The “plight” of KoreAm idols in the motherland?

(image source: Google images)

Last school semester I took a course entitled “Mobilities and Migrations” in which we talked about transnational identities and the experience of having your feet planted in two or more distinct countries. My roommate who was in the class with me did her final paper on South Korean education overseas, and during her research she came across an article summarizing a case study done on Korean Americans from Los Angeles and the effects of the media on their acculturation and biculturalism. As interesting as it sounded, I unfortunately wasn’t able set aside time to look through it, until today. I finally read it this morning, and towards the end a sudden epiphany hit. KoreAm idols like SNSD’s Jessica and Tiffany, Jay Park, Miss A’s Min*, Brian Joo, and Dalmatian’s Day Day and Daniel all came to mind, and though this article raised issues about Korean immigrants in the United States, I couldn’t help but question out loud what the experiences are of these very same immigrants when they return to the motherland, and not only as normal citizens, but as national celebrities. They obviously do share the same struggles as any KoreAm would in South Korea, but how different are their situations particularly as figures of the media?

(*My mistake: Min may actually not be Korean-American. Just got a tip that she lived in the United States for a short amount of time to train for JYPE, but was born and raised mostly in Korea. Thanks to the anon who let me know!)

We’ve heard stories around about these idols struggling to communicate in Korean and even trying to come into terms with the culture, having been raised in a Western environment all their lives. The article I read revealed that despite having been exposed to equal amounts of American and ethnic Korean media, the first-generation KoreAms they sampled all “tend[ed] to be Americanized instead of bicultural due to the strong [and overriding] effects of the American media”, making their “affinity for Korean cultural identity” quite low (Moon and Park 2010). I’m not so sure which of these idols are first-generation KoreAms and whatnot, but even if a majority of them were second or third-generation, based on the article’s results I’d hypothesize that their Americanized image may in fact be more strong. With that being the case, one can only imagine what they may have struggled through going back to the motherland not only as regular residents, but as mainstream idols. 

How do they cope with common pressures of integrating into their ethnic culture, but also keeping ties with people back in America? Do they experience any forms of discrimination from the homogeneous public for being “Korean, but not really” (keeping in mind the fact that South Korea is very nationalistic and strict about blood ties)? How about the flipside — do they struggle with trying to emphasize their American identity when people attempt to tell them that “no matter what, you are still Korean”? Now, consider all that in the context of them being national idols… How do they cope with the additional pressures of being a celebrity, especially to a target audience that is ethnically and culturally homogenized? What exactly define these pressures?

I wrote this post not to provide answers, but to throw questions out there. But as each of us explore for explanations, let’s be careful not to undermine the complexity of this issue. We have to remember that experiences would obviously differ from individual to individual. We’ve got cases like American resident Yoo Seungjun, who moved back to the States and attained citizenship to supposedly escape the mandatory military service; and on the other hand, 2PM’s Taecyeon who renounced his American residence status and attained a Korean passport to enlist in the military. The differences that lie between the situations of these two we may find go as deep as personal values, backgrounds, beliefs, etc. 

And since we’re on the topic of transnationalism, let’s also look at the cases of idols like f(x)’s Victoria and Amber, 2PM’s Nickhun, and Rania’s Joy — foreign celebrities in South Korea? What struggles do they encounter having identities rooted in two entirely different cultures? How are they viewed by the South Korean audience, and how are they viewed by their homeland’s audiences? In addition, what are the implications of them representing the members of their nationalities who currently reside in South Korea? 

(image source: Google images)

And a final, kinda-out-there question to close: keeping everything said in this post in mind, exactly how “Korean” is kpop now? Is kpop becoming less “Korean”, or are the mass consumers of kpop in countries outside South Korea becoming more “Korean”? 

(article mentioned, just for citation’s sake: “Media Effects on Acculturation and Biculturalism: A Case Study of Korean Immigrants in Los Angeles’ Koreatown,” Seungjun Moon and Cheongyi Park, Inha University)