Hypocritical Hallyu: International Fans and K-pop Fandom

The K-popiverse was hit with some disturbing rumors this afternoon: an international fan of male megaband EXO, who have finally made a much-anticipated and long-awaited comeback with their single “Wolf,” reported via Twitter that she and a number of other international fans — many of whom had made a lengthy journey and waited for upwards of 12 hours outdoors — were denied entrance to EXO’s comeback stage taping for M! Countdown.  According to the fan, who traveled to South Korea from Europe, international fans were singled out by M! Countdown staff and made to stand in a separate line behind Korean fans, regardless of who had been waiting the longest.  Her final tweet stated that international fans were “kicked out” out of the EXO comeback stage on the grounds that they were “not Korean.”

It’s important to note that these events are (at least at the time of this writing) difficult to confirm. Competing accounts suggest that not all international fans were made to leave or singled out, and it’s hard to say with absolute certainty that what this fan (and other international fans) experienced was, in fact, an act of discrimination.  This writer was certainly not there, and therefore I present to you the story without comment on its veracity.  However, to be completely honest, it wouldn’t surprise me the least if it turned out to be true.  The reason?  There does indeed seem to be a very large disconnect between the purported global aims of Hallyu, the Korean Wave, and the way that international K-pop fans are treated within K-pop fandoms.  Specifically, despite the fact that K-pop companies are (and for the past few years, have been) essentially falling all over themselves to attract more interest from the farthest corners of the globe, when it comes to official K-pop fandom, international fans are, for the most part, just plain unwelcome and need not apply.

“But no, Dana!” You say, twisting the knot on the end of your specially colored fan balloon (which has long since deflated, much as has the optimism of international K-pop fans), “[insert celebrity’s name here] is TOTALLY grateful for his/her international fans!!  He/she said so at [insert name of concert held in non-Korean city]!!!!”

Well, sure, and I don’t doubt that he/she did say that — and for once, he/she probably meant it, too.  International fans have become absolutely critical to both sustaining the monstrously huge K-pop machine and allowing it grow even further.  The Korean domestic market is comparatively tiny, and by expanding their artists’ and groups’ fan bases to encompass increasingly lucrative markets across Asia and beyond, Korean entertainment companies have lined their pockets — and to a lesser extent, their idols’ pockets — with foreign capital.  Make no mistake, idols and the companies that own them are totally grateful for their international fans because they have made them all the more wealthy.  The problem, as it turns out, is that they seem to be rather uninterested in anything except the money that these fans can provide — and when you’re hawking something like Hallyu, this is going to snowball pretty quickly.  The reason?  If international K-pop fans cannot equitably participate in K-pop fandom as can their domestic Korean counterparts, then all of that warm, culturally inclusive language associated with the expansion of K-pop (and other K-entertainment products) more broadly winds up being utterly meaningless and grossly contradictory.

First, let’s talk fandoms.  What does it mean to be in a K-pop fandom?  Is it buying your favorite group’s albums, watching all of their performances, and occasionally spazzing about them on the internet with other like-minded people?  Is it simply self-identifying as a S♥NE, a VIP, a Panda, a Baby?  While these things all constitute fan practice, fans are doubtless aware of the importance that official K-pop fan clubs have in allowing fans to take full advantage of their dedication to a particular group.

Fan club membership is something of a golden ticket to cardholders that allows holders the best access to the fandom and the idols themselves; without it, the likelihood that one can participate in any public events related to the idol group in question is slim. Depending on which fan club one is a member of, membership benefits vary; occasionally membership will involve the annual distribution of free gifts, books, or magazines. However, fan club membership almost universally allows members priority access to a number of different events and concerts affiliated with the idol group in question. In regards to non-concert events, oftentimes only fan club members will be invited to fan meet-and-greets, autograph signings, and special concerts; without the card, these events are off-limits. Possessing a fan club card, then, essentially gives fans the greatest opportunity to see and interact with their favorite idol stars. Fans without these cards are left to take what they can get, though often it is not much.

Clearly, fan club membership is hugely important in allowing fans to have the optimal fan experience, to cultivate a richer and more intimate relationship with the fandom and to participate fully in activities intended to support the idols themselves — which, given the fact that fan dedication is essentially coterminous with how many trophies a group can win during a promotional period, is ostensibly what any truly devoted fan would want.  However, there is one teensy, tiny problem with official fan clubs as they pertain to international fans — in most cases, they either aren’t allowed to join or have to jump through an inordinate number of hoops that their Korean counterparts do not in order to realize the full benefits of membership.

The following chart outlines the way various fan clubs deal with international fans (note that all prices are listed in KRW).

* = Panda allows foreign members to join, but they must provide an address in South Korea
** = KISSMe allows Korean and Japanese fans only

As we can see, very few fan clubs permit international fans to join.  For example, fan club applicants to any fan club for SM Entertainment artists generally must have a Korean Social Security number (chumin tŭngnok pŏnho, 주민 등록 번호) in order to apply.  This makes it effectively impossible for international K-pop fans to join official fan clubs for some of K-pop’s most famous idol groups, including SNSD, DBSK, Super Junior, and SHINee.  International fans may be able to skirt around this requirement by joining a fan club with an Alien Registration Card (waegukin tŭngnok pŏnho, 왜국인 등록 번호), but these are only obtainable if one holds a visa and resides in South Korea for a significant amount of time – and upon return to one’s country of origin, it is taken away and invalidated as one passes through airport security, making it difficult for fans who have joined fan clubs to renew once a year. Though SM Entertainment has created a few official Japanese counterparts to Korean fan clubs (DBSK, for example, maintains a fairly large Japanese fan club called BigEast), fans in other parts of the world are essentially out of luck.

What of fan clubs that do not require Korean Social Security numbers?  Theoretically speaking, international fans should be able to join these clubs; however, most of these charge international fans a much higher membership fee than is charged to Korean citizens (four-member female idol group 2NE1’s fan club Blackjack charges Korean fans 15,000 KRW, but international fans must pay 40,000 KRW).  The fee is exacerbated by the fact that wire transfers to Korean banks also cost a significant sum of money.  The financial burden becomes particularly onerous when one considers that the majority of fans that might like to join a fan club are children or adolescents that might have little pocket money to spare.

Another interesting thing to note is that many clubs generally also require membership in fan cafes before applying for fan club membership.  In order to join any Internet café, one generally must first have an account with one of South Korea’s large search portals; most Internet cafes are hosted by either Daum or Naver, which are two of South Korea’s most popular news websites and search engines.  Registering with Daum or Naver is theoretically open to everyone, regardless of whether or not one is a Korean citizen, but the registration process for those who are not in possession of a Korean Social Security number or Alien Registration Card is written entirely in Korean and thus may be difficult for non-Korean language speakers or those who do not have access to proper translation services.

However, even if an international fan manages to register with Daum or Naver and join a fan cafe (thanks to the plethora of tutorials available in a number of languages), they will likely to find it difficult to rise in the ranks within the fan cafe to the point where they will be permitted to join a fan club (new members in any fan cafe often have to pass a test of their knowledge of the idol group in question in order to achieve the “level” at which they could be considered for fan club membership, and even after all of that, they must demonstrate consistent participation and the contribution of original content to the fan cafe — a nearly impossible feat for anyone who doesn’t speak Korean or isn’t located in South Korea).  The decks, quite frankly, are plainly stacked against international fans no matter how one rolls the dice.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that there’s a very obvious contradiction between the purportedly globally inclusive pro-Hallyu rhetoric so often associated with K-pop and the discriminatory reality that most international fans encounter when attempting to participate meaningfully in K-pop fandom.  Korean entertainment companies really could not be more blatant at this point in their obvious pandering to international audiences; it seems one can’t open any K-pop-related news outlet without hearing of some idol or group making plans to advance into a foreign market or getting a love call from a foreign producer.  Similarly, the number of international showcases held has grown exponentially in the past few years, and K-pop groups are increasingly targeting more untapped sites in Europe and the Americas for concerts. Even SM Entertainment’s eyebrow-raising decision to hold auditions in Kazakhstan is indicative of how “inclusive” Korean entertainment companies are prepared to be in their pursuit of ever more global interest and attention.  However, the reward that international fans receive for providing their beloved idols with interest and attention is their unceremonious expulsion from participating in any sort of official fan activity — without which, it bears repeating, an international fan’s hopes of getting the greatest access to his or her favorite stars is severely diminished.

The current structure of fan culture in South Korea is completely inconsistent with the purported aims of the Korean Wave, which ostensibly seems geared towards encouraging foreign participation in Korean culture.  International fans of Korean cultural products seem to be involved in a fickle, one-sided relationship with K-pop: while K-pop wants to earn their affections, it has stopped quite short of returning them.  Whether or not this will change in the future remains to be seen, but this writer does wonder how much longer international fans’ collective patience will hold out.  As incidents like the rumored wholesale removal of foreign fans from EXO’s M! Countdown stage become more commonplace and showcase growing global dissatisfaction with the way the Korean Wave seems to hold international fans at arm’s length, the Hallyu landscape will doubtless be affected — and it falls to Korean entertainment companies (and really, even the artists themselves) to deeply reflect on what, exactly, a more multicultural Hallyu will mean for the future of K-pop.

(Jung, Sun. “Fan Activism, Cybervigilantism, and Othering Mechanisms in K-pop Fandom.” In “Transformative Works and Fan Activism.”  Edited by Henry Jenkins and Sangita Shresthova.  Special issue, Transformative Works and Cultures, no. 10.  doi:10.3983/twc.2012.0300, Shim, Dooboo.  “Hybridity and the Rise of Korean Popular Culture in Asia.” Media, Culture, and Society. Vol. 28, No. 1 (December 2005), Omona They Didn’t, All About APink, SM Entertainment Official Website, U-KISS’ Official Fan Cafe, 2PM Official Fan Cafe, B.A.P. Official Fan Cafe)