This article explores the evolution of decolonial perspectives within Korean musicology by examining the critical engagement of Korean scholars with coloniality and modernity in the study of Korean music. Rather than considering colonialism as a historical condition that concluded with national liberation, this study contends that coloniality persists within the institutional, ideological, and historiographical frameworks of Korean music. The article scrutinizes three principal trajectories in decolonial Korean musicology: discourses on minjok eumak (national music), research on chinil eumak (pro-Japanese music) during the colonial period, and recent scholarship on naengjeon hanguk eumak (Cold War-era Korean music). These strands collectively illuminate how colonial and Cold War power structures influenced the development of modern Korean music institutions, aesthetics, and historical narratives. By situating these debates within broader discussions of postcolonial and decolonial theory, the article illustrates how Korean musicology has endeavored to critically reassess Eurocentric paradigms and reconceptualize Korean music beyond the binary of Western and traditional music. Ultimately, it posits that decolonial Korean musicology must transcend ethnonationalist and binary frameworks to cultivate historically grounded and globally engaged approaches to music scholarship.