In A Post-THAAD World, K-Pop Focuses On New Markets Aside From China

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - NOVEMBER 15: Members of Boy band EXO (Baekhyun, Xiumin, Chen) attend the 2017 Asia Artist Awards on November 15, 2017 in Seoul, South Korea. (Photo by Han Myung-Gu/WireImage)

The spread of South Korean entertainment throughout Asia and much of the world has been going on for over two decades, and fans from around the globe have fallen in love with K-pop, K-dramas, K-beauty, Korean film and other cultural exports. With South Korea’s native population too small to sustain the industries at just over 51 million, localizing cultural exports and bringing them to other markets has been a major part of this. The Korean wave, or Hallyu, saw its biggest success in Japan, where stars like BoA, TVXQ!, Kara, and Girls’ Generation embedded themselves into the local entertainment industry, and the past few years have seen a shift on K-pop’s part towards China. But that’s changing.

With the Sino-Korean THAAD dispute still causing political strife, the lucrative financial relationship between Korean entertainment and Chinese financiers is seeing a lot of strain. As a result, Korean companies have begun to search elsewhere for audiences, looking towards old and new markets alike in attempts to revitalize the entertainment industries, most prominently K-pop. A return to focusing on Japan, aiming stateside, directing content towards Southeast Asian countries and leaning into Arabic-speaking audiences are all opportunities that K-pop companies are pursuing. 

Japan

Korean singers have long since learned how to localize their sound and become part of the J-pop scene. But while K-pop is still popular in Japan, it was only within the last year or so that many of the newer  acts shifted their attention to the country more fully, most noticeably TWICE, which features three Japanese members in its lineup and has topped J-pop charts, and EXO. Other groups like Gfriend and Seventeen, the latter of which has several Chinese members, recently announced plans to pursue the Japanese market.

According to Jenna Gibson, the director of communication for the Korea Economic Institute of America (KEI), the chilling of relations between China and Korea may have been responsible for this shift. “You can see some signs that firms are shifting their focus in the wake of [the THAAD] dispute,” said Gibson. “EXO, for example, was very invested in the Chinese market. Obviously losing several Chinese members had an impact as well, but I find it interesting that they've recently released their first Japanese album [Countdown, on Jan. 31] and that the CBX subunit  [Chen, Baekhyun, Xiumin] seems very focused on the Japanese market. I wonder if they would have started releasing so much Japanese content if China were still open to them.” EXO initially was a group formed of two smaller subunits, one Korean-oriented and one Mandarin-oriented, and has regularly released music in both languages. 

United States

K-pop has been trying since the mid and late-’00s to break into the stateside market. While many have tried, only a handful have truly been able to make their mark, most recently BTS and their immense, unparalleled success. But that doesn’t mean that the States is getting ignored by the rest of K-pop: while China is closed off, more and more Korean acts are heading to the U.S. to tour. Boy bands are the most popular and groups like GOT7 and Monsta X have both announced tours in the States, even while neither have shows currently planned in China.

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SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - NOVEMBER 15: Members of Boy band EXO (Baekhyun, Xiumin, Chen) attend the 2017 Asia Artist Awards on November 15, 2017 in Seoul, South Korea. (Photo by Han Myung-Gu/WireImage)

The spread of South Korean entertainment throughout Asia and much of the world has been going on for over two decades, and fans from around the globe have fallen in love with K-pop, K-dramas, K-beauty, Korean film and other cultural exports. With South Korea’s native population too small to sustain the industries at just over 51 million, localizing cultural exports and bringing them to other markets has been a major part of this. The Korean wave, or Hallyu, saw its biggest success in Japan, where stars like BoA, TVXQ!, Kara, and Girls’ Generation embedded themselves into the local entertainment industry, and the past few years have seen a shift on K-pop’s part towards China. But that’s changing.

With the Sino-Korean THAAD dispute still causing political strife, the lucrative financial relationship between Korean entertainment and Chinese financiers is seeing a lot of strain. As a result, Korean companies have begun to search elsewhere for audiences, looking towards old and new markets alike in attempts to revitalize the entertainment industries, most prominently K-pop. A return to focusing on Japan, aiming stateside, directing content towards Southeast Asian countries and leaning into Arabic-speaking audiences are all opportunities that K-pop companies are pursuing. 

Japan

Korean singers have long since learned how to localize their sound and become part of the J-pop scene. But while K-pop is still popular in Japan, it was only within the last year or so that many of the newer  acts shifted their attention to the country more fully, most noticeably TWICE, which features three Japanese members in its lineup and has topped J-pop charts, and EXO. Other groups like Gfriend and Seventeen, the latter of which has several Chinese members, recently announced plans to pursue the Japanese market.

According to Jenna Gibson, the director of communication for the Korea Economic Institute of America (KEI), the chilling of relations between China and Korea may have been responsible for this shift. “You can see some signs that firms are shifting their focus in the wake of [the THAAD] dispute,” said Gibson. “EXO, for example, was very invested in the Chinese market. Obviously losing several Chinese members had an impact as well, but I find it interesting that they've recently released their first Japanese album [Countdown, on Jan. 31] and that the CBX subunit  [Chen, Baekhyun, Xiumin] seems very focused on the Japanese market. I wonder if they would have started releasing so much Japanese content if China were still open to them.” EXO initially was a group formed of two smaller subunits, one Korean-oriented and one Mandarin-oriented, and has regularly released music in both languages. 

United States

K-pop has been trying since the mid and late-’00s to break into the stateside market. While many have tried, only a handful have truly been able to make their mark, most recently BTS and their immense, unparalleled success. But that doesn’t mean that the States is getting ignored by the rest of K-pop: while China is closed off, more and more Korean acts are heading to the U.S. to tour. Boy bands are the most popular and groups like GOT7 and Monsta X have both announced tours in the States, even while neither have shows currently planned in China.

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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tamarherman/2018/02/28/in-a-post-thaad-world-k-pop-focuses-on-new-markets-aside-from-china/