http://www.allacademic.com//meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/1/6/8/4/5/pages168459/p168459-1.php 
Authors: Ryu, Donghyup. 

The Shaping of Korean Popular Music from 1945 to the 1960s 

The Shaping of Korean Popular Music from 1945 to the 1960s Introduction Korean 
popular music is a field of popular culture where diverse genres are mixed 
together. In Korea, rock music, jazz, and standard pop from the West and Enka 
from Japan are enjoying their own popularity as genres of high standing. Korea 
experienced colonization by Japan (1910-1945) and the presence of the American 
Army after liberation (1945-Present) in its own territory while it shaped its 
popular music. Popular music from Japan and America had a huge influence on the 
formation of Korean popular music, which evolved under these impacts. A huge 
influx of foreign popular music genres forced traditional Korean music to 
dwindle. On the other hand, foreign music was domesticated and modern Korean 
popular music grew from it. The popular music industry of Korea was devastated 
while experiencing colonization and the Korean War. However, through economic 
development and modernization after the Korean War, the Korean popular music 
industry has made great strides. Korean popular culture has enjoyed popularity 
all around Asia since the early 2000s. As Korean television series, films and 
popular music intensified their impact on Asia, including Japan, China, Taiwan 
and Hong Kong, the popularity of Korean popular culture has come to be defined 
as the “Korean wave” or “Hallyu.” With the popularity of Korean television 
serial dramas and movies, Korean popular music is spreading widely to various 
parts of Asia. According to Yoon (2005), American cultural products 1 

constitute 75% of Korea’s audiovisual imports, while Japan, Taiwan and China 
account for 82.3% of Korea’s total audiovisual exports. This data indicates that 
Korean popular culture is not only disseminating widely to various Asian 
countries, but also relies heavily on American cultural products. This 
phenomenon reflects the reality that Asian audiences are actively receiving 
Korean popular culture. Paradoxically, in the process of its formation “Korean” 
popular music, which is received by other Asian audiences, has depended almost 
entirely on foreign genres like rock, folk, hip hop, and jazz. Korean popular 
music’s dependence on Western music genres can be addressed by understanding the 
history of modern Korea. As the US army has been stationed in Korea since the 
end of World War II, Korea has maintained a close relationship with America both 
politically and economically. In terms of culture, Korea received American 
popular music in addition to political and economic influence. In the 1970s and 
80s, American-style popular music, such as rock, standard pop, and folk, 
dominated popular music in Korea. For this reason, it is difficult to explain 
the formation of Korean popular music without mentioning American influence. 
This study attempts to pursue the historical formation process of Korean popular 
music in its present form. Thus, it is necessary to reveal what policies and 
institutions greatly influenced the shaping of Korean popular music landscape 
and to scrutinize the cultural practices within such structured institutions. 
Prior studies (Park, 2003; Shin, 2004) about Korean popular music 2 

tended to describe the American influence on Korean popular music fragmentarily 
by focusing primarily on rock and folk music’s role in voicing resistance 
against Korea’s autocratic government. There is not enough historical research 
or analysis of Korean popular culture. In particular, studies about Korean 
popular music are not in the form of systematic and scientific analyses, but a 
collection of documents on popular music of the past. It is broadly believed 
that modern Korean popular music has been powerfully shaped by American popular 
music, such as jazz, rock, soul, folk, and rap. However, no music scholar has 
proved it historically. Many studies focus on the shaping of Korean rock in the 
1970s and 1980s in terms of domesticating American rock (Park, 2003; Shin, 
$2004). These decades are meaningful because the Korean popular music industry b
ecame prosperous as its audience increased. Even so, these studies merely 
described Korean rock as a new phenomenon and enumerate popular musicians 
depending on media reports. This study will delve into the history of Korean 
popular music and attempt to unveil the origins of modern Korean popular music. 
This paper will explain the social structure relying on examining social 
institutions and cultural practice which play a major role in fashioning modern 
Korean popular music, rather than texts, such as the lyrics of songs. Modernity 
and Cultural Imperialism in South Korea In the process of forming Korean popular 
culture, modernity holds a very important position. With the importation of 
Western culture, the concept of modernity was also introduced to Korea. Korean 
people have internalized 3 

Western values and popular culture, since the late 19th century. Korea’s 
encounter with modernity was mediated through Japanese imperialism. While ruling 
Korea, Japan, which was an active recipient herself, tried to inject Western 
values into Korean people. Modernity was both a symbolic force to destroy Korean 
tradition and an outcome of the advancement of society during colonization. 
“Modernity” to modes of social life or organization which emerged in 
Europe from about the 17th century onwards and which subsequently became more or 
less worldwide in their influence” (Giddens, 1990, p.1). Williams contends that 
while “modern” was defined as discontinuity from tradition, “modern” became 
virtually equivalent to improved, satisfactory or efficient in the 20th century 
Williams, 1983, pp. 208-209). In Korea, modernity was perceived very positively 
as representing Western civilization. According to Shin (2003), “In colonized 
Korea Western music was still a symbol of ‘something modern’ or an ‘intellectual 
thing.’ Among intellectuals at the time, it was generally agreed that, while 
folk songs and popular songs were past-oriented and sang of death and sadness, 
jazz and Italian folk songs were future-oriented and sang about joy” (pp. 150-
151). In the 1930s, “modern” already meant the state of being sophisticated and 
developed. Even before the full-scale introduction of Western music, among 
intellectuals there was a positive perception about and aspiration for “modern” 
Western music. On the ground of positive perception about modernity, cultural 
imperialism could be proliferated in Korea. 4 

Beltran (1978) claims “cultural imperialism is a verifiable process of social 
influence by which a nation imposes on other countries its set of beliefs, 
values, knowledge and behavioral norms as well as its overall style of life” (p. 
184). Unlike imperialism by physical and direct political control, cultural 
imperialism means rule by symbolic control mechanisms. Schiller (1992) claims 
that present cultural imperialism is realized by America. As Schiller argues, 
“The dollar and physical volumes of the outputs of the US cultural industries 
flowing into the international market are higher than they were then” (Schiller, 
1992, p.12). Schiller’s argument reflects the reality that American media are 
encroaching more and more upon European and Asian media landscapes. By 
solidifying American cultural imperialism through the dissemination of American 
popular culture, America incessantly secures its dominating position in the 
world market. Thanks to the positive image of modernity, American popular music 
was consumed actively among elite stratum in Korea. Unlike imperialism 
reinforcing its position by political power, cultural imperialism reinforces its 
influencing power through cultural products. From the landscape of Korean 
popular music in the Japanese colonial era, Korean traditional music all but 
went underground through direct control of the Japanese colonial government. 
Japanese-style popular music replaced the function once held by Korean 
traditional music. After Korea was liberated from the state of a colony, America 
succeeded Japan and she strengthened her superior position in Korea more 
implicitly through cultural imperialism. The 5 

Trot music, which was influenced by Japanese Enka, was thence deprived of its 
initiative in the field of Korean popular music, while rock, jazz and folk music 
from America appealed to a wide range of Korean audiences, especially elite and 
college students. However, the change from Japanese to American influence was 
achieved over a relatively long time with the gradual transformation of 
“cultural taste.” The elite stratum accepted American style earlier than the 
general public did. Thus, for a long time the Korean taste for American style 
had to compete with the general public’s taste for Japanese style. Contestation 
between American and Japanese Music During colonization Japan’s national 
identity eradication policy systematically weakened Korean traditional culture. 
Although farmers’ folk band music and folk songs did not be completely rooted 
out, court music became almost extinct during Japan’s destruction policy. Korean 
court music, which took pride in a profound tradition, had to dwindle with the 
collapse of the Chosun Dynasty. Many musicians and dancers who had participated 
in feasts of court had to change their profession and perform in new concert 
halls. As a result, ceremonial music for the Royal house was eradicated and the 
number of court musicians rapidly decreased. For example, the number of 
musicians decreased from 772 in 1894 to about 50 in 1917 as a result of the 
Japanese policy of erasing indigenous culture 
(http://user.chollian.net/~chun4270). Korean traditional music suffered again 
due to an influx of Western music and the establishment of Western military 
bands. Performance of traditional music in public was restricted. Performing 
Korean traditional music was banned. Only Kwonbun, 6 

which was a union of Gisaeng (a professional entertainer of Korea), was allowed 
to perform traditional music. Like court music, farmers’ folk band music was 
also restricted. In essence, farmers’ folk band music was a native custom to 
pray for the prosperity of a village and a good harvest. Since farmers’ folk 
band music usually accompanied an exorcism, it was banned on the pretext of 
abolishing superstition. Luckily, farmers’ folk band music was not demolished, 
but it declined in quantity and was partly damaged in the period of 
colonization. Farmers’ folk band music collapsed decisively in quantity and 
quality since full-scale industrialization started. In particular, in the early 
1970s, on the pretext of pre-modern superstition, guardian trees, which were a 
spiritual prop of many towns and things used in exorcism, were destroyed. In 
addition, administrative pressure was given in order to prevent people from 
playing farmers’ folk band music and performing the exorcism ceremony. Thus 
farmers’ folk band music’s spirit, which had been internalized in the lives of 
people, lost its voice and the music has become just one of the tourist 
attractions that can be seen in the Folk Village (an imitation village based on 

traditional houses). In addition, folk songs, another popular music form, were 
also oppressed by Japan’s national identity eradication policy. Japan had 
enforced the national identity eradication policy more strongly as it started a 
full-scale Asian invasion. Japan launched a sweeping campaign to eradicate 
Korean national identity under the slogan that Japan and Korea would 7 
be one entity. According to Lee (1984), “Novelists, poets and other creative 
writers were forced to produce their works in Japanese, and in the end it was 
even required that Japanese be exclusively used in the schools and in Korean 
homes” (p. 353). Radio broadcasting was changed from a combined use of Korean 
and Japanese to the exclusive use of Japanese. Japan prohibited the use of 
Korean language even in everyday life and all songs tinctured with something 
Korean had been banned. The oppressive cultural policy of imperialist Japan was 
so effective that court music, farmers’ folk band music and folk songs had lost 
their popular foundation. Enka, which had been imported from Japan, occupied the 
space created by the collapse of the court music, farmers’ folk music, and folk 
songs. The music field, whose tradition had been interrupted, was laid 
vulnerable to the rapid influx of foreign music. With the help of its repressive 
policy toward Korean traditional music, Japanese Enka was implanted successfully 
in Korea, and this Enka became domesticated under the name of Trot. As the music 
industry developed, Trot, which is based on the Japanese “Yonanuki minor,” had 
become the general music trend of the time. The popularity of Trot is shown in 
the fact that the album Hawngung Yetu (Remains of a Royal Palace) sold 50,000 
copies. Considering the market size in 1932, selling 50,000 copies was a huge 
success. Trot grew with the development of the music industry and radio. While 
there were 20,562 radios in 1932, the number of radios exceeded 221,000 in the 
late 1930s and over 300,000 after 8 

liberation (Lee, 1998, p. 247). Since 1927 Columbia, Victor and Polydor had 
founded their branches in Korean and Japanese recording companies. There were 
recording companies launched by Koreans, but they did not last long. An article 
in a monthly music magazine in 1935 reported that the number of gramophone 
owners in Korea had reached 300,000. This figure shows the increase of the 
audience and rapid development in the music recording industry. The prosperity 
of Trot was reflected in sales. 100,000 copies of Cheonyo Chonggak (1930, 
Columbia), 50,000 copies of Tears in Mokpo (1935, Nanyoung Lee, Okeh records) 
and 100,000 copies of Don’t Cry, Hongdo (1939, Youngchoon Kim, Columbia) were 
sold. Trot music was evolved constantly into new styles and kept its popularity 
even after liberation. The introduction of foreign music was not so difficult 
because traditional music had lost its popular foundation. With the opening of 
harbors to the outer world, Western music, including American, began to enter 
Chosun, the name of Korea at that time. As Lee (1998) claims, “Western music 
introduced by Western missionaries and via Japan was disseminated through 
churches and the modern education system” (p. 116). Western music, including 
hymns, was received actively and naturally with the success of Protestant 
evangelism. As Yoo (2001) argues, “with the unprecedented and miraculous success 
of Protestant evangelism in Korea, with its well-known prosperous ‘New World’ 
image, with its modern sense of jazz music, and with its compelling and most 
favored entertainment of Hollywood movies to the colonized Koreans, America 
continuously provided popular culture” (p. 421). Yoo showed that American 9 

modernization began to be received by colonial Korea and it influenced the body 
of individual and media consumption. By the mid-1930s, students, youngsters and 
intellectuals were fascinated by jazz music and motion pictures from Japan, 
which received Western civilization before Korea; this did not prevent the 
introduction of American popular culture. Rather, Japan encouraged companies to 
invest in the culture industry to deliver modern values to Korean people. 
However, after the mid-1930s, Japan prevented American movies from playing and 
concentrated on promoting Japanese popular culture, because Japan planned to the 
war against Western countries including America. Since Korean people had had the 
experience of appreciating Western music through church music and jazz before 
liberation, they received Western music without much resistance or sense of 
rejection. The stationing of the US Army after liberation was a critical point 
of introducing new foreign music on a full scale. Nevertheless, it was not until 
the 1960s that Western pop music was popularized in Korea. The process of 
Western popular music overwhelming the popularity of Trot music was not 
instantaneous. Musical taste for Japanese- style, which had been formed during 
the 36-year period of colonization, did not change easily. The powerful impact 
of American popular music grew gradually in the Trot-dominated landscape of 
popular music. American popular music was only for an elite stratum and 
professional musicians. Trot, the music implanted in the Japanese colonial era, 
and American popular music, which entered with the US Army after liberation, 
confronted each other. The general public’s enjoyment of Trot and elite 
stratum’s enjoyment of American pop 10 

music reflects the duality of the musical landscape during a time marked by 
foreign music. Before the late 1960s, when American popular culture was accepted 
by the general public, this dual structure was maintained in the Korean popular 
music market. The United States’ Cultural Policy The US occupation of South 
Korea has been the subject of close scholarly scrutiny because of its immense 
impact on the subsequent development of Korean society. Until now many studies 
about the relationship between Korea and the US have concentrated largely on 
political and economic aspects, regarding cultural aspects as auxiliary (Kim, 
2000). However, the present study primarily intends to analyze cultural 
relations between Korea and America, especially in the context of Korean popular 
music. The three-year American rule (1945-1947) over Korea opened the way for 
American popular culture to permeate every corner of the country. However, 
America exerted cultural policies to assimilate Korea, not only economically and 
politically but also culturally. To get rid of Japanese-styled music, the 
American military government included American and European classical music in 
music textbooks and ordered radio stations to broadcast American popular music 
for two hours each day. American popular music was not introduced naturally 
through the market. During its ruling period from 1945 to 1948, the American 
military government implemented a cultural policy biased toward American 
culture. It is a dominant 11 

opinion in American diplomatic history or cultural history field that 
historically America did not have systematic and consistent cultural or public 
informational policy (Blum, 1963; Coombs 1964). American cultural policy was 
explicitly based on “reciprocity”, the purpose of which is the promotion of free 
cultural trade among countries, and “humanitarianism”, which means the cultural 
enlightenment of the third-world countries. However, contrary to these stated 
ideas, the foreign cultural policy of America fundamentally has been aimed at 
maximizing the influence of political power in international societies from the 
start, and this orientation emerged to the surface with the advent of World War 
II. In particular, in the process of fighting World War II, “In any event the 
wartime educational and cultural effort was dwarfed by the information programs, 
which were more closely tied to the war itself” (Coombs, 1964, p. 27). This 
argument represented the position of the American government. The American 
military government led the distribution of American culture based on an 
elaborate cultural policy. As Kyun Kim (2000) argues, “In the early stage, in 
terms of contents, American foreign cultural policy focused on the trade of high 
culture aiming at intellectual elites of the third world. Geographically, 
American cultural policy was mainly aimed at South American countries. However, 
since the early 1940s the arena of cultural diplomacy was extended around the 
whole world” (p. 46). The range of policy incorporated the distribution of 
American movies and music, dissemination and publication of American books, the 
founding of American cultural centers and education institutes in that area, 
etc. According to Kim (2000), “Internal 12 

documents of the American Department of State recommend the active utilization 
of mass media, such as newspapers, radios, and movies, so that foreigners can 
understand the lives of Americans” (p. 49). By the same token, the American 
military government tried to plant American values in Koreans, setting Korea, 
with its close proximity to communist countries, as a main strategic post 
against communism. The formation of a positive attitude toward America and the 
American way of life became a consistent policy of the American military 
government. Radio played a big role in diffusing American popular culture. 
Because the broadcasting industries for music in Korea were poorly developed, 
the rich variety of American’s thriving popular music scene satisfied elite 
audiences after liberation. The cultural policy of the American military 
government was not merely focused on the benefits of control and their short-
term political effects, but also was a part of a huge plan of Americanization, 
which had been developing since the 1930s and was aimed at the whole world. The 
underlying plan involved a connection between the American government and 
capitalists who perceive culture as a powerful weapon to achieve political and 
economic goals. In other words, the cultural policy of the American military 
government was a joint work of the American government, which tried to preserve 
continuous political influence on Korea by implanting America’s ideals and way 
of life, and American capitalists, who wanted to pioneer a new market and to 
maintain its dominance in market. 13 

After the liberation, most Koreans expected the last vestiges of Japanese 
colonies would be cleared from their country. The American military government 
entered South Korea and announced that it would abolish all vestiges of 
imperialist Japan. However, this aspect of America’s plan was not enacted. There 
was no effort to clear Japanese vestiges, and Korean traditional culture was not 
represented. Over half of the songs in music textbooks for elementary schools 
made under American military government were based on Japanese musical scales, 
and over half the songs in music textbooks for junior high schools were songs 
made with Western musical scales (Kim, 2002. p. 113). Music textbooks were full 
of songs made from Japanese and Western musical scales without traditional 
Korean songs. This reality seems to have resulted from liberation not by Koreans 
but by the Allies. In the area of popular music, the situation was similar. 
Instead of Japanese music, American music was considered to be modern music. 
Liberation just changed the source of music from Japan to the United States. The 
Eighth US Army’s show and AFKN After the three-year American rule over Korea, 
America continued to dominate the Korean popular music industry through media 
and cultural practices like the “Eighth US Army’s Show.” The size of the 
American army increased as the headquarters of the Eighth US Army moved to Seoul 
on July 26th 1955. In order to satisfy the cultural wants of American soldiers, 
the performance troop of the USO (United Services Organizations) visited and 
performed often. Entertainers like Nat King Cole, Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, 
Johnny Mathis, Gene 14 

Russell, and Ann Margaret were some of the prominent members of the performance 
troop. However, the long-term involvement of American entertainers was 
impossible to sustain in Korea because of their wide popularity. Therefore, the 
Eighth US Army instituted systematic consolatory performances by employing 
Korean musicians. This was the origin of the Eighth US Army’s Show. The Eighth 
US Army’s show was not a temporary consolatory performance under the particular 
circumstance of the war, but a system requiring a continuous supply of Korean 
musicians for the American military audience, which was frequently mobilized. 
Big band-style show troops, which were very popular in the 1950s and 1960s, were 
established so as to satisfy the various tastes of American soldiers. A band 
made up of drum, bass, guitar, piano, trumpet, trombone, and saxophone with a 
band leader was the mainstream of the Eighth US Army’s show. Korean bandleaders 
modeled after Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, and Billy Vaughn of 
America were operating their own bands. While a band was the center of Eighth US 
Army’s Show, the show was a sort of variety show incorporating comedy, songs, 
dance, and magic. A band was an integral part of such a show troop and the show 
troop was registered as ‘an importer of service’ in the Ministry of Commerce. In 
1957, Hwayang, the first show troop, was created, and it was followed by show 
troops of Universal, Samjin, Gongyoung, Daeyoung, etc (Shin, 2005, p. 25-26). 
These show troops 15 

were entertainment companies taking exclusive charge of the Eighth US Army’s 
show. There were as many as 264 stages where the Eighth US Army’s shows were 
held, and those appearing in the US Eighth Army’s Show could earn a guaranteed 
yearly income of a whopping $1.2 million (the total for all performers), at a 
time when the cumulative value of South Korea’s yearly exports was no more than 
about $1 million (Kang, 1998, pp. 149-154). The US sent committee members to 
audition Korean musicians for the Eighth Army Show. The committee managed show 
troops systematically through auditions. The Eighth US Army auditioned every 
three to six months, issued registration cards, and offered ranks. Committee 
members who took charge of the auditions were the music experts sent from the 
Pentagon (Shin, 2005, p. 27). The standards of the auditions were very strict 
and the competition was also very intense. Even though show troops passed the 
audition, they had to audition again after the expiration date of their 
registration cards. Therefore, show troops practiced assiduously to maintain 
these positions, which not only formed a great portion of the work available to 
Korean musicians, but paid much better than the jobs they could have had under 
other conditions in Korea. Many Korean musicians adapted quickly by learning 
American jazz idioms from the radio so that they could pass the competitive 
auditions and work in the show troop’s big bands. Many qualified Korean 
musicians were inspired to imitate American popular musicians because the show’s 
popularity hinged on how similar Korean 16 

musicians performances were to American performers. Korean singers performed 
popular music in the Eighth US Army Show. The singers had to imitate American 
singers to entertain US soldiers: Heejoon Choi/Nat King Cole, Patti Kim/Patti 
Page, Jooyong Yoo/Frank Sinatra, Sangkook Kim/Louis Armstrong and Hyungjoon 
Park/Perry Como. Their popularity was dependent on the degree to which they were 
similar to American singers. Hyungsup Shim, who was an active musician in Eighth 
US Army Show says, “Since only songs popular among American soldiers were 
selected for performance, I used to practice American hit songs listening to 
recordings from AFKN’s Top 10” (www.weiv.co.kr). Musicians had to imitate 
American popular musicians continuously, and in this process they acquired the 
way of American popular music naturally. Musicians of the Eighth US Army’s Show 
had to learn various musical genres. Clubs of the Eighth US Army did not have 
the same characteristics, so the musical tastes were different according to the 
ranks. Based on ranks, clubs of the Eighth US Army were divided into officers’ 
clubs, NCO clubs and EM clubs. In addition, there were white clubs and black 
clubs based on race. Since musical preference was different depending on clubs, 
musicians had to change their specialty genres very often. Thanks to this need 
for adaptation, musicians from the Eighth US Army’s Show were trained as all-
around musicians who could digest all genres such as rock, jazz, blues, and 
country music. Along with the Eighth Army’s Show, the AFKN (American Forces 
Korean 17 

Network) started its broadcasting in 1957, while the first Korean TV station 
opened in 1961, except for HLKZ-TV, which was established for distributing RCA 
television shows in 1956. The AFKN has been a major channel for disseminating 
American popular music. The Eighth US Army’s Show and the AFKN have played a 
significant role in encouraging Korean musicians to internalize an American 
musical style and ultimately form Korean popular culture according to American 
cultural norms. Since the Korean War, American popular culture had come into 
Korea substantially through the AFKN and the Eighth US Army’s Show. The AFKN is 
a Korean branch of the AFRTS (Armed Forces Radio and Television Service). The 
AFKN started to deliver military-related news and to entertain US soldiers in 
1950. The AFKN has had a big influence on Korean broadcasting that began with 
the first TV broadcasting in Korea. AFKN TV had occupied VHF channel 2, which 
has best picture quality and it didn’t return to a VHF channel until 1996. The 
AFKN had been aired on a VHF channel only in Korea, and from there broadcast to 
26 countries where the AFRTS was established. Since a TV set without special 
antenna was sufficient to watch the AFKN, most Koreans could watch the AFKN with 
good picture reception and without specialized equipment. 18 

<Picture 1. Mechanism of AFKN Broadcasting> As the KBS (Korean Broadcasting 
System, one of Korea’s public broadcasting companies) began its first TV 
broadcasting in 1961, singers could have various stages to sing on. In the 
1960s, westernized and sophisticated singers from the Eighth US Army show 
replaced grieving Trot singers. Singers from the Eighth US Army show and 
college-educated singers took the lead in spreading Western popular music. In 
this period, music style changed from Japanese to American. After the 1960s, 
Trot gradually declined and the popularity was confined to 19 

older generations. The influence of the AFKN was not limited to the arena of 
music, but extended to the contents and forms of broadcasting programs. In the 
early stage of broadcasting, TV shows imitated the variety shows of the Eighth 
US Army’s show, and many singers of TV shows were singers whose experience 
stemmed from the Eighth US Army’s Show. Minyoung Song, who had been a famous 
bandleader of the Eighth US Army’s Show, worked as a bandleader of the KBS. 
Korean television broadcasting started under very poor conditions and could not 
escape from the impact of the AFKN. Television became an important medium in 
Korea for distribution of American popular music, which had been enjoyed only by 
an elite audience. The general public who saw a new-style show was excited about 
American popular music. In the 1960s, it was common practice that singers sang 
either American popular music in English or adapted American songs in Korean. 
Now audiences were able to enjoy performances that they watched on the AFKN 
through Korean broadcasting in the comfort of their homes. Whereas the Eighth US 
Army’s Show influenced musicians more directly than the general audience, the 
AFKN had a direct influence on audiences. In addition to the direct influence 
from the AFKN, the Eighth US Army’s Show had an indirect influence on the 
audience with the advent of musicians from the Eighth US Army’s Show, who 
transferred their talents to the medium of Korean TV. The Eighth US Army’s Show 
was the field of training for the advance guard 20 

which infiltrated Korean popular culture landscape at the same time it served as 
consolatory shows for American soldiers. On the other hand, the AFKN was a 
window through which the audience could meet American popular culture directly 
without any interruption. Youngsters who grew up with the AFKN came to have a 
new cultural sensibility. If the Eighth US Army’s Show was the field for 
training music makers into American style musicians, the AFKN played an 
important role in changing sensibilities of music producers and consumers. 
Cultural Capital and US Popular Culture The “cultural capital” of Bourdieu is 
the essential concept that can be used to address the cause of the popularity of 
Japanese and American popular music in Korea. According to Bourdieu (1986), “The 
notion of cultural capital initially presented itself to me, in the course of 
research, as a theoretical hypothesis which made it possible to explain the 
unequal scholastic achievement of children originating from the different social 
classes by relating academic success, i.e., the specific profits which children 
from the different classes and class fractions can obtain in the academic 
market, to the distribution of cultural capital between the classes and class 
fractions” (p. 244). Cultural capital is the knowledge and taste obtained from 
education, and it is closely related to economic capital. Children from the 
upper class can obtain cultural capital very easily by using economic capital. 
The obtained cultural capital can be easily transformed into economic capital. 
While Bourdieu mentioned educational credentials and upscale arts as cultural 
capital, cultural capital appeared differently depending on a society. In Korea, 
Western arts and knowledge have 21 

served as cultural capital. Accordingly, more artists were willing to learn 
Western-style arts or to study abroad. While Bourdieu mentioned educational 
credentials and upscale arts as cultural capital, cultural capital appeared 
differently depending on a society. In the field of Korean popular music, 
American popular music performed the role of cultural capital. Korea was 
destroyed by the Korean War and thus entirely dependent on America politically, 
economically, and militarily. Considering the political and economic situation 
between America and South Korea, the influx of American popular culture was a 
natural phenomenon. American popular culture was delivered through the radio, 
television, and various shows. Due to the overlapped image of “a saver of 
liberation” and “an allied country,” American popular music was received easily 
without rejection. In addition, modern American popular music was perceived as a 
more sophisticated higher culture than Korean popular songs. At the same time, 
the perception that Japanese-style Trot was a low culture started to emerge in 
the general public. Some Koreans were reluctant to enjoy Trot because of anti- 
Japanese sentiment. With the passage of time, in the people’s mindset, Trot was 
considered low-class and American popular culture was considered to be more 
chic. Korean aspiration for American culture was greatly apparent in the songs. 
Songs from late the 1940s to early 50s were expressing blind desire for the 
Western 22 

culture, in particular American culture. Popular examples included songs like 
Shoeshine Boy (1947), San Francisco (1952), America Chinatown (1953) and Arizona 
Cowboy (1955). Once Korea had been liberated from imperialist Japan, Korean 
popular culture quickly became infiltrated by Western culture. In those days, 
Koreans thought that Western modernity would be a guiding light for a new better 
life. This hope was reinforced with AFKN and activities of singers in Eighth US 
Army’s show. Korean people who were reluctant to enjoy Japanese song due to the 
Japanese colonial experience did not reject American popular culture regarding 
it as modern, romantic or the image of savior. Instead, Koreans willingly 
accepted American popular culture, in contrast to the experience of the Japanese 
in Korea, who forcibly replaced Korean music with Japanese music. Among Korean 
popular musicians, knowledge of American popular music was cultural capital 
during the age of Eighth US Army’s Show. Musicians from the Eighth US Army’s 
Show tended to ignore musicians from other stages and to show off their 
superiority. After singers from the Eighth US Army’s Show came to the stage of 
Korean shows, they enjoyed great popularity there and they were always proud of 
having been involved with the Eighth US Army’s Show. Singers from the Eighth US 
Army’s Show had enjoyed cultural power and authority since launch of the show. 
They were usually given hospitable treatment on a general stage. After the 
1960s, the popularity of Trot declined rapidly and singers who originated from 
the Eighth US Army’s Show dominated Korean popular music market through 
television, radio, performances and recordings. 23 

As a great honor, the title of “singers from the Eighth US Army’s Show” 
guaranteed general popularity on stage, TV or radio. As American popular music 
acquired popularity, the musicians from the Eighth US Army’s Show acquired 
economic capital as well. As Bourdieu (1984) claims, cultural capital could be 
transformed into economic capital. With the help of American cultural 
imperialism, American popular music could obtain the status of cultural capital 
in Korean society. As a result of the American government’s active dissemination 
of their popular culture to occupy new markets, American popular culture is 
enjoying worldwide popularity now. The dominance of American popular music 
created economic profits and musicians from the Eighth US Army’s Show reaped the 
economic benefits as well. In the world of Korean popular music an understanding 
of American popular music worked not only as cultural capital but also the means 
of elucidating the positive side of modernity. Conclusion American popular music 
acquired its hegemony within a relatively short time period after Korea’s 
liberation. It obtained a victory in the battle with Japanese style Trot and 
became popular with people. American popular music benefited from positive 
perceptions about modern values in the process of obtaining hegemony. While 
Korean audiences had received modernity through the mediation of Japan, they 
directly experienced modern values in American popular culture after liberation. 
American popular music containing modern 24 

values acquired the status of cultural capital. Learning American popular music 
and having modern values became a goal of Korean popular musicians. The AFKN and 
the Eighth US Army’s show played a huge role in transforming Korean audiences’ 
taste from Japanese-style music to American-style music. Although the Eighth US 
Army’s Show and the AFKN were established for consoling American soldiers, they 
also functioned as a window for disseminating American popular culture to Korea. 
Eighth US Army’s show that mobilized numerous Korean popular musicians served as 
a “school” of American popular music. Musicians who learned music through the 
Eighth US Army’s Show professed themselves as missionaries to introduce American 
popular culture on TV. The AFKN played an active role in transforming the 
general public’s taste toward American style. American popular culture was 
received naturally through the Eighth US Army’s Show and the AFKN due to the 
close relationship between America and Korea. Generally, the taste of people 
does not change easily, but the taste of the Korean general public after 
liberation changed very radically. The US army operated Eighth US Army’s Show by 
hiring Korean elite musicians and offering them favorable salaries, and it 
changed the taste of musicians very easily. At the same time, it provided 
unlimited American popular music through AFKN radio and TV in Korea where the 
broadcasting facilities were in their infancy. Audiences became familiar with 
American music, although they could not understand the lyrics, by being exposed 
to it continuously. The economic and political power 25 

enabled cultural taste to be changed. By using its economic capital, America 
could transform American popular music into cultural capital in Korea. 26 

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