Abstract
Due to the close but complicated relationship between the Japanese and Korean music
industries, J-pop and K-pop have several signifcant commonalities and diferences. By
analyzing the transformation of K-pop in tandem with Japanese influences through a
convergence of political economy in terms of historical approach and textual analysis, this
paper identifes several key elements involved in the growth of K-pop. It does not attempt
to determine the major reasons for the success of K-pop, and/or the failure (or low degree
of popularity) of J-pop in global markets. Instead, it comparatively discusses several major
features—including idol production systems, copyright issues, and hybridity—of these two
popular music genres, thereby mapping out J-pop’s infuences and the remnants of such
infuences in the K-pop sphere, as well as the ways in which K-pop has become a model
for J-pop. It aims to investigate the contemporary cultural stages and transition of popular
music in Korea occurring within the unfolding logic of cultural globalization, known as
hybridization.
Keywords: K-pop, J-pop, hybridity, comparative discourse, idol system, globalization,
popular music
Comparative Discourse on J-pop and K-pop:
Hybridity in Contemporary Local Music
Dal Yong JIN
Tis work was supported by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the National
Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2016S1A3A2923970).
Dal Yong JIN is distinguished professor in the School of Communication at Simon Fraser
University, Vancouver, Canada. E-mail: yongjin23@gmail.com.
Korea Journal, vol. 60, no. 1 (spring 2020): 40–70.
doi: 10.25024/kj.2020.60.1.40
© Te Academy of Korean Studies, 2020