Music and Sports History | Free Audiobooks | Famous Speeches | Podcast by Henry Gindt

We’ve all been exposed to K-Pop these days, whether you’re an American Twitter user, where you see K-Pop often drowning out trending controversial hashtags, or living in China or Japan feeling the “Korean Wave,” or are even living in North Korea, where up to 70% of North Koreans are exposed to K-Pop by listening to recordings on flash drives according to some estimates and reports. Even Kim Jung Un of North Korea hosted a history shattering K-Pop concert featuring hit K-Pop group Red Velvet and over 100 other groups in March/April 2018 just before the Peace summit between the two Koreas later that year. The impact of K-Pop on global diplomacy cannot be overstated. As one example, the South Koreans for some time regularly blasted K-Pop across the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating North and South Korea, exposing North Koreans within 5-10 miles of the border to western culture, ideals and what life might be like outside of the Hermit Kingdom. K-Pop is much more than music, as it serves as soft power for spreading ideals cherished by Americans, South Koreans and others living in the Western world like freedom of expression, fundamental human rights and the value of human life, including the American ideal of the “Right to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness,” laid out in the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The Billboard Charts agree, with K-Pop now having its own dedicated category!

Topics covered in this podcast episode include:

• The Korean Wave, or “Hallyu”
• 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea
• 2018 K-Pop Peace Concert in Pyongyang, North Korea “Spring is Coming”
• K-Pop Industry
• The KPop Explosion
• K-Pop and Mental Health Awareness
• Karma

The K-Pop revolution, and the Korean Wave it produced, known as Hallyu, started with a group known as H.O.T., an acronym for the Highfive of Teenagers, in 1996. The music category blew up in 2012 with Psy’s single “Gangnam Style" and many new Korean bands have sprung up since, including Girls Generation, Twice, BlackPink, Red Velvet, Wonder Girls, and T-ara, all female-only groups. These kpop groups are far different from the most popular boy bands of the United States such as Backstreet Boys, N'Sync, 98 Degrees, the Jonas Brothers, who came on the scene with Miley Cyrus, and the original US boy-band: the Jackson Five. The American boy bands are quite literally composed of males-only vs. female-only or female-prominent bands in Korea. 

The most popular current kpop bands include BTS, which stands for Bantan Sonyeon Dan, iKON, Seventeen, Twice, and Red Velvet. 

Please help spread the word about kpop's contribution to world peace, mental health and entertainment by sharing this podcast episode with as many friends and family as you can think of on any social media you prefer: Twitter, Email, or just by simply sharing this podcast episode. 

Thanks all!