly popular. In Korea however, this topic never seemed to be as important, considering that minorities groups are still developing.

It seems that this movement helped open many people’s eyes to the impact of objectification and the need for more respectful representation.

I believe it reflects the evolving political and cultural climate in Korea. The fact that many women began speaking out, especially during the rise of the MeToo movement in Korea around 2017, likely played a major role in shaping public attitudes and influencing the K-pop industry.

This shift may be linked to broader societal changes, particularly the impact of feminism and the increasing awareness around issues like sexual harassment. Although I do not often listen to girl groups or female solo artists, making it harder for me to observe these changes directly,

In K-pop, sexualization and objectification were quite prominent in music videos, especially between 2005 and 2010. While these elements still exist today, they seem to be less present or are more subtly implied.

In that case, it is making it difficult for them to challenge the status and advocate for change, as they know they will face consequences. There is a lot of cases were women spoke up and ended up themself in trouble.

Feminism, in particular, is heavily stigmatized and being associated with it can lead to public backlash or even career consequences. There is a persistent expectation for women to behave in ways that align with traditional, norms, often in harmony with male values.

Women in Korea often face significant barriers when trying to express their ideas openly. Despite being admired by younger girls and expected to serve as role models, many are still silenced or discouraged by those in positions of power.

Rather than being taken seriously as an artist, Psy was frequently reduced to a comedic artist, reinforcing Western stereotypes of Asian men as lacking traditional masculine traits.

An illustrative case is Psy, who rose to international fame with his viral hit Gangnam Style. As Park would explain in his article, “Psy exemplifies the Asian male trope of the emasculated and nonthreatening buffoon" (Park 2015, 204).

A common misunderstanding lies in the assumption that aesthetic choices such as fashion, or makeup are directly tied to one’s masculinity or lack of. However, aesthetic expression does not equate to masculinity.

Back home, I would often hear people comment that my “Kpop boys” looked too feminine, often describing their appearance as representing “soft masculinity.” This stereotype is frequently reinforced in Western media, where there is often a limited and rigid understanding of masculinity.

In my opinion, the integration of English into Kpop has only grown more significant since Jin and Ryoo’s article, further strengthening Kpop’s global appeal and making it a more effective medium for cross-cultural exchange.

transformation of Kpop. They would also agree that: "this hybrid K-Pop genre might be a potential node of cultural practice for new local identity formation through creating much richer and more diverse attributes of K-Pop in the process of its products" (Jin and Ryoo 2014, 129).

According to Jin and Ryoo, English appears in Kpop as a form of cultural hybridization. As this article is more then 10 years old, English lyrics in Korean songs was something relatively new. Since the mid-1990, the sociocultural environments accompanying globalization have caused a rapid

This is JYP

The founder of JYP Entertainment is also known for his stage name JYP. He is a South Korean singer, songwriter, record producer and we can also see him on television as a show judge. JYP Entertainment has been one of the leader in the expansion of Kpop.

This massive corporation is considered one of the biggest management company in Korea along with other big corporation such as SM Entertainment and YG Entertainment. JYP Entertainment has different branch on the global music market under different corporation such as JYP USA, JYP JAPAN and JYP CHINA

JYP Entertainment, founded by 박진영 in 1997, is a multinational South Korean entertainment company renowned for managing numerous successful artists and being one of the leading labels in the K-pop industry.

He even released is 15th album in 2024 called Blue Skies White Clouds.

His first and second albums although not explicitly anti-government attracted a lot of attention. Some of his songs were even banned and of course he was blacklisted. He then went to the USA were he formed a band who did not seem to last. But he continued is music career.

He distinguish himself from others for having long luscious hair and was often accused of looking like a girl. This did not stop him from making music and to this day we cans till see him rocking this hairstyle. His voice is quite low and deep which really had more to his songs.

Once again, in one of my class we discovered a new singer, at least new for me. 한대수 is known for being a folk rock artist. He started performing around 1969 in the Korean underground scene until he was drafted for the usual military service. He is also know for being a photograph.