K Pop Museum — Attraction in Gyeongju-si

I went here and I learned a lot. I traveled to Gyeongju from Busan using the Intercity bus and then local bus using he Naver app. In total it took a couple of hours each way including time spent on the Subway to get to Busan Bus Terminal. I absolutely would recommend it to foreigners that like any kind of Korean music. I spent a solid 3 hours here reading many of the displays. Most of the exhibits have english translations on them. There is a lot of information there on Korean music before kpop including going all the way back before WW2. As of July 2024, there are still some important displays that are Korean language only (ex: Psy's) and Google Lens "translate" worked perfectly in those situations.

It seemed incomplete and could be a lot better.

It mentions the suicides of some early singers related to opium related drug abuse, romanticization of death, etc. but does not mention the suicides of some singers (Goo Hara, Jang Ja-Yoon, etc. due to scandals).

It mentions the public outcry in South Korea of singers that supported the Japanese occupation, but it does not mention the public outcry in South Korea against Sana of Twice for wishing people to enjoy a Japanese holiday, which was so big that it made international news. Also, it does not mention the public outcry in China against Tzuyu of Twice for waving a Taiwan flag which also made headlines in international news. I think these are important because the results of them tend to have an impact and shape the entire industry of kpop in regards to what the performers are not allowed to say and do. These are important things to know. Especially as the industry becomes more internationally popular, it is clear there are now many more rules and restrictions being placed on these internationally successful performers.

Seems S.E.S. Hyuna, Blackpink, etc. barely got any mention or footnote at all and BTS got 2 entire 30-foot long walls dedicated to them. Also Twice got a very tiny space of about 2 feet of wall as well, even though they are just as internationally popular as BTS is, and have appeared on more mainstream TV internationally than BTS has. Also BTS had multiple lightsticks on display and Twice had none. Yes, I am salty about ALL of that.

A lot of the electronic displays have headphones on them with very short cables which is awkward to use if you are 5'10" or taller. You might have to sit on your knees or squat down to listen. I wish they would put QR codes that you can scan on your phone to listen to the music on Youtube Music or Spotify. Then you could bring your own bluetooth headphones and listen to the songs at your leisure comfortably on your phone while looking at the displays instead of being plugged into a digital kiosk.

Some displays are still Korean only but Google Lens set to "translate"...

Very cool museum to hit up if you are in the area. As people have previously mentioned, the museum does not revolve around the last 20ish years of K-Pop (although there is still a fair collection of pieces from this era ranging from BoA and SNSD to BTS). But if you have an interest in the history of contemporary Korean music, then it is a great museum.

The best part of the museum in my opinion is the large listening room that is on the third floor of the building. They have a HUGE collection of speakers from the last 100 years from across the world and you can listen to whatever music you want on any of the speakers (see the picture below). I never caught the name of the DJ manning the audio equipment at the time that I visited, but she was very nice and introduced me to some great songs. I definitely could’ve spent the...

We went in smirking that this was a kpop museum but came out amazed. This is truly an amazing collection. There is one floor with heaps of albums tracing from the 1910s until the current kpop groups. Upstairs is a remarkable collection of speakers dating back to the start with Edison's player. We actually came back a second time to see it again. Definitely with a visit. It is amazing that one person...