K-pop world domination is older than you think – I couldn’t even escape it in North Korea 10 years ago
- Where on earth can you go if you don’t want to listen to K-pop? Surely a trip to North Korea would do it
- Apparently not, as this writer discovered in a Pyongyang hotel
By Jon Dunbar
One of the appeals of visiting North Korea is the chance to escape a lot of the trappings of modern society. We leave behind a world of advertising, of colourless high-rise complexes, of hyper-competitive consumer capitalism. We say goodbye to our phones and sign off on social media; at least that was the case on my first visit in 2010. And we are not subjected to K-pop – or so I had hoped.
Living in South Korea, K-pop is foisted on us against our will all over the place: in public, on mass media and all over the internet, reminding us that women should be simultaneously demure and sexy, beauty is everything, and keep consuming. It is not pleasant for people who are immune to boy bands and girl groups dancing in unison.
South Korea has been actively exporting idol groups in an effort to spread its soft power diplomacy. In those days, the big girl groups were Wonder Girls and Girls’ Generation, and even people who hated K-pop could recognise their songs due to overexposure.
On our way to North Korea, first we had to spend a night in Shenyang, China. The hotel we booked that was recommended for us turned us away, saying “No foreigners”. We found another one last-minute and spent the night there.
