Topic summary
Korean pop music
Extracted from the Wikipedia article K-pop.
Etymology
The term "K-pop" is the South Korean equivalent of the Japanese "J-pop." The first known use of the term occurred in Billboard in the October 9, 1999 edition at the end of an article titled "S. Korea To Allow Some Japanese Live Acts" by Cho Hyun-jin, then a South Korea correspondent for the magazine, which used it as a broad term for South Korean pop music. Cho himself, however, is not sure if he coined the term, since some articles stated that the word 'K-pop' was already being used by music industry insiders, even though he had never heard it personally.