Introducing Mission K-Pop

K-pop disrupted pop culture in South Korea in the early 1990s, and later found fans around the world. Vivian Yoon was one of those fans, growing up thousands of miles away in Koreatown, Los Angeles. This week, we're sharing an episode of In K-Pop Dreaming, the second season of LA ...  Show more

Ever since Seo Taiji and Boys broke onto the scene in their baggy overalls back in 1992, Korea has been working to cast as wide a cultural net as possible on the world stage. And, by placing young talent through rigorous game show incubators and pumping out dozens of attractive, ...  Show more

A conversation about K-pop’s long march to American awareness, and the potential risks of that embrace. Guest: Kara. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activat ...  Show more

We have NEVER had such a hard time finding a guest brave enough to appear on the show than we did for the week's episode on the flashy, fanatical, downright culty (sorry!!!) world of K-Pop. Thank goddess that Lai Frances, music reporter and expert in the "cult" at hand, was down ...  Show more

Is listening to K-Pop like buying sweatshop-made clothes? From rigorous childhood performance academies to long, labour-intensive contracts for young idols, does the South Korean music industry have an exploitation problem? High profile suicides, sexual harassment claims and indu ...  Show more