January 8, 2026
SEOUL – Recently, Koreans were greatly elated by two memorable events. One was that “KPop Demon Hunters” appeared on an alternate cover of Time magazine on Dec. 29, 2025, and was named as the breakthrough of the year. Just after that, Huntrix songs from “KPop Demon Hunters,” sung by Ejae, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami, were performed at Times Square in New York and Las Vegas to bid adieu to 2025 on New Year’s Eve.
We know that it was not easy to be featured on a Time magazine cover or be invited to the New Year’s Eve event at Times Square. Both cases are high honors, as the whole world watches these two internationally well-known events at the end of every year. Naturally, we have every reason to be proud and grateful for “KPop Demon Hunters,” which has significantly upgraded the image of Korea overseas, shining a bright spotlight on the country lately.
However, we should know that such worldwide popularity is likely to be transient, not everlasting.
We should be modest and discreet, even though we are proud of Korean pop culture, which has enchanted the world lately. We are not supposed to be simply intoxicated by the recent success of K-pop, K-film or K-drama and brag that K-culture has conquered the world. Instead, we should be calm and be ready for the “curtain down” of the K-pop era that could eventually come someday, and prepare the next pleasant surprise to present to the world.
We should refrain from being on high what we amusingly call “gookpong,” or “being drugged by overheated patriotism.” It is true that in Korea we have many things that are far better or more convenient than in many other countries. Nevertheless, we should avoid the temptation of hasty generalizations or oversimplifications.
Some time ago, an American teacher in Korea compared American school lunches to Korean school meals and gave credit to the latter in quality and nutrition. Reading the comparison, some Koreans, who have never been to or lived in America, began to praise Korean lunches and disparage American school meals on social media.
They seemed to assume that American children suffer from not-so-decent meals at school and thus are in poor health. Perhaps they should visit gyms in America to see how American children have astounding physical strength and energy. They will be amazed by the many energetic young American children who can easily stand on their hands or somersault briskly and skillfully, as if they were professional gymnasts. On the contrary, in Korea, one can seldom find such physically strong and flexible children as their American counterparts.
Likewise, some of us belittle the quality of foreign public education on social media. Yet in the eyes of foreigners, the Korean public education system has serious problems in the whirlwind of intense college entrance competitions. That again means we are not in a position to criticize other countries’ education systems.
We should be humble and try to learn from other countries. If we can do that, then our country will only benefit and become enriched by other countries’ merits and strengths. Unfortunately, we tend to see and emulate other countries’ demerits and flaws only. That is not a wise thing to do.
Before we boast about the worldwide success of “KPop Demon Hunters,” we should learn valuable lessons from its themes.
While watching it, for example, we should learn to transcend the boundaries between good and evil, or angels and demons. We should also overcome our prejudice against those who are different from us, because that is what the charming musical film preaches.
Listening to the theme songs of “KPop Demon Hunters,” we should perceive evil in us first, before we try to see it in others. Instead of antagonizing our political or ideological adversaries, we should learn to embrace them. We should also ponder why Rumi, the leader of the Huntrix, the K-pop girl group that fights demons, is half-human and half-demon. Then, we can truly be proud of a global phenomenon that opens our eyes to a whole new world.
“KPop Demon Hunters” illustrates that those who are biased, who are self-righteous and who are preoccupied with political revenge are wrong. It also reveals that those who belittle and gossip about the physical appearance of K-pop singers are wrong, too. Instead, we should appreciate their enchanting voices and charming songs.
Before we are too proud of the success of “KPop Demon Hunters,” we need to be open-minded and broaden the scope of our perspectives, as the mesmerizing animation film enlightens us. We need to reconcile with those who are not one of us. We also need to be humble and modest. That is the true success of “KPop Demon Hunters.”
Kim Seong-kon
Kim Seong-kon is a professor emeritus of English at Seoul National University and a visiting scholar at Dartmouth College. The views expressed here are the writer’s own. — Ed