Fact Check

Did Jamaica Ban K-Pop?

A 2018 satirical article continues to get traction online.

Published June 9, 2021

 (Flickr / Republic of Korea)
Image Via Flickr / Republic of Korea
Claim:
Korean pop music, known as K-pop, is banned in Jamaica.

In June 2021, messages started to circulate on social media claiming that the country of Jamaica had banned K-Pop music.

Jamaica has not banned K-pop. This claim originates with a satirical article that was published in 2018 on the website 8satire.com.

In addition to having "satire" in the website name, 8satire.com (which previously published content as "8shit") also carries a disclaimer labeling its content as fiction:

8Shit is a satire news and humor website. All its content is fiction (except those posts under the “serious” category) and shouldn’t be taken as real. All references, names and marks or institutions in this website are used as contextual elements, like in any novel or science-fiction story.

It should also be noted that while Jamaica is most famous for Reggae music, Jamaicans enjoy a variety of different musical genres. The Jamaican Observer reported in 2019 that a K-Pop party hosted by the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Jamaica was well-attended by young Jamaicans:

Despite South Korea being approximately 13,473 km away from Jamaica, the K-pop wave has breached Jamaican shores. Last September the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Jamaica hosted its annual K-Lovers' Party and Talent Competition and its inaugural Korean Language Speech Competition. The events were well-attended by young Jamaicans who openly expressed their love for Korean culture by singing along to popular K-pop tracks in the Korean language, dancing to the music, and participating in the two competitions. It was surprising to see the display of talent, particularly because there are not many places to learn Hangul, the Korean language, in Jamaica. The events represented the growing interest in Korean culture among the Jamaican youth.

Dan Evon is a former writer for Snopes.

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