Business & Tech6 min
K-pop for export: YouTube, song camps and cultural policy
Three concrete cogs behind K-pop's export: distribution through YouTube, the song camps where foreign writers build the hits, and state support.
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The Kotoba Interactive journal.
Editorial features on the cultures, history and languages of Asia. Filter by culture, by topic, or search for what inspires you.
15 articles
Pop Culture6 min
BTS: the rise of a group that moved the lines
From the small Big Hit agency to stadiums and the United Nations: the story of BTS, the stages of its global breakthrough, the role of ARMY and what it changed for K-pop.
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Pop Culture7 min
K-pop's fifth generation: the rookies rewriting the rules
Hearts2Hearts, KiiiKiii, ALLDAY PROJECT, AHOF: what the 2025-2026 rookie class really says about K-pop's fifth generation and its new methods.
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Pop Culture9 min
K-drama: the four waves, and where to start
Thirty years in four waves, who broadcasts what, the narrative codes to see once, and the beginner mistakes that spoil your first series.
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Business & Tech7 min
K-pop comebacks: anatomy of a marketing machine
The K-pop comeback decoded: teaser schedules, multi-version albums, first-week sales, music shows, TikTok challenges and the human cost of the cycle.
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Society11 min
Mukbang: the Korean origin of a global phenomenon
Mukbang, those videos of people eating on camera, was born in South Korea around 2009. The story of a portmanteau, a shared distant meal and a worldwide hit.
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Society11 min
Aegyo: The Korean Art of Performed Cuteness
Baby voice, finger heart, buing buing: aegyo is a Korean relational language. Origins, repertoire, the gender debate, and its Asian cousins decoded.
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Food11 min
Chimaek: Fried Chicken and Beer, Korea's National Religion
Crisp fried chicken and cold beer: how chimaek became a ritual of Korean sociability and a cultural export of the country.
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Culture11 min
Han: Korean Melancholy, Between Grief and Pride
Han (한, 恨), that Korean sorrow made of swallowed resentment and endurance, is it an age-old essence or a colonial invention? An honest inquiry.
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Society8 min
The Korean Idol System: Trainees, Agencies, and the Star Factory
How the trainee system works in South Korea. Recruitment from age 10, 2-7 years of intensive training, Big 4 (HYBE, SM, JYP, YG), trainee debt and 2025 reforms.
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Pop Culture8 min
The five generations of K-pop: from Seo Taiji to NewJeans
Seo Taiji, TVXQ, BTS, NewJeans: what really separates K-pop's five generations, with dates, founding groups and shifts in the model.
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Culture9 min
Boys Over Flowers: How a Japanese Manga Became a Korean and Global Phenomenon
From Hana Yori Dango to Boys Over Flowers, a look back at the history of a franchise that crossed borders, languages, and screens, from shojo manga to the most widely exported K-drama of the 21st century.
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Culture5 min
Hallyu: How the Korean Wave Conquered the World
The history of hallyu, the Korean wave: the birth of the term, K-dramas, K-pop, Parasite and Squid Game, soft power and the state strategy behind a global phenomenon.
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