David Tizzard is a professor at Seoul Women’s University, holds a PhD in Korean Studies, and hosts the Korea Deconstructed podcast. He has lived and worked in Seoul for more than two decades. Reach him at datizzard@swu.ac.kr.
K-pop still sucks
By David Tizzard
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By David A. Tizzard
German sociologist Max Weber observed that modernity is not defined by technological or scientific developments, but rather a change in the way that people think. Thus it is ideas that are capable of both shaping and defining the worlds we inhabit.
A traditionalist society does not question things. It adopts a position in which the right of kings is accepted simply because that is the way it always has been. A reluctance to change grips people's minds ― leaving them in both a state of fear and submission.
A modern society on the other hand brings with it citizens who rationalize. It is found in a population that questions authority, traditional cultures and practices, and is able to think reflectively upon their own behavior.
The past week in South Korea has seen those two ways of thinking clash with the disturbing revelations of sexual abuse and malpractice by some of its formerly most beloved K-pop idols. How far-reaching this story stretches is as yet unknown, but some believe that it extends to lawmakers, politicians, police officials, and beyond.
SBS reporter Kang Kyung-yoon brought to light a series of distressing and horrific messages in which male pop stars were found to have been secretly recording girls during their encounters with them. Moreover, there was also indication of giving them illegal intoxicants and barbiturates so as to render them unconscious during these acts.
The entrapment of young women, often drugged and then filmed, was seemingly a game to those involved. An attitude of competition and point-scoring was clearly visible. A sense of entitlement brought about by power and deeply-entrenched values.
Kang's bravery and forthrightness should be lauded. Moreover, her concerns about the reactions to these events and the industry itself should not go unheeded: “We may have become too lenient to their wrongdoings in the name of the Korean Wave.”
Institutionalized habits in the Korean music industry remain very far removed from that which one would expect in social life and coercion is carried out through economic incentives and sanctions. Traditionalism reigns supreme and this is often done for reasons of nationalism.
The Korean Wave ― otherwise known as “hallyu” ― is certainly one designed for export. The K in K-pop is an exonym, for to local citizens the country is known as 'DaeHan Minguk”. Han-pop doesn't quite work though, does it?
Moreover, what is generally understood to be actual Korean music ― whether the traditional sounds of pansori or the ubiquitous sounds of ballad-drenched electronic trot ― does not get the moniker applied to it.
BTS, not implicated in this latest scandal, have taken some of the world by storm in this latest manifestation of Korean pop. Their catchy electronic hooks, along with J-Hope's dancing and RM's ability to speak English, have been combined with a social media presence that would make even the most active Russian political bots blush.
President Moon has taken to Twitter on multiple occasions to promote the band and lavish praise on their success. Though politicians aligning themselves with the musical stars is not anything new.
Nevertheless, K-Pop is often a soft-power weapon used to bolster the image of the country and detract from the still unresolved civil war that it fought nearly seventy years ago with North Korea. It also serves to sell dreams to the citizens here.
Last October I wrote a piece titled “K-Pop Sucks” in which I decried the strict and backward practices that are observed in the Korean music industry. While many readers wrongly perceived it as an attack on their favourite artists, the country as a whole, or as trying to objectively judge something as subjective as music, it was more about the suffocating nature of the business and the traditional behavior that permeated many of its inhabitants.
Little has changed and sexuality remains a problem.
The infantilization?of Korean pop stars is often enforced through contractual agreements. Thus, these cosmetically beautiful starlets are forbidden from dating or conveying any indication of having romantic interests of an adult nature in their own lives.
Yet on stage they are hyper-sexualized, wearing skimpy clothes and dancing provocatively ― often in high-school-esque clothing playing up the well-known 'lolita' complex and appealing to 'uncle' fans. Their image is then carefully constructed to have them perceived as blissfully unaware of what a real grown-up, modern relationship is like.
These stars in their mid-20s carry on as children, making heart shapes and blowing kisses to their fans while living an outwardly-visible life of supposed celibacy.
The Korean K-pop fan is rather idiosyncratic, too. The fans believe they are in an actual relationship with the idols. It is this view that primarily prevents the stars from having relationships because to do so would be seen to be cheating on their fans ― who in turn are their customers and drivers of this industry.
There is also an element of possessiveness and it is not uncommon for fans to refer to these idols as one would to a child or a pet ― with terms such as “nae sekki” (my baby).
The sexual mistreatment of either men or women is not unique to South Korea, evidenced by the stories involving Harvey Weinstein, Michael Jackson, Hope Solo, Kevin Spacey, Louis CK and a whole host of others around the world.
The western world has also seen firsthand what happens when institutions promote chastity and abstinence with the Catholic sex abuse scandals that are continually surfacing and the snowballing depth of what was always believed revealing shocking numbers and, more worryingly, wide-spread collusion, corruption and cover-up.
Yet here in South Korea the severity of spy-cam porn and the illegal filming of women (and men, yet to a far lesser extent) is undeniable. Protests and documentaries, as well as victims and criminals, testify to the widespread nature of this perverted phenomenon.
There is an underlying current of possession or entitlement that makes many feel they can use others without cause or concern for their feelings or individual rights. People are dehumanized, and wrongly so.
It is pleasing to see that those ideas are now being challenged and an awareness that social stratification based on power, rife for abuse, needs to end. In a modern democratic nation in which everyone is considered the individual sovereign of their own life, the behavior demonstrated by these pop stars was clearly unacceptable.
I have frequently praised the unbelievable political and social development of this country, particularly as it finds itself surrounded by countries not willing to do so. Yet, there are some specific industries which seem unwilling to join in this practice.
Of course, not everyone in the K-pop industry should be tarnished with the same brush or blamed because of the actions of a few. However, the habitualized actions of the music business are not challenged enough, by those inside and outside of the field.
And thus while in Weberian terms, the growing majority of people of South Korea are very much modern in their outlook, challenging authority and thinking rationally, the music industry still seems to run on traditional lines.
Idol stars are often recruited at a very young age and then forced to adopt practices, habits, and behaviours very much out of sync with how people should grow and develop in a contemporary world. Furthermore, they miss out on important life lessons and crucial aspects of development under the control of companies seeking profit and national success.
In order to prevent future abuse and victims, I would suggest that the country consider its attitude towards K-pop in this regard because it is still being supported and funded and as the past week has reminded us once again, it's not just the art that is suffering.
David Tizzard (datizzard@swu.ac.kr) is an assistant professor at Seoul Women's University.