when korea banned rock ‘n’ roll--10/23/26

23 Oct 2026

when korea banned rock ‘n’ roll--10/23/26

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Today's selection -- from The Birth of Korean Cool by Euny Hong. During the 1970s, rock music was banned in Korea, and police would stop women on the streets and take a ruler to measure if their skirts were long enough:

“Say what you will about the quality of K-Pop music, but Lee Moon-won, Korea's most influential pop culture critic, made a shockingly frank pronouncement in describing K-pop: ‘Koreans are not good at creativity.’

“If he's right, then President Park Geun-hye's promise of turning Korea into a ‘creative economy’ is in trouble.

“Sitting across from him, my eyes widened and I asked him to elaborate. ‘Koreans are better at packaging and marketing. Look at Samsung, for example. With K-pop, the songwriters are not Korean. They're European. The people who do the editing studied in the United States; they're multinational. The dance choreographers are from everywhere. It’s really a factory.’

“Many of the songwriters are European–Swedes especially. ‘Korean pop is based on Europop,’ Lee explained. Which totally explains why K-pop songs sound like Eurovision Song Contest entries. He elaborated, ‘The European sound influence is electronic and techno music. There's a heavy electronic base.’

“K-pop boy bands TVXQl and Big Bang are examples of Europop-influenced acts; other K-pop bands fall into other mainstream genres like R & B (Rain or MBLAQ) or bubble gum pop (Girls' Generation).

24K performing choreography in a practice studio

“There's a very good reason for the lack of an original, homegrown Korean sound: the Korean pop scene got a very late start because of censorship that stifled musical talent and creativity. For a critical period during the 1970s, rock music was banned in Korea.

“As a consequence of this ban, the Korean pop sound did not absorb any influence from the whole 1970s sound progression, including classic rock, punk, glam rock, and early heavy metal. No Led Zeppelin, no Sex Pistols, no David Bowie.

“During his eighteen-year rule from 1962 to 1979 (ending with his assassination), President Park Chung-hee (father of current South Korean President Park Geun-hye) instituted on-again, off-again martial law. Park was the hero behind Korea's rags-to-riches ascent (and–full disclosure–my grandfather's employer). It's now considered politically incorrect to refer to Park as a dictator, but I am failing to find another word to describe someone who amends voting laws to all but ensure his presidency for life.

“Park's iron-fisted policies were partly in response to North Korea, which was putting most of its resources into building its military; this made South Korea extremely nervous. In 1972, Park responded to the threat of invasion as any sensible ruler would: by banning miniskirts, long hair on men, and rock 'n' roll. That pretty much ruled out mods, rockers, and hippies–imminent threats to national security.

“Police would stop women on the streets, take a ruler to their skirts, and force them to go home and change if the gap between the hemline and the knee exceeded twenty centimeters. They would grab long-haired men and cut off their hair on the spot. No doubt these tactics will go down in the annals of history as the most effective war prevention gesture of all time. I'm sure that the North Korean rulers were quivering in their boots when they got wind of it.

“Wi Tack-whan, head of the Korean Culture and Tourism Institute, recalled, ‘You couldn't have English words on your clothes or you'd get arrested. Even if you carried a guitar around, they would take it away. Songs were a way of protest.’"