With K-pop becoming more popular in the UK, K-pop fans in the UK find sense of community. From meeting King Charlies to creating their own university societies, UK fans have found a common ground to share their passion for K-culture! Let's take a closer look!
There are a growing number of universities across the UK which pride themselves on their variety of club choices which are available to students, from sports and music to more niche interests.
One of these arguably includes the ever-growing nature of K-pop societies, seen more and more frequently as the South Korean music industry extends its reach around the globe. From Sheffield, to Cardiff and Glasgow, university K-pop societies typically engage members in a mix of K-Pop choreography dance classes, K-drama viewings, and Korean language learning sessions to name just a few activities these societies boast.
With BLACKPINK seen in the picture above meeting King Charles, these types of media images help Korea to export their culture to other countries from the top tier levels.
Check out this video!
Speaking from experience!
The main interest that I remember in K-pop in the UK was of course when PSY performed "Gangnam Style", as at the time of it's release this song was everywhere, and of course this was due to it's catchy tune and crazy dance moves.
As we saw in the snippet from a Channel 4 documentary, even girl groups in the UK are starting to try and call themselves "K-pop" groups, however since their origin is in the UK and not Korea I find this hard to comes to terms with, even if they sang in fluent Korean and danced the same as Korean artists.
The increase in K-pop and K-culture in the UK has led to incredible statistics and developments across the country; BTS sold out both of their Wembley Stadium concert dates back in 2019 to 60,000 fans, and K-pop albums have become available in-store in HMVs, ASDAs.
Now, UK-based Korean stores such as SOKOLLAB and KStars, and K-pop societies at university have become the opposite of few and far between, and I think the trend will continue to see an increase in popularity and demand. I remember when I visited the UK last year and Korean music was known in a lot more places, and food products on some of the supermarket shelves, and in 2024 Seventeen performed at the UK summer concert Glastonbury.
There really is starting to be an increase in small groups of people who are interested in K-pop and K-culture in the UK, and I think that it is great to have a group to meet people with similar interests. I hope that this continues to grow!
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