A lot of people active on English speaking kpop spheres aspire to become idols, which is not a bad thing. Its a good thing to work towards your dreams. But a number of those people take it to the extreme and bash kpop companies for not debuting lets say a foreigner of non asian descent in their kpop groups.
here is just a simple reason why kpop companies simply dont need to fufill diversity standards.
1st, there is no need for minority representation when THERE ISNT ONE in the country of Republic of Korea.
Evidence: According to Statistics Korea (KOSTAT) and the CIA World Factbook, the population is overwhelmingly ethnically homogeneous. As of recent years: Koreans make up about 96% to 98% of the population.
The remaining 2–4% includes foreign residents. And guess what the foreign residents include Chinese, Southeast Asian workers, international students, and biracial Koreans.
Western media often emphasizes racial and cultural diversity as a standard (especially in the U.S., where multiculturalism is part of the national identity). However, South Korea’s domestic audience — the core market for most K-pop acts — does not have significant ethnic diversity.
So it DOESN”T MAKE ANY sense for kpop companies to cater to an audience that does not even exist within the country of Korea. Therefore, minority representation might be vital in a country such as the states because the population is very diverse a lot of different races, but applying that same expectation to a homogeneous society with different cultural values is just plain ignorance.
It just shows a total lack of cultural awareness when kpop fans asks korean entertainment companies to debut “non asian descent” foreigners in their kpop groups. Please stop projecting and forcefully installing your own western ideals on a country that has completely different cultures and cultural context as the west.
Not to mention, when Koreans themselves use the word “foreigner”, 80-90% of the time, they are talking about Chinese and Japanese, or people of a different nation, and not necessarily talking about people of non asian descent.
Some counterarguments:
1st, Some might argue that “K-pop is global now, so it should reflect global diversity.” Since kpop is consumed by millions of non Asian fans around the world, it should start representing them.
However, K-pop being global doesn’t mean it stops being Korean. Companies still prioritize their core market: Korea + Asia. Western fans enjoying K-pop doesn’t entitle them to reshape it into something it’s not. Consumption ≠ ownership or entitlement to representation.
2nd, “This argument sounds xenophobic or gatekeep-y.”
The argument isn’t about race exclusion, but about cultural context, business strategy, and market reality. When you are a CEO of a business, the first thing you’ll prioritize is what makes you the most money, and producing a product that does not cater to your domestic market is just plain stupidity. It’s not racist to acknowledge that a homogeneous country with different values doesn’t cater to the same ideals as multicultural ones. It’s about recognizing cultural boundaries, not reinforcing racial ones.
3rd, Some might also point to Katseye as a counterexample — a girl group created through HYBE x Geffen’s The Debut: Dream Academy, with a lineup of racially diverse members from around the world.
But here’s the key thing:
Katseye is not a K-pop group in the traditional sense whether fans like to admit it or not.
It’s a Western pop group with K-pop influence, created for a Western market, under a Western label (Geffen), and based in the United States. It does not have the pressure from a business or societal standpoint to cater to the korean audience. Most koreans in Korea do not consider Katseye a kpop group.
In fact, the fact that HYBE partnered with a Western label and produced the group outside of Korea only reinforces the idea that:
1, If you want Western-style diversity, you need a Western market and Western infrastructure.
2, Korean companies clearly separate their domestic strategies from Western ones.
So no — Katseye doesn’t “prove” Korean companies are diversifying. It proves that when they do, it’s for non-Korean audiences, and even then, it’s under different branding and management.
submitted by /u/Justinandmessi107lox
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