The company behind BTS, K-pop’s biggest act, is going public
The boy band has found success by defying oafish stereotypes
FOR THE past couple of years, the biggest news in the world of K-pop has been decidedly unpleasant. A scandal centred on “Burning Sun”, a glitzy nightclub in Seoul, South Korea’s capital, saw several male K-pop stars and industry executives accused last year of sexual abuse, procuring sex for business partners, drug-peddling and bribery. Later in the year two female idols committed suicide in the space of a few weeks. Both had been subject to misogynistic abuse for years.
This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “Woke blokes”
Asia October 10th 2020
- Defending Taiwan is growing costlier and deadlier
- Angry Kyrgyz rebel against a tainted election—for the third time
- Why Tajikistan’s president will win a fifth term
- Pakistan and Afghanistan are the last countries fighting polio
- The company behind BTS, K-pop’s biggest act, is going public
- For good and ill, India’s prime minister is hard at work
From the October 10th 2020 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
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Discipline and creativity will help, but so will China’s actions