BTS's RM praised for his defense of and honesty about K-pop industry

RM, leader of boy band BTS [AP/YONHAP]

Boy band BTS’s leader RM is receiving praise from netizens for defending the K-pop industry in a recent interview with Spanish newspaper El Pais.

In an interview published on Sunday in Spanish time, RM answered questions regarding his thoughts on the K-pop industry, its systems and culture. The boy band member shared his opinions regarding the “K” prefix often seen in front of Korean pop culture, such as K-pop and K-dramas.

“Spotify categorizing all of us as K-pop can be annoying, but it is a premium label,” he said. “It’s like a mark that guarantees quality, for which our ancestors fought to achieve.”

Regarding whether he thinks the K-pop industry and its systems are inhumane, RM answered that “my company [BTS’s agency BigHit Music] won’t like this answer too much because I agree to a certain extent.”

“Reporters may say this is a terrible system which ruins young people [trainees and K-pop stars], but it is also true that this system contributed to creating this special industry [...] In terms of contracts, payments and education, the system has improved a lot. There are also teachers and physiological counselors [to help K-pop stars] these days.”

On whether K-pop’s worship of youth, perfectionism and overworking is a characteristic of Korean culture as a whole, RM replied, “people in the West won’t understand.”

“Korea is a country that has been invaded, exploited and divided in two. It was a country that had nothing 70 years ago. Nowadays, the entire world is looking at Korea. How do you think it was possible? It’s because people are working [expletive] hard to improve themselves.”

“France and the Britain have colonized other countries for centuries, then tell me, ‘Oh my god, you Koreans put so much pressure on yourselves, life in Korea seems so stressful,’” he continued. “It’s true. That’s the way we got things done, and it’s part of what makes K-pop so appealing. Of course there are dark sides, because there are side effects to everything that happens too fast and intense.”

RM also answered that the greatest prejudice toward K-pop is “that it is prefabricated.”

Korean netizens as well as international BTS fans dubbed ARMY have expressed positive reactions toward RM’s opinions, praising them as a clap back to many typical criticisms of K-pop.

BY HALEY YANG [yang.hyunjoo@joongang.co.kr]