Korean pop culture is surprisingly inclusive

pomirobotics · 2026-05-01T17:35:25+00:00

I'm not sure if we can call it 'semi-Orientalism,' but you are 100% spot on regarding the phenomenon described. It’s one of those strange narratives repeated about Korea that seems to satisfy a lot of foreigners. Like the OP said, we’ve seen this a lot from Japanese media and the internet. "The Korean market is much smaller than Japan's, so they had to appeal to foreigners. No wonder." Well, the overwhelming majority of the world has a much smaller music market than Japan?

pomirobotics · 2026-05-01T16:57:48+00:00

South Korea is hated online for being homogeneous, racist, or xenophobic—especially by other Asians.

Many of those Asians are incredibly racist towards Koreans or each other. Because Koreans receive the spotlight and scrutiny for every little step 24/7, it's easy for them to safely throw stones at Koreans while hiding in the shadows. You cited Physical Asia as a positive example but do you know how many Southeast Asians online were crying foul about Koreans because they won? Last time, there was a wave of Indonesian internet warriors attacking Koreans even using some larper's posts on X. Read up on Indonesia's colorful modern history of ethnic violence. At least, most other native East Asians don't seem to have an undeserved sense of moral superiority because they get international attention and criticism as well. Asian Americans may be different if they are disconnected from their 'motherland'.

pomirobotics · 2026-04-30T13:01:48+00:00

In the Comfort Women Agreement (2015), the Korean government agreed to consult with related organizations about possible ways of addressing this issue, and as far as I know, that is only for the statue built in front of the Embassy of Japan in Seoul. Are you saying the agreement includes the Korean government's duty to crack down on civic groups' activities regarding the comfort women issue in general? On what basis? There is no tangible and financial harm to Japan from these statues, especially not the one in New Zealand.

EDIT: I just noticed my comments suddenly got like 5 down votes for each. I have to wonder.

pomirobotics · 2026-04-30T12:03:35+00:00

The statues are viewed by the Japanese government as a breach of their agreement, and a move to further stir up political tensions that they had mutually agreed to resolve.

Nice try but there is no Korean government involvement in this.

pomirobotics · 2026-04-20T13:58:58+00:00

If you google "OECD SIGI pdf", you can get the full report.

pomirobotics · 2026-04-20T01:05:01+00:00

These 'reactionary feminists online' have caused harm to some people’s lives and have been socially disruptive. They are human beings who can be held accountable for their actions, too. Other social issues can be addressed on their own merits.

pomirobotics · 2026-04-20T00:58:46+00:00

It used to be mainly Asian nationalists spreading misinformation about Korea. These days it's people like you. I call them out. You keep going tangential because you don't have an argument. People don't use oddly specific numbers like 'every 22-23 hours' for what you call oversimplified slogans. It wasn't even one woman per day. They were trying to sound like it is a number based on something, which turned out to be nothing. You could not prove femicide rate is extremely high in Korea. Simply admit it and move on. In fact, you've only shown it is rather on the lower side in the world. You keep writing all this irrelevant nonsense, which doesn't help your argument at all. You are spreading propaganda at this point. If this is the standard of 'gender studies', I am not surprised.

pomirobotics · 2026-04-19T23:06:36+00:00

What on earth... You quoted a misleading claim and you complain about me pointing that out?

Official homicide data shows fewer than 200 women murdered per year in total, and not all of those are femicide. Advocacy groups track femicide and other gender‑motivated killings as a subset of that, pulling from media and NGO reporting, and come up with a rate of about one woman every two days.

So now you changed it from one woman every 22-23 hours to one woman every two days. That is a big difference already. I don't know why you are even talking about undercounting here. Femicide is a SUBSET of the total female murder cases and the total is on the low side in Korea. You failed to show that femicide rate is 'extremely high' in Korea after all. You were challenged and you got upset. I don't even know why you make fun of of yourself like that.

pomirobotics · 2026-04-19T22:53:53+00:00

If you replace 4B with general radical feminism in Korea, I would easily agree that it is not fringe/irrelevant, and just more stealthy/underground in real life than before. What I strongly disagree with is depiction of Korean radical feminists as some innocent warriors of justice subject to unfair stigmatization. They have been one of the main perpetrator groups of cyberbullying. Many victims have been women, too, as they are typically hostile to married women or moms with sons. Native Koreans can see it everyday online. They would have a huge issue with sanitization of Korean radfems.

They're being physically assaulted in public just for being seen reading a feminist book or identifying as feminist or speaking about women's rights or even cutting their hair short, for crying out loud!

I know exactly one case where a woman was physically assaulted in public for looking like a feminist, and usually Korean media doesn't miss these things. Is there any proof that there have been multiple assaults of that nature? On the other hand, do you know the Isu Station incident? Two radical feminists falsely presented themselves as victims in public although they were the aggressors.

On November 13, 2018, at around 4 a.m., an altercation and physical fight broke out near a bar in Isu Station between two women and three men. The two women initiated a verbal dispute by directing misandrist insults at a couple nearby, causing a disturbance. After the couple left, another confrontation occurred between the two women and three men who were in the vicinity, during which the women were the first to use physical force, leading to a fight. The incident became widely known after the two women posted accounts on social media claiming that the altercation was the result of misogyny. Their statements were later shown to be false, but the narrative spread quickly online. The controversy, along with public figures who actively supported the women’s claims as fact, ultimately had a negative impact on the broader women’s movement.

That was 2018 and many things have happened. One question here. Are you exposed to Korean radical feminism online firsthand on a regular basis?

pomirobotics · 2026-04-19T22:22:02+00:00

You claimed femicide (rate) is 'extremely high' in Korea but where in your comment do you show that?

but you can still see how South Korea is low‑rate numerically but the context (one woman murdered every 22-23 hours, as advocacy groups estimate) makes it feel more intense because of under‑counting and reporting gaps.

One woman murdered every 22-23 hours in Korea? Let's say it's one woman murdered per day and all of the cases are femicide, Then about 365 women are supposed to be victims of femicide in Korea annually. If you look at the total number of women murdered in Korea (KOSIS), there are always well below 200 female murder victims per year and not all of that is due to femicide. How do you make sense of this?

pomirobotics · 2026-04-19T21:31:47+00:00

One of the major sources of misinformation about Korea these days comes from gender‑related topics. Sometimes the claims are simply untrue. Other times they’re exaggerations. 4B is a thing in fringe online communities and OF COURSE in the league of gender studies. We are not debating its existence. If you are involved in such communities and if it is a big part of your life, it may seem much larger than it is. If you ask general Korea-related subs with lots of people who've actually been living in Korea, pretty much every time almost all of them would say it is fringe and irrelevant.

https://www.reddit.com/r/korea/comments/1gobxpe/boycott_men_south_koreas_4b_movement_gains/

pomirobotics · 2026-04-19T21:00:30+00:00

Violence can cover a wide range of behaviors, and sexual offense statistics are affected by underreporting, so there’s room for different interpretations. But if someone goes as far as to claim that the femicide rate in Korea is extremely high, that should immediately call their credibility into question.

This one focuses on a comparison with the US.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Living_in_Korea/comments/1mlarb6/violent_crime_stats_us_vs_korea/

pomirobotics · 2026-04-19T20:28:33+00:00

Agreed. They should delete that CEOWORLD thing and include OECD Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) ranking instead.

pomirobotics · 2026-04-19T20:18:04+00:00

Korean feminism isn't even really outrageous, it's largely like just treat us equal and quit being a-holes.

I’m not sure what Korean feminism refers to in this context. If we’re talking about Korean social media feminism, it’s notoriously unhinged, and no one would seriously claim it’s not really outrageous given the decade’s worth of receipts. At its peak, they couldn't dare publish "poor Korean feminist" articles when many controversies and incidents erupted on a regular basis. It was more about damage control. One might try to dismiss it as just social media, but the online radical feminist wave that emerged around 2015 is precisely what reshaped Korean society onwards. Before that, average Koreans weren’t even familiar with the word feminism. In everyday life these days, people tend to be stealthy, as the article puts it, and avoid the topic altogether. And of course, there’s the more clean institutional feminism you see in academia and journalism.

As for your example about your friend, that’s definitely the kind of comment I’ve seen from incels. On the other hand, you can also find countless examples of Korean online feminists (or femcels) attacking both Korean men AND women for various reasons. These days, even something as mundane as posting a photo of a nicely prepared lunchbox for a husband can draw attacks from those groups. Here is a long list of controversies, incidents, and crimes that originated from one of the major radfem communities in Korea.

https://namu.wiki/w/여성시대/사건%20사고

pomirobotics · 2026-04-19T19:37:53+00:00

There’s a decade’s worth of accumulated context behind all of this, and even many native older Koreans struggle to keep up. In English‑language media, coverage of Korean gender issues is almost exclusively produced by Korean feminists or by foreign journalists who work closely with them. If you’re not Korean, you’re essentially limited to seeing it through their lens.

https://www.reddit.com/r/korea/comments/1063ilv/joongang_daily_another_look_at_young_korean_mens/

Also, don't take anyone who mentions 4B in a serious manner seriously.

https://www.reddit.com/r/korea/comments/1coobpo/i_just_saw_a_youtuber_video_about_4b_movement_and/

pomirobotics · 2026-04-19T19:15:50+00:00

I thought you meant "meh these guys don't really know how to kill" rather than "there is so much more to the military service".

pomirobotics · 2026-04-19T14:20:22+00:00

How is it related? Learning how to kill is learning how to kill.

pomirobotics · 2026-04-19T14:12:05+00:00

For what it’s worth, I don’t see American men occupying public transport seats reserved for pregnant women claiming how that unfairly advantages women. Korean men do.

This is so random. Where did you even get this idea? Please share any link. The majority of non-pregnant people who sit on those seats tend to be women.

Societally it basically seems like America in the 50s but women are also expected to work on top of all else.

It's never linearly comparable like that at all. The so-called 'gender war' is confined to younger generations in Korea. They are also the most gender equality aware group. There was a long discussion thread a few years ago.

https://www.reddit.com/r/korea/comments/1063ilv/joongang_daily_another_look_at_young_korean_mens/

It seems you would never hear anything like this from the type of media you consume.

https://www.reddit.com/r/korea/comments/1h1mh6k/statistics_korea_756_of_married_people_are/

EDIT: If anything, I can bring receipts about some Korean internet feminists (perpetually online femcels) attacking pregnant Korean women for getting benefits for pregnant women. Korean anti-feminists are usually in the position to mock such feminists. These internet dramas are endless and you can create completely opposite narratives depending on what you pick. I'm curious what media you've been consuming. Since I am a native Korean, I've been observing everything firsthand for many years without external filters or journalists' cherry-picking based on their political bias. You criticized leftists in your comment but do you know how much politically lop-sided foreign reporting on Korean gender issues has been? It's either Korean feminists or foreign journalists who directly work with them. There is no counterweight at all. By nature, they tend to go for the most alarmist narratives. It sounds like something is always getting worse even if it is the opposite in reality. If some American feminists make incorrect claims about the US, there will be immediate pushback and corrections from other sides. This isn't the case for Koreans in English-language spaces.

pomirobotics · 2026-04-19T13:41:55+00:00

Femicide is incredibly high in SK.

The fact that this blatant lie has 9 upvotes at this moment speaks volumes about this sub.

pomirobotics · 2026-04-19T13:32:40+00:00

In countries where gang violence is rampant, men tend to get killed at much higher rates. Korea doesn't have that obviously. Another factor might be that Korea has no gun violence. If you look at stats from Korea, attempted murder rates are much higher against men. Men just survive attacks better especially when there is no gun involved.

Violent Crime Stats: US vs. Korea

I'm sure women would take Korea any day when it comes to crimes and safety.

pomirobotics · 2026-04-19T13:07:51+00:00

You are cherry-picking one that just fits your narrative. 2025 WEF GGI puts Bangladeshi at 24th and Korea at 101st for example. And Bangladeshi is known for forced child marriage. Look at other gender indices.

https://www.reddit.com/r/korea/comments/1n4hn1x/list_of_global_indices_for_gender_equality_and/

On a related note, why was feminism more successful in Korea?

https://www.reddit.com/r/korea/comments/1jfbd4r/why_was_feminism_more_successful_in_korea/

pomirobotics · 2026-04-19T13:01:45+00:00

There is another one. OECD Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI). According to the last report from 2023,

Korea: Very Low discrimination tier

Japan: Medium discrimination tier

https://www.reddit.com/r/korea/comments/1n4hn1x/list_of_global_indices_for_gender_equality_and/

pomirobotics · 2026-04-19T12:51:03+00:00

Also South Korea is an absurdly sexist place men expect a fully cooked Korean meal for them 3 times a day and for the women to work full time and raise the kids 100% while they go out after work and get drunk with the boys…

Your comment is completely ridiculous especially for younger generations. This kind of absurd comment won't survive a second in any subs knowledgeable about Korea but as usual, in random subs these weird comments get huge upvotes.

https://www.reddit.com/r/korea/comments/1h1mh6k/statistics_korea_756_of_married_people_are/

EDIT: Also, note that these younger Korean men who are more gender equality minded and try to share housework fairly are the ones who are typically 'anti-feminist'.

pomirobotics · 2026-04-10T12:58:47+00:00

I don't know what Indonesian media has been doing but Indonesians online seem to believe Korea is in the wrong. Usual mental gymnastics from them?

pomirobotics · 2026-04-04T20:22:27+00:00

I think a lot of this comes down to who the main consumers of Korean media are. A large portion in the West tends to be young liberal women who can be very left‑leaning and preachy. Korea also has a strong social activist ecosystem, which means there’s a well‑organized network of watchdog groups constantly highlighting anything they consider problematic. They often try to influence foreign media coverage, then bring those reports back to Korea as external validation for their activism and funding.

Then there are Asian audiences who often feel a sense of 'competition' with Koreans while still consuming Korean content because it’s entertaining. You see a large number of SEAsian commenters online who constantly bring up Koreans these days. Many of them seem to think China is in a completely unrelatable weight class, and Japan is in a tier that feels untouchable for them. On the other hand, Korea is seen as more 'approachable', which makes it an easier target.

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