Book Reviews—Korea 1097

KOREA

SINGLE-BOOK ESSAYS

K-pop: The International Rise of the Korean Music Industry. Edited by

JUNGBONG CHOI and ROALD MALIANGKAY. Media, Culture and Social Change in
Asia Series 40. London, Routledge, 2014. xii, 181 pp. ISBN: 9781138775961
(cloth, also available in paper and as e-book).
doi:10.1017/S0021911818001171

The last few years have brought the publication of several edited volumes on Korean
popular music (K-pop). As someone who teaches an entire class on this topic each semes-
ter, I am always searching for new readings to assign. The chapters in K-pop: The Inter-
national Rise of the Korean Music Industry fit the bill, as they are well written and tightly
edited, and although the writing is thoroughly academic, it is not theoretically taxing. The
book will prove somewhat challenging for undergraduates with little experience reading
academic work, but because the subject matter is so interesting I would not hesitate to
assign it. However, even though all the chapters are informative and of good quality,
some are a bit esoteric, while others are already becoming somewhat outdated—a con-
tinual problem with research on popular culture.
The volume’s ten chapters are not divided into separate sections; however, chapters 4
to 7, 9, and 10 are focused on K-pop beyond South Korea, while chapters 1, 2, 3, and 8
are more concerned with how domestic issues inform K-pop’s international rise. In the
introduction, co-editors JungBong Choi and Roald Maliangkay explain their interest in
exploring K-pop consumption and reception in various contexts and how the phenome-
non has achieved a cultural reach far beyond the region. They clarify that K-pop must be
understood as part of the broader Hallyu phenomenon of Korean cultural products, from
films and music to games, that have gained a following around the world. Choi and
Maliangkay explain that K-pop is “augmented entertainment” (pp. 4–5), a term they
prefer over variations of “hybridity,” as it better explains the genre fluidity, industrial mul-
tidimensionality, and government connections that contribute to the final product. They
argue that K-pop is a “meta-commodity that can commodify a host of other cultural goods
as pseudo avatars of K-pop idols” (p. 8). Perhaps most interesting is their assertion that
the questions of “why K-pop?” or “why Korea?” are themselves rooted in colonialism,
racism, and profound discomfort with how K-pop upends the conventional cultural
flows that privilege the West.
The first chapter starts off strongly with Maliangkay’s proclamation of K-pop not only as
music but as an entire package that relies just as much on visuals and fan attachment to spe-
cific groups and idols. Furthermore, in stressing the importance of understanding K-pop
not from the perspective of outsiders to the industry, but rather from the perspective of
the fans, he provides the background and context necessary for understanding K-pop’s
deep roots in various types of popular music in Korea originating in the twentieth century.
Next, Stephen Epstein addresses the complementary and contradictory representa-
tions and receptions of the long-running super group Girls’ Generation, which has been
repeatedly used to promote South Korea, Seoul, and various Korean products. This is not
1098 The Journal of Asian Studies

the first time Epstein has written about this hugely influential act, particularly its ability to
attract not just male fans, but also female fans who see them as role models.
Inkyu Kang then analyzes the political economy of idols. After explaining how the
government became involved in the popular culture industry, Kang discusses how con-
cepts from political economy, such as standardization, rationalization, and commodifica-
tion, can be applied to K-pop. The idols are, in his interpretation, an entertainment labor
force that offsets the reality of despondent youths in the depressed job market of contem-
porary South Korea.
Kim Ju Oak’s contribution (chapter 4) provides a historical account of how TVXQ
broke into the Japanese music industry despite not being represented by the powerful
agency Johnny and Associates, which dominates male idol marketing in Japan.
Eun-Young Jung (chapter 7) takes up these threads to track both the ambivalent reaction
to K-pop’s success in Japan and the tense love-hate relationship with Korean things. She
explains how “Japan’s contested national pride is played out in the realm of popular
culture” (p. 128), which is particularly remarkable since the Japanese already have
their own well-established boy and girl idol groups.
Liz Guiffre and Sarah Keith also study a specific setting by examining the K-pop pro-
gramming on SBS PopAsia in Australia. Their chapter illustrates the effective methods
employed by the broadcaster to highlight K-pop as visualized music while also educating
the Australian audience about the music and Korea. Choi’s chapter, meanwhile, addresses
K-pop in Latin America, briefly explaining how the popularity of K-dramas contributed to
local K-pop success before arguing that Japanese popular culture has served as an inter-
mediary between K-pop and its young fans in Latin America. This interview-informed
chapter reveals the barriers that K-pop has to surmount to become a major cultural
force in the region, including the high cost of authentic CDs and concert tickets. Conse-
quently K-pop fandom in the region is based on “cultural enlisting” through cover dance
(p. 109) and local K-pop-themed parties.
Shin Haerin’s contribution is particularly well written, if highly focused on what is
hopefully a singular incident—the online witch hunt seeking to prove that Tablo of Epik
High could not possibly have earned the degrees from Stanford University that he did,
in fact, earn. Shin discusses spectatorship instead of fandom or audience, and how specta-
tors may derive “transgressive enjoyment” (p. 134) from a case like Tablo’s. She castigates an
industry that “structurally condones or even actively promotes voyeurism as a lucrative
add-on commodity” (p. 137). This chapter will be particularly helpful in giving students
more precise rhetorical tools by which to discuss how netizens affect the lives of idols.
In chapter 9, Gaik Cheng Khoo analyzes the Malaysian parodies of “Gangnam Style.”
Although the chapter clearly connects to K-pop, it teaches us much more about Malay-
sian politics and says nothing specifically about K-pop. It is interesting, but placement in a
different volume would have made more sense. Similarly, the final chapter by Maliangkay
and Geng Song discusses male beauty ideals in China, but it does not confine itself to self-
proclaimed K-pop fans. The authors are conscious of regional differences in K-pop
reception in China, demonstrating how the Chinese-Korean population in Jilin, for
example, finds male K-pop idols good looking but shows a preference for Chinese mas-
culinity, while the population in Hong Kong deems Korean idol masculinity worthy of
emulation. They conclude, however, that time may push the population in Jilin, as
well, to aspire to images of Korean masculinity.

CEDARBOUGH T. SAEJI
University of British Columbia
cedarbough@gmail.com
Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 2018