Inter-Korea Musical Exchanges and Emotional Politics of Popular Music on the Korean Peninsula

Abstract

In the wake of the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, inter-Korean musical exchanges featuring reciprocal performances by South and North Korean performing arts troupes resumed after a hiatus of 16 years. Such exchanges began in 1985, serving as peace events affirming ethnic homogeneity and persisted intermittently, subject to interruption by conflict between the two Koreas arising from domestic or international political contexts. However, the 2018 inter-Korea performance deviated from earlier programs of gugak, traditional Korean music from the South and minjok eumak, ethnic music from the North, which had long been highlighted in previous peace events, and instead brought popular music from both sides to the forefront. This change demands closer examination and discussion. Since 1999, other than events primarily organized by broadcasting companies visiting North Korea, there have been no instances of the complete absence of traditional music, which represents the exclusion of national music in favor of popular music. This study initially examines the trajectory of South-North Korean musical exchange, then discuss the meaning of ‘ethnic’ music and the collective sentiments of popular music in the context of 21st-century Korean Peninsula Cold War politics, The allocation of meanings relation to ‘ethnicity,’ ‘nation,’ and ‘peace’ to the popular music in the nation-led South-North Korean musical exchange symbolically signifies the position of popular music in the 21st century Korean Peninsula. Consequently, the 2018 musical exchange became an event that both the elevated status of popular music, which had previously occupied a lowest position within the hierarchy of music genres in the 20th century Korean Peninsula, and effectively reflected shifts in attitudes and sentiments toward popular music.