Introduction

In the field of musicological research, there is a growing emphasis on studies that advocate for a decolonial perspective. This is particularly pertinent given that coloniality has historically underpinned the development of modern and contemporary music in Korea and Asia. It is therefore crucial to scrutinize the interplay between coloniality and music and to investigate potential avenues for decolonization. Notably, coloniality or colonialism should not be perceived merely as an external imposition or a residual element destined to vanish; rather, it is intricately woven into the structures of domination. Consequently, it is imperative to engage in both external critique and internal self-reflection and critical introspection to effectively transcend coloniality. In this context, the term “post” as a temporal marker of the postcolonial era necessitates theoretical engagement with colonialism. Thus, postcolonialism should broaden its focus to encompass not only the post-colonial period but also the colonial era itself, serving as a lens through which colonialism in its entirety can be re-evaluated. From this perspective, it is essential to consider theories of decolonization rooted in the realities of the Third World, as articulated by scholars such as Fanon (1963), Wallerstein (1974), Amin (1989), Ahmad (1992), Chatterjee (1993), and Lazarus (2011). These approaches are noteworthy in that they emphasize the tangible realities of the Third World without uncritically privileging them, remain vigilant to the perils of internal colonialism, and address these issues within a broader global framework. Nonetheless, despite these contributions, a challenge persists in that discussions of decoloniality in Asian music cannot rely exclusively on such theories, which may still be somewhat removed from the realities of Asia.

A decolonial approach to musicology necessitates a critical reassessment of the prevailing values and ideologies that have been established within a Eurocentric framework. This approach must address the historically marginalized voices within musicology and include a critical analysis of the ideologies and contexts perpetuated through such marginalization. It is particularly important to examine the relationship between coloniality and modernity as mediated through Western-centered ideologies. Additionally, it is essential to identify musical practices that reflect and seek to address these issues. However, caution is warranted when employing dichotomous approaches in the context of decolonial music studies. For instance, defining Asian music in opposition to Western classical music, or emphasizing regional or traditional music as a means of countering coloniality, risks oversimplifying the complex dynamics between coloniality and modernity in music. The modernization of Asian music during the colonial period and its coloniality were intertwined not only with the actions of colonial powers but also with complex issues such as the interactions among diverse musical genres, power relations, identity, and the zeitgeist. Therefore, to comprehend the multifaceted nature of these processes, it is important to adopt a comprehensive and multidimensional approach. Above all, in addressing the question of decolonial music within the Korean context, it is necessary to move beyond a simple dichotomy between Western music and Korean music. Korea’s particular historical position as a former colony of the Japanese Empire, the influx of Japanese and Western music through Japan, the introduction of U.S.-American and Western music following the Korean War under U.S. influence, and the diverse musical influences that emerged during the Cold War have all left distinct traces on Korean music. This historical background necessitates a careful examination of the various forms of coloniality that have manifested at different stages in the history of Korean music.

This study aims to delineate the evolution of decolonial research within Korean musicology. Specifically, it endeavors to broaden the discourse on decolonial music in Asia by scrutinizing the efforts within Korean musicology—since the 1980s—to engage with issues of coloniality and modernity at various historical junctures. These include national music discourse, research on pro-Japanese music, and studies of Korean music during the Cold War, as well as the debates and emerging research agendas that have arisen in this context. These ongoing investigations continue to elucidate the characteristics of a decolonial Korean musicology by critically examining the historical and aesthetic underpinnings of coloniality that are deeply embedded in contemporary Korean music. Ultimately, the discussions presented in this study will contribute to enriching the theme of this special issue, “Countering Coloniality in Asian Music.”

Postcolonial music and musicology in South Korea

Minjok Eumak-non (National Music Discourse)

The formal introduction of Western musicology to Korea occurred in the late 1970s. This discipline, which emphasized the “universality” and “objectivity” of Western scholarship, became entrenched within the institutional framework of “Western music” that had already been established in Korea since the early twentieth century. Within universities, it was categorized as a field of study focused on Western music, under the designation of “music theory” (Sunghye Kim 2009: 85). In contrast, gugak-hak (Korean traditional music studies), which concentrated on traditional music as its primary research subject, had already been established. It had secured a broader base of researchers than the “imported” musicology, focusing on the study of music that had been historically transmitted (Hee-sun Kim 2020: 58).1 In this context, the concept of minjok eumak-non (national music discourse) emerged as a critique of both the bifurcated and institutionalized Korean musicology and the contemporary musical consciousness within Korean society. Originating in the late 1970s, it evolved through a series of studies by musicologists such as Gang-sook Lee (1977, 1980, 1985a, 1985b), Geon-yong Lee (1987, 1988), Dong-eun Noh (1989, 1993, 1995, 2002), and Bang-song Song (1982, 1989, 1998, 2002), and was more concretely articulated with the publication of Minjok Eumak-ron (Dong-eun Noh and Geon-yong Lee 1991).2 This new concept, positioned across both sides of the bifurcated “Korean–musicology,” critiqued the art-for-art’s-sake ideology of “universality” and “objectivity” in musicology, as well as the “orthodox essentialism” of gugak-hak, while focusing on revealing the forms and identities of modernity and coloniality manifested in both. Above all, it re-recognized the specificity and historicity of Korean music, using as its argumentative basis the decolonizing task of filtering out the residual Japanese and Western imperial cultures within Korean society, thereby asserting the recovery of subjectivity in Korean music. The emergence of minjok eumak-ron in the 1980s was grounded in the experiences of modern Korean history—specifically, the Gwangju Uprising of 1980, the June 10 Democratic Movement of 1987, and the 1988 lifting of bans on artists who had defected to or been taken to North Korea—and the corresponding transformations in Korean intellectual history. At this juncture, “musicology” was modified by the qualifier “national” (minjok), thereby seeking to embody a critical reflection upon and self-examination of modern and contemporary Korean music history, which had long neglected the intrinsic values of Korean tradition. Dong-eun Noh and Geon-yong Lee advocated for the use of the term minjok eumak instead of hanguk (Korean) eumak positing that in a peninsula divided by ideological differences, the term hanguk pertains solely to South Korea. In the South, hanguk serves as an abbreviation for the Republic of Korea, whereas North Korea is referred to as bukhan in the South and Buk Joseon in the North. This terminology, they argue, implicitly endorses national division and foreign intervention. Furthermore, by questioning the necessity of “musicology” for “Koreans” as opposed to “the West,” they played a pivotal role in shaping the identity of Korean musicology. In this context, it can be characterized as a decolonial musicology, as it critically interrogates the pervasive Western-centric dependency within Korean society and endeavors to discern the modern attributes of such dependency. Pertaining to the theme of this special issue, countering coloniality, the minjok eumak-non of the 1980s can be interpreted as a decolonial musicology that advocates for a critical consciousness of modernity. It acknowledges both epistemic and exploitative coloniality—established through Western and Japanese mediation throughout the modern era—and internal coloniality that has assimilated these structures. It seeks to identify, critically reflect upon, and transcend these colonialities. Concurrently, it may be perceived as a counter-musicology that addresses the coloniality inherent in musicology itself.

In particular, considering the transplanted and internalized coloniality experienced throughout the modern history of the Korean peninsula, the division of the nation, and the subsequent fragmentation of the musical landscape into gugak, Western classical music, and popular music, this inquiry posed a fundamental question regarding the identity of Korean music and the focal points of Korean musicology necessary for its elucidation. Ultimately, this encompassed two dimensions: a reflection on the aesthetics toward which contemporary Korean music aspires, and a critique of the limitations and issues inherent in historical narratives that arise from a lack of understanding of the history that has shaped contemporary Korean music. Reflection on Korean music historiography concentrated on reexamining historical discontinuities and expanded the scope of Korean music history to include modern music history, the music of the liberation period, and North Korean music post-division—areas that had not previously been active subjects of research within either branch of Korean musicology.

The aesthetic examination of Korean music commenced with a critique of the universal term eumak, which gained prominence through Japanese mediation. Since the colonial period, the term eumak has been associated with Western classical music within Korean society. Consequently, this critique encompassed an analysis of the ideology inherent in Western fine art and the Western conception of art that is embedded and obscured within it, as well as a critique of the musical thought and sensibilities that this concept has cultivated among Koreans. In essence, this closed concept, referring to Western classical music, was marked by an exclusivity that acknowledged only specific Western works, composers, and their aesthetic values as art (Gang-sook Lee 1980). It posited that the Western-centric musical sensibilities internalized by Koreans have resulted in the loss or distortion of a Korean musical mother tongue. Gang-sook Lee asserted,

Just as there are native and foreign languages, there are also native and foreign musical languages. However, before acquiring our musical mother tongue, we became absorbed in acquiring Western art music as a foreign language, and thus became unable to speak our musical mother tongue (Gang-sook Lee 1985b:237).

thereby problematizing the Western orientation and coloniality of Korean musical consciousness and emphasizing that the recovery of a native musical sensibility constitutes a decolonial practice. Previously, in the introduction to his book Korean Musical Culture: True Korean Music and Quasi-Korean Music (1977), he had declared that although both Western classical music and gugak exist in Korea, classical music employs Western musical materials and gugak is “music of the past” that does not share contemporary aesthetics, and therefore “Korean music for contemporary Korean society does not exist” (1977:271–6). His theory of hanguk eumak-ron, which did not regard either as Korean music (Gang-sook Lee 1980), later evolved into hanguk eumak-hak (Korean musicology) that interrogates the identity of Korean music (Gang-sook Lee 1990), advocating for a transformation in the perception of the Korean music world. Notably, he emphasized the importance of the interaction between society and music, asserting that Korean musicology should contribute to overcoming the estrangement between the two, thereby underscoring the academic, historical, and social significance and role of musicology.

In the manuscript Minjok Eumak-ron (1991),3 Dong-eun Noh and Geon-yong Lee conceptualized the stages of minjok eumak along two dimensions. The first dimension pertains to the Western dependency of contemporary Korean music, which encompasses both classical and popular genres. This dependency is rooted in socio-historical conditions, including the forced opening of Joseon, the influx of new cultural forms, the expansion of Christianity and modern education, as well as the U.S. military government and the continued presence of U.S. forces. For approximately four decades following liberation, the South Korean music scene was dominated by currents such as internationalism, modernization, and the pursuit of advancement, resulting in tendencies characterized as anti-national in music. The second dimension involves segmentation according to class. Noh and Lee argued that the musical reality in Korea had become fragmented and divided along economic lines: classical music was monopolized by elites with economic capital, while commercial popular music remained the only accessible form for the lower classes. They contended that such class-based divisions in musical sensibility ultimately undermine the cultural homogeneity of the nation and must therefore be understood as a national issue. To address these two fundamental problems, they advocated for a nationalist approach to music. Ultimately, their project was framed within the logic of decolonization, aiming at the restoration of cultural subjectivity. Above all, they emphasized the need to critically reflect upon internalized Western centrism and to reconsider the relationship between nation and music. To overcome this musical condition and to advance musical nationalism, they proposed three key tasks.

Firstly, it is imperative to address the monopolistic dominance of institutionalized Western art music, often characterized as elitist. Secondly, the pervasive influence of commercially driven popular music, which has come to dominate Korea’s mass media distribution system, must be transcended. Thirdly, the development of minjok eumak during this era should aim to address and ultimately overcome the division of the Korean peninsula. Notably, the discourse on minjok eumak consistently emphasized that contemporary Korean music must be understood as having been shaped by the specific condition of national division.

Consequently, the vision of Korean national music should not be restricted to one side of the divided peninsula but should instead encompass the Korean peninsula in its entirety. While relating music to its broader social context, this discourse simultaneously sought to trace the lineage of national musical movements within Korean history. For instance, the stagnation of gugak was interpreted in relation to suppression policies during the Japanese colonial period, while the proliferation of popular music was understood in connection with the U.S. military presence in South Korea. Furthermore, issues such as overcoming division and achieving national reunification were advanced as intrinsic challenges within the realm of music itself. Additionally, the scope of national music was historically expanded to include periods such as the liberation era, the colonial period, the gaehwagi (Enlightenment period),4 and the late Joseon dynasty. This discourse highlights the historical continuity of national music awareness, which was already articulated during the liberation period. As an early instance of Noh’s research, he investigated the activities of the musician Lee Eun-dol, who engaged in political movements during the Enlightenment period, to demonstrate the existence of national musicians even at the initial introduction of Western music. Furthermore, as a practical extension of the national music discourse, studies were conducted on Korean musicians’ awareness of reality and their practices, the language of national music during the liberation period, and the concept of revived national music. From this perspective, the lives and works of composers Kim Sun-nam (1917–1986) and Lee Geon-u (1919–1998), which had not been previously researched, were examined through the lens of national musicianship.5 Noh identifies the significance of the two composers’ music not in the originality of their compositional structure or technique, but rather in the manner in which their works, instead of addressing the colonized Korean populace as either “mere entertainment or profound art,” imparted values and a spirit of challenge capable of healing and transcending the nation’s lived realities. In essence, Noh’s perspective elucidates that the identity of national music is not to be reclaimed through the sonic structures and formal systems of Western or Korean traditional music, but through critical reflection upon and praxis of music itself. In doing so, he advocates for a re-evaluation of Western-centered conceptions of music as an externalized Other. The discourse on national music in the 1980s, beyond the contributions of Noh and Lee, was further developed through the work of scholars such as Bang-song Song, Kyung-chan Min, Jun-il Kang, Woo-seok Seo, Chun-mi Kim, Jang-jik Lee, Sunghye Joo, Byeong-eun Yoo, Heon Kang, and more. This discourse expanded into areas such as Korean musicology (Gang-sook Lee 1985; Bang-song Song 1982; Geon-yong Lee 1984, 1986) and theories of reunification music and North Korean music studies (Kyung-chan Min 1988, 2002; Sun-woo Cho 1992; Chun-mi Kim 1988; Geon-yong Lee 1988, Jun-yeon Hwang et al. 2002).6

Concurrently, the discourse surrounding minjok eumak-ron intersected with the praxis-oriented and movement-based framework of the song movement (norae undong). This movement emerged from activist circles within South Korean society during a period characterized by heightened democratization efforts. The irregular publication Norae (Song), first issued in 1984 (Norae Dongin 1984), brought together contributors such as Chang-nam Kim and Young-mi Lee, who would later become pivotal figures in the study of popular music in Korea. A central focus of the song movement was its critique of the commercial popular music of the time. It consistently criticized what it perceived as the unethical and decadent nature of its emotions and lyrics, its escapist tendencies, its formal reliance on foreign models, and the commercial mechanisms that dominated its systems of production and distribution. Simultaneously, the movement sought to address the question of what constitutes a desirable song, thereby situating its discussions within the broader framework of minjok eumak (Chang-nam Kim 1984, 1986; Young-mi Lee 1991; Geon-yong Lee 1985; Jang-jik Lee 1985).

From a decolonial perspective, both Western-derived music in Korea and the modernity of traditional music have become subjects of critical examination. Notably, the issue of modernity in traditional music continued to be scrutinized into the mid-2000s by scholars who inherited the concerns of minjok eumak-ron, as well as by critics and academics engaged in the critique of modernity. Ji-young Jeon’s monograph (2005) aimed to demonstrate that as Western modernity was introduced and reconfigured within the historical contexts of colonialism and the Cold War, Korean music emerged as a historical product shaped by tensions between tradition and modernity, and between national identity and institutionalization. In the same year, Soyoung Lee’s book (2005) critically analyzed how Korean musical discourse and practice, through the internalization of Western perspectives and norms, have constructed tradition and Korean-ness by rendering them as forms of self-othering. These studies can ultimately be understood as developments within the framework of decolonizing musicology, insofar as they sought to concretize and analyze the nature of modernity embedded in the transmission and practice of contemporary gugak.

Research on pro-Japanese music

The modern era of the Korean peninsula is characterized by Japanese imperial occupation, marking a period of colonialism. Consequently, research into the history of modern Korean music is intrinsically linked to the study of traditional, Western, and popular music under Japanese colonial rule. Within this context, the investigation of chilni eumak, or pro-Japanese music has emerged as a central focus. Specifically, inquiries into the identities, timelines, and content of pro-Japanese activities have become significant concerns for contemporary Korean society and various academic disciplines, particularly within the framework of “setting history right.” As a result, research on pro-Japanese music has gained considerable momentum. However, early investigations into pro-Japanese music necessitated what Dong-eun Noh termed “historical determination and courage” (1996:34). This was due to the fact that musicians with pro-Japanese affiliations were already entrenched at the core of the institutionalized music world established during the modern period. Many of these individuals held positions as educators or pioneers for contemporary musicians, creating a challenge in critiquing “living senior musicians” of the time. It required courage to critically examine and label events in modern and contemporary music history as pro-Japanese music, which had previously been accepted without question. Although research on pro-Japanese music builds upon the musical criticism activities during the liberation period, involving figures such as Yong-gu Park, Young-geun Park, Un-yeong Na, Isang Yun, Yu-seon Lee, and Jeong-sik Jeong, it was Noh who systematized the field. Noh achieved this by uncovering the specific activities, content, and historical evidence of pro-Japanese musicians and organizations, and further developing the field to integratively include anti-Japanese music.

Foremost, the significance of examining pro-Japanese music, musicians, and activities within the framework of decolonial musicology is underscored by the incomplete liquidation of pro-Japanese music, which was expected to accompany liberation. This process was hindered by the division of the Korean peninsula, the Cold War, and the period of U.S. military governance. Furthermore, in a context where ideological constraints persisted, an art-for-art’s-sake orientation in music was instead reinforced. The core issue lines in the fact that, during this period, pro-Japanese musicians were reintegrated into the center of musical life through the institutionalization of modern Korean music. Noh observed that the liquidation of pro-Japanese music should have been prioritized for the development of nationalist music, however, amidst historical upheavals, the historical irony of pro-Japanese figures being rebranded as anti-communists was accentuated, leading to the forfeiture of the opportunity for such liquidation (1996:36). This situation also reflects a critical awareness that, during the military dictatorship, musicians who had participated in pro-Japanese activities were conferred national cultural honors or appointed as professors at major universities, thereby receiving de facto exoneration and legitimacy.

Research on pro-Japanese music, which gained prominence in the early 1980s, was shaped not only by minjok eumak-ron but also by the debates surrounding Japanese-style popular songs (waesaek gayo). These debates, which attracted considerable public attention, emerged from the so-called ppongjjak controversy over the identity and origins of the popular music genre now referred to as trot.7 In 1984, the traditional musician Byung-ki Hwang contributed an article to the music magazine Eumak Dong-A titled “Who Claims Ppongjjak Is Ours?” In this article, he contended that the scale of ppongjjak is identical to that of popular songs from Japan’s Showa period (1926–1989), asserting that ppongjjak originated from enka of the Meiji period and was adopted in colonial Korea, thereby not constituting “our music” (Korean music), and claimed that “ppongjjak is Japanese-style.” In response, Western musicologists, popular music composers, and music critics published rebuttals in various media.8 This debate ultimately evolved into a broader controversy between elite music and popular music. Fundamentally, the issue pertained to the identity of trot as a popular music genre transplanted through colonialism, and, more fundamentally, it arose from broader historical consciousness and debates concerning the re-evaluation of modern music history during the colonial period.

From the mid-1980s, Dong-eun Noh embarked on comprehensive research into the musical society of the Japanese colonial period, approached from the perspective of minjok eumak. He published studies on the state of research concerning music during the enlightenment period and pro-Japanese music through a series of articles in academic journals and music magazines, thereby introducing these issues into public discourse. His research began with topics such as pro-Japanese records and the popular music industry under colonial rule, Japanese ideology and distorted false consciousness, and the mobilization of musicians under colonial rule—examining the activities of musicians and musical organizations. He further explored studies of colonial musical society and the persistent issues of colonial remnants today. Noh revealed the pro-Japanese activities of prominent Korean musicians, including Hong Nan-pa (1898–1941), as well as pro-Japanese musicians, organizations, music education, and musical works, identifying 99 pro-Japanese collaborators. Through this work, he aimed to demonstrate that the false and transnational character of contemporary Korean musical phenomena originated in the musical culture of the colonial period. In the 1990s, research on pro-Japanese music expanded through various thematic studies by Chang-uk Kim (1993), Kyung-chan Min (1994), Bang-song Song (1992, 1993), Su-hyun Kim (1994), and Byung-woong Kwon (1994). Research in the 1990s commenced with the indexing of music-related articles in Maeil Shinbo, a major newspaper of the colonial period, followed by analysis based on this work. A wide range of primary sources—including music textbooks, music programs, visual materials, recordings, magazines, scores, and oral testimonies—were discovered, indexed, and annotated. These efforts culminated in the ten-volume series The Collected Materials of Modern Korean Music Articles: Magazine Edition (10 vols.) (Su-hyun Kim and Su-jeong Yi 2008).9 The Collections represent the culmination of a decade-long endeavor in collection and organization, offering a foundational corpus of primary sources essential for reconstructing the history of modern Korean music. This comprehensive collection transcends a purely archival role by elucidating the complex and diverse discourses surrounding music in the modern era. It thus serves as an essential foundation for critically re-evaluating the construction and negotiation of the concept of geundae eumak or “modern music,” while facilitating more nuanced and multifaceted research on musical culture during the colonial period.

Since the 2000s, scholarly inquiry into pro-Japanese music has been advanced through the contributions of Kyungboon Lee (2012), Su-hyun Kim (2021), and Su-jeong Yi (2013). This body of research has illuminated the pro-Japanese activities of notable figures, including composers recognized as nationalist musicians within the Western music domain—such as Hong Nan-pa, Hyeon Je-myeong (1902–1960), Kim Seong-tae (1910–2012), Lee Hong-ryeol (1917–1980), Cho Du-nam (1912–1984), Kim Dong-jin (1913–2009)—as well as popular music figures like Nam In-su (1918–1962) and Park Si-chun (1913–1996), and central institutions of traditional music such as the Yiwangjik aakbu, Yi Royal Court Music Bureau (1911–1945) and its representative figure Kim Gi-su (1917–1986). Notably, the identification of Hong Nan-pa, long esteemed as a nationalist musician, as a pro-Japanese collaborator became intertwined with the government’s initiative of “setting history right,” resulting in the removal of his commemorative presence at the Independence Hall, the revocation of his designation as a Figure of the Month, and the issuance of official apologies.10 Furthermore, the pro-Japanese activities of Ahn Ik-tae (1906–1965), composer of the Korean national anthem “Aegukga,” along with his subsequent pro-Nazi activities and allegations of plagiarism concerning the anthem (Kyungboon Lee 2019a 2019b, 2021), have engendered social and political controversy extending beyond musicology.11 While these revelations have inflicted profound wounds within the music community, they have also emerged as pivotal events wherein decolonial musicology intersected with societal discourse, catalyzing change. Research on pro-Japanese music has subsequently expanded to encompass studies of anti-Japanese and independence music (Su-hyun Kim 2021, 2025; Hyesung Ban 2022; Eujeong Zhang and Hyesung Ban 2025), evolving into a significant trajectory of decolonial research that interrogates both colonial power and resistance through the lens of music.

Research on Cold War and Korean Music

Traditionally, Cold War studies have been predominantly situated within the disciplines of history, international relations, and military studies. In Korea, scholarly interest in the cultural dimensions of the Cold War—encompassing fields such as literature, film, visual art, theater, and music—began to gain prominence in the 2000s. This shift was largely catalyzed by the declassification of Cold War-era documents, prompting efforts across multiple disciplines to re-examine modern Korean history. Notably, the body of research on the cultural Cold War that emerged within Korean cultural studies from the late 2000s played a pivotal role in redirecting the focus of Korean Studies, which had previously been heavily centered on the colonial period. This new line of inquiry highlighted the ways in which the global Cold War influenced not only Korea’s academic and artistic fields but also entertainment, popular culture, and the everyday lives of Koreans, thereby offering new perspectives on the transformations of Korean society.

Recent scholarship on music during the Cold War has emerged as a relatively new field of study. Compared to the broader scope of Cold War studies in international scholarship and within Korean Studies, this area may be considered somewhat delayed in its development. Nonetheless, within the framework of decolonial discourse and considering Korea’s unique status as the only remaining divided nation, the Cold War era—during which the structural foundations of contemporary Korean music were established—has increasingly become a focal point of musicological research. This interest has been particularly spurred by the accelerated declassification of diplomatic archives. In the realm of Korean music studies, this research trajectory has been significantly advanced through the contributions of Hee-sun Kim (2019a, 2019b, 2021, 2022a, 2022b, 2023, 2024) and Eunyoung Kim (2021). These scholars revisit modern Korean history from the early Cold War period onward, aiming to elucidate the colonial dimensions of U.S. hegemony within South Korean music (see also Kyungboon Lee 2020). By examining various aspects—such as the relationship with American musicology, pro-U.S. activities, musical initiatives supported by the United States, and the colonial characteristics of the transition from pro-Japanese to pro-American orientations—this body of research uncovers the deeply ingrained nature of coloniality within Korean music. Importantly, it demonstrates that coloniality is not merely an external imposition but is also internalized within the structural fabric of Korean musical culture, thereby contributing to the development of a decolonial Korean musicology.

The emergence of Cold War studies within Korean musicology must be contextualized within the broader trajectory of modern Korean music historiography. While earlier research extended into the liberation period, there has been an increasing recognition of the relative paucity of scholarship on the subsequent era. This awareness, coupled with decolonial approaches that aim to examine the Korean peninsula as an integrated framework encompassing both North and South Korea, has catalyzed further research. A comprehensive overview of Cold War Korean music studies includes work on North Korean music (Dong-eun Noh; Ihngyo Bae 2010, 2015, 2016, 2018; Hyeonsik Cheon 2004, 2012a, 2012b), studies of music during the Korean War (Kyungboon Lee 2020; Hyeseung Shin 2021), and research on the cultural Cold War involving the United States and the institutionalization of Cold War musical culture. Among these, the most sustained and systematic line of inquiry has developed around the institutionalization of musical culture during the Cold War. The central problematique of Cold War Korean music studies lies in examining how, under conditions where the legacy of Japanese colonial rule was not fully dismantled, Korea missed the opportunity to establish an autonomous national music, became divided into North and South, and witnessed a music field—initially dominated by pro-Japanese musicians—gradually shift toward a pro-American orientation during the Cold War. Furthermore, these studies emphasize that the processes of musical institutionalization formed during this period continue to shape Korean music today. Simultaneously, they underscore that this transformation cannot be understood solely as a unilateral result of U.S. influence or Cold War geopolitics, but rather as a complex phenomenon involving multiple internal factors. By elucidating these dynamics, such research ultimately seeks to bring critical awareness to the internalized coloniality that continues to define contemporary Korean music and to advance the unfinished project of decolonization.

Since the mid-2010s, scholarly inquiry into Cold War Korean music has broadened to address a diverse array of topics. These include the international dissemination of Korean music—particularly performances abroad, with a focus on the United States—within the context of U.S.-led cultural Cold War initiatives; various forms of support for elite musicians; American cultural policies that positioned the United States as both a patron and protector of the “Free World;” and the processes of Americanization and institutionalization within the Korean musical domain. Within this scholarly trajectory, Hee-sun Kim was one of the earliest scholars to explore Korean music through the lens of cultural Cold War. Since 2016, she has produced a series of works examining the relationship between the cultural Cold War and Korean traditional music (2019a, 2019b, 2021, 2022a, 2022b, 2022c, 2023, 2024). Her early research concentrated on the Little Angels, a children’s performing arts troupe founded in 1962 and active internationally from 1965, analyzing their performances within the intersecting contexts of South Korean nationalism and anti-communism, American liberalism, U.S. policies supporting traditional arts abroad, and Cold War Orientalism. Subsequent studies have extended this line of inquiry to examine U.S. support for Asian music research and the internationalization of Korean traditional music in the 1960s; the ways in which overseas performances by both North and South Korea from the 1950s to the 1970s emerged as arenas of competition over national arts on the international stage; the affective politics of inter-Korean musical exchange and popular music on the Korean Peninsula; and the case of three performing arts troupes that toured abroad in 1964, analyzing how national arts were appropriated and reconfigured as objects of competition within the structural conditions of the Cold War, as well as the outcomes of these processes. Collectively, these studies provide a comprehensive examination of international exchange, overseas performance, the globalization of gugak and its scholarship, and the formation of Cold War affective politics as structured through the relationship between South Korea and the United States. In doing so, they demonstrate how the global Cold War operated within and was internalized by South Korean artists and musical institutions, and how these dynamics ultimately shaped the formation of contemporary gugak.

Eunyoung Kim (2021, 2022, 2023, 2024) has recently advanced her research agenda on Korean yangak or Western art music in Korea during the Cold War, building upon her previous work on minjok eumak, as Noh’s student. Her research offers a comprehensive analysis of the formation and structure of the musical field in the post-liberation period. This includes an examination of the establishment of Seoul National University’s College of Music under the U.S. military government, the characteristics of its participants, the trajectories of Korean musicians studying in the United States during the 1950s, and the hierarchical structure of U.S.–Korea musical exchange. Furthermore, her work explores the broader impact of the Cold War on the institutional and human configuration of the Korean musical world. Through these analyses, she highlights the Cold War period as a formative moment in the constitution of modern Korean music and calls for critical reflection on its enduring implications. While earlier research by Hee-sun Kim primarily focused on traditional music across North and South Korea, Kim Eun-young’s work shifts attention to the formation and structure of the Western art music field, thereby expanding the scope of inquiry. This line of research has been further developed by scholars such as Heekyung Lee (2024) and Hyeseung Shin (2024), who analyze the influence of the United States on the Korean musical sphere through cultural diplomacy, education, aid, and private foundation support in the 1950s and 1960s, as well as the propagandistic function of music in state media such as Daehan News. Additionally, studies of Cold War Korean music have extended to musical culture during the Korean War itself. Research by Kyungboon Lee (2020), Hyeseung Shin (2021), Younghee Nam and Soon-wook Lee (2022), and Young-hee Nam (2025) has explored a wide range of topics, including music in the Geoje prisoner-of-war camps, children’s songs in refugee contexts, military bands and psychological warfare music, and the role of the U.S. Information Service alongside the musical culture of Busan as a wartime capital. Collectively, these studies illuminate the multilayered dimensions of Korean musical culture during the Cold War and provide a critical foundation for analyzing the characteristics and operative dynamics of Cold War music.

Korean popular music, which evolved within the milieu of the U.S. military government through U.S. military camp clubs and AFKN broadcasting, was profoundly influenced by the swift dissemination and mainstreaming of U.S.-American music. This necessitates a critical examination of the power dynamics and cultural translation processes that underpinned its development. In this context, the seminal study by Hyunjoon Shin and Tunghung Ho (2008) investigates popular music in South Korea and Taiwan from the mid-1940s to the late 1950s, illustrating how the nationalization of popular entertainment and the translation of American popular culture transpired during the early Cold War period. By transcending a narrative of unidirectional cultural flow, this study elucidates how U.S.-American popular culture was reconfigured and negotiated within specific regional contexts, thereby offering a counter-colonial perspective on cultural power in Cold War East Asia. Subsequent research by Jaekyom Shim (2017), Sunghee Kim (2021), and Hyungkeun Cho (2024) further extends this line of inquiry by exploring the Korean popular music industry, celebrity systems, trans-Pacific entertainment networks, the dissemination of global sensibilities through international song festivals, and the role of popular music in nation-building projects in both Korea and Japan. Although research in this domain remains relatively limited compared to the magnitude of U.S.-American influence, these studies collectively demonstrate that Korean popular music should not be reduced to mere imitation or dependency. Instead, they underscore it as a site of active cultural reconstruction within global power structures. In this regard, Cold War-era popular music studies in Korea are emerging as a significant strand of Korean decolonial musicology—specifically, as a form of countercolonial analysis that emphasizes negotiation, agency, and cultural reconfiguration.

As previously discussed, the study of Cold War music in Korea has broadened to include gugak, yangak, and popular music, illustrating that the development of modern Korean musical culture has been shaped by the convergence of colonial legacies, Cold War geopolitics, and U.S.-centered cultural hegemony. In this context, Korean scholarship on Cold War music aligns with Kuan-Hsing Chen’s concept of Asia as Method (Chen, 2010), advocating for a transition from Western-centered knowledge production to an Asia-centered analytical framework. While existing Anglophone scholarship on Cold War music has predominantly been influenced by Euro-American perspectives, research on Cold War Korean music—historically positioned at the periphery of such discourse—represents an inquiry that reorients analysis from within Asia itself. Consequently, this body of work can be assessed as engaging in countercoloniality, as it challenges epistemic hierarchies and repositions Asia as a site of theoretical production rather than merely an object of study.

Conclusion

The three trajectories of postcolonial Korean musicology previously discussed can be succinctly summarized as follows. Firstly, the minjok eumak-ron emerged from a critical awareness of Korea’s musical landscape, which was divided not only geopolitically between North and South Korea but also musically into gugak and yangak due to the legacies of colonialism and national division. This discourse, developed through both moral reflection and aesthetic critique, expanded into historical efforts to ‘setting history right’ in Korean music history, encompassing studies on the colonial period, the liberation era, and North Korean music. Importantly, minjok eumak-ron interrogated the problem of modernity as manifested in both traditional and Western music scholarship. Secondly, studies on pro-Japanese music during the colonial period emerged in the 1980s as a continuation of the critical consciousness fostered by minjok eumak-ron. These studies contended that the structural continuity of distorted music ideologies and figures from the colonial period into post-liberation Korea needed to be exposed and addressed as a foundational task of postcolonial critique. Thirdly, the more recent wave of research on Cold War-era music developed alongside broader discursive practices of postcolonialism and in response to Korea’s unique geopolitical condition as the only remaining divided nation. With the increasing availability of declassified diplomatic archives, musicological scholarship has begun to interrogate the structural formation of contemporary Korean music during the Cold War. These studies explore the entanglement of Korean music with American musicology, pro-American cultural activities, U.S.-funded music programs and overseas performances, the nature of the internationalization of Korean music, and the transitional period in which colonial musical figures and ideologies were reconfigured under Cold War ideology. In doing so, they reveal the deeply embedded coloniality of Korean music—not merely as an external imposition but as something internalized within the very structure of Korean music itself.

The trajectories that emerged post-1980s, a period characterized by a broader postcolonial reexamination within Korean society and academia, are interconnected. As manifestations of postcolonial Korean musicology, they transcend the traditional dichotomy between Korean traditional and Western music studies by situating Korean music within a comprehensive framework informed by cultural, historical, and political perspectives. Crucially, they signify a shift towards critical praxis, addressing the structural dimensions of Korean music and musicology as influenced by colonization, division, and ideological regimes. These ongoing studies continue to critically evaluate the historical and aesthetic foundations of coloniality deeply embedded in Korean music. Although each strand developed sequentially along the trajectory of Korean musicology, collectively, they illuminate the multifaceted and internally complex nature of coloniality in Korean music, raising significant questions and fostering reflexive critique. The importance of this body of work lies in its rejection of replicating Western musicology in a regionalized format. Instead, it aims to establish an autonomous and self-reflective musicology rooted in Korean historical and cultural contexts. Furthermore, it has meaningfully engaged with issues of elite versus commercial music, institutionalization, and the aesthetic-political consequences of these formations through a postcolonial lens. Nonetheless, substantial challenges persist. Among these are the scarcity of primary sources necessary to uncover suppressed or obscured musical histories from the modern period; the oversimplification of pro versus anti-colonial binaries in colonial music studies; Cold War-era polarities of anti-communism versus pro-communism; enduring inferiority complexes regarding Western music; and the continued marginalization of Korean popular music studies within institutional frameworks dominated by gugak and yangak. Presently, ongoing research endeavors continue to reveal the characteristics of a counter-colonial Korean musicology by critically examining the historical and aesthetic underpinnings of coloniality deeply embedded in contemporary Korean music. By tracing the trajectory of music scholarship, this paper seeks to evaluate the progress of counter-colonial musicology in Korea while elucidating the intricate nature of counter-coloniality and compiling the diverse issues that have emerged in the process. Future research must transcend ethnonationalist perspectives and binary oppositions, advancing new interpretations grounded in rigorous source discovery and archival work. This includes embracing the diversity of global and multicultural music cultures, recognizing that music is not static but in constant flux, and understanding that both external influences and internal actors—including discourses and practices—have jointly constructed the complexities of today’s Korean music. Only through such dialectical engagement can a fully realized decolonial Korean musicology emerge—one that contributes substantively to global musicology and maximizes scholarly imagination and international dialogue.

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