Japanese scholar says K-pop’s roots lie in Korea’s 1990s yearning for freedom

From left, Audrey Nuna, Ejae and Rei Ami from "KPop Demon Hunters" appear at the MTV Video Music Awards in Elmont, New York, Sept. 7. AP-Yonhap

The global success of K-pop can be traced back to Korea’s turbulent social atmosphere of the 1990s — a time when young people longed for freedom and sought new ways to express themselves through music, according to Japanese scholar Joho Yamamoto.

Yamamoto, a lecturer at Ritsumeikan University in Japan, shared his perspective in a written interview on Tuesday. He described K-pop’s creative power as stemming from two key elements — “a strong message of yearning for freedom” and “a hybrid sensibility that learns from the outside world and turns it into something new.” These, he said, form the foundation of K-pop’s artistic vitality.

Last month, Yamamoto published the Korean edition of his book "The Modern History of K-pop." A specialist in Korean studies, modern Korean history and popular culture, he has previously served as a visiting researcher at the Academy of Korean Studies and has written several works in both Japan and Korea.

His interest in K-pop began in 1995 when he first visited Korea as a university student. The Japanese edition of "The Modern History of K-pop," released in 2023, traces the history of Korean popular music from the late 19th century to the present and examines how Korea’s modern history shaped its global rise.

For the Korean edition, Yamamoto personally translated and updated the work, adding insights into more recent trends.

The book opens with Korea’s acceptance of Western music during the late Joseon period (1392-1910) and follows the cultural exchanges between Korea and Japan that influenced modern popular music.

While many Japanese audiences link the K-pop boom to singer BoA’s debut in the early 2000s, Yamamoto argues that the groundwork was laid much earlier — in the 1970s and 1980s, when Korean singers such as Lee Sun-hee, Cho Yong-pil and Kim Yeon-ja found success in Japan’s enka scene.

“The presence those artists built in Japan helped lay the emotional foundation for the later acceptance of K-pop,” he said. “Their music wasn’t just enka or trot — it was a cultural act that conveyed Korean emotion and sentiment.”

Longing for freedom as the seed of K-pop

Yamamoto identifies Korea’s 1990s struggle for freedom of expression under authoritarian rule as the true starting point of K-pop. During an era of political censorship and social conservatism, music became a channel for resistance and individuality.

Lee Soo-man, who later founded SM Entertainment, left for the United States to explore global music trends firsthand; Yang Hyun-suk, founder of YG Entertainment, fought against lyrical and stylistic censorship as part of Seo Taiji and Boys; and Park Jin-young of JYP Entertainment pushed cultural boundaries through bold self-expression and innovation.

“K-pop was not just a genre of music,” Yamamoto said. “It was a movement of self-expression by a generation seeking its own voice in a time of oppression.”

From Japan to the world

Yamamoto explained that K-pop’s early success in Japan provided the financial and cultural base for its global expansion.

Japan’s strong consumer power and open-mindedness toward Korean artists allowed the K-pop industry to grow steadily and reach international audiences. K-pop, in turn, integrated lessons from American and Japanese pop with Korea’s unique historical experience, transforming them into a distinct hybrid style.

“In recent years, Japanese pop has also begun to learn from K-pop — adopting performance-centered production and exploring new forms of fandom culture,” he said, describing how the two countries continue to influence each other in different eras.

A stage of maturity, not decline

Although concerns about slowing album sales have fueled talk of a K-pop “crisis,” Yamamoto believes the genre is entering a new phase. “It’s not a decline but a stage of maturity,” he said.

“After rapid growth, the industry is now restructuring. Rather than focusing on numbers, we should look at depth of expression and cultural reach. K-pop is evolving toward a more diverse era.”

As for the rise of globalized groups without Korean members, Yamamoto sees this as a natural part of K-pop’s evolution.

“It shows that K-pop has already become a global language,” he said. “When people from different countries and languages share a sense of ‘Korean sensibility,’ it means K-pop has developed beyond an industry into a global cultural ecosystem. This change doesn’t erase K-pop’s boundaries — it expands them, making them broader and deeper.”

Joho Yamamoto, lecturer at Ritsumeikan University in Japan / Courtesy of Joho Yamamoto

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.