Immediately upon the book’s release, that idea - just one of many in the book - started to grow fangs. In the early days, the ministry subsidized projects like paying for Korean dramas to be dubbed in other languages. A new subdivision within the Ministry of Culture was devoted to K-pop and other aspects of the Korean wave. South Korea was a pioneer in wiring a whole nation for broadband, with the aim of making Korean entertainment shareable with the world. One - just one - of my theses was that starting in the 1990s, Korean government officials mobilized to increase the soft power of their country by becoming a global pop culture exporter. I wanted to alert the world of the Korean pop cultural tsunami that was on the way.

Many people considered his success a fluke. At the time, the only Korean performer the Western world knew was Psy, the guy who did “Gangnam Style” and whose video was the first to get a billion views on YouTube. Here’s the back story: In 2014, I wrote a book on the origins of Korean popular culture. A rumor that I am constantly asked to address. I hope the fact that the South Korean government basically forced the band to retire will put to rest the persistent rumor that K-pop in general, and BTS in particular, is funded by the Korean state as part of a cunning plan. But South Korea will be out the estimated $5 billion that BTS contributes to the gross domestic product each year. 13, and photos of him in uniform and with a buzz cut predictably created a social media frenzy. Jin, at 30 the band’s oldest member, was the first to enlist, on Dec. The news unleashed global heartbreak on the magnitude of seven conscripted Elvises. I was hugely relieved when its record label announced in October that BTS’s seven members would not seek exemption from their mandated military service and that the group would be on hiatus until 2025, by which point these K-pop idols will have completed their service. The South Korean boy band BTS has been low-key ruining my life for years.

Give it to me kpop