China disproves the new military installation agreement that South Korea and the U.S. has been working on. With this, the Chinese nation issued a ban on everything Korean to show their dismay on their neighbor country.
China banned everything that has to do with Korea, including its K-pop entertainment industry. This was a move of China to retaliate against South Korea's partnership with the U.S. in building the THAAD, which is an anti-missile facility that will defend the nation against a possible North Korean attack.
China is against the THAAD is it says that it is threatening the sovereignty of its nation. Now, the K-pop ban has affected almost every Korean celebrity, of which includes the boy bands, BTS, Exo and even Lee Kwang Soo.
According to Korea Times, Kim Beom, Lee Kwang Soo and Kim Ji Won has had experienced a serious drop in sales during the later part of 2016. These K-pop stars once had been very popular in China.
But because of the recent Chinese ban on everything that has to do with their South Korean neighbor, even the most innocent of all citizens, which are the K-pop icons, are experiencing its debilitating effects. One of the most controversial of all examples was when PSY and Hwang Chi-yeol's faces were blurred when they appeared in a series of Chinese shows.
Some of their TV appearances were even cut out. However, the blockade didn't stop there as China has just blocked all social media platforms that allowed access to Korean music and dramas.
According to Digital Music News, Hwang Ji-seon says that it really isn't that much of a negative impact. Despite the seeming negative effects it has, he says that this would push the K-pop industry to further improve their quality and compete with each other even more effectively.
This would also mean that K-pop celebrities would need to find other markets. Surely, the K-pop industry would still find ways to prove that it is a phenomenal pop culture despite all the odds that befall it.
