Netflix’s 'KPop Demon Hunters' and the forgotten legacy of giak

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Netflix’s 'KPop Demon Hunters' and the forgotten legacy of giak

Published: 27 Aug. 2025, 00:05

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Kim Myung-hwa

The author is a playwright and director.

The global success of Netflix’s “KPop Demon Hunters” has stirred mixed emotions in Korea. The international acclaim is encouraging, but it also raises concern that foreign producers and platforms were the first to recognize and commercialize its potential. Many feel that others are seizing on the promise of Korean culture before Koreans themselves.

This sense of ambivalence has a precedent in the history of giak — gigaku in Japanese — a Buddhist performance art considered one of the earliest roots of Korea’s performing culture. In 612, a Baekje (18 B.C. to A.D. 660) performer named Mimaji introduced giak to Japan. Its influence was profound. A leading reference on Japanese theater history notes that “the history of Japanese theater begins with gigaku, brought to Japan by the Baekje figure Mimaji.”

A medieval mask used in gigaku, an art form transmitted from Baekje as giak and later developed in Japan, is in the collection of the Tokyo National Museum. [WIKIPEDIA]

Japan has preserved this legacy with notable care. The thirteenth-century music text “Kyokunsho” describes gigaku characters and performance techniques in detail. Masks used in the performances are still kept at Shosoin in Nara and the Tokyo National Museum.

By contrast, Korea did not become aware of giak until the mid-twentieth century. Scholar Lee Hae-gu discovered records while browsing through old books in a secondhand store in Tokyo. Within Korea, the only earlier reference had been indirect: the Silla Dynasty (57 B.C. to A.D. 935) scholar Choi Chi-won’s series of poems “Hyangak Japyeong Osu” alluded to the art form. No official records or artifacts remain in Korea to anchor giak firmly as part of its heritage.

Several years ago, in search of cultural origins, I studied Mimaji and giak and eventually created a stage production based on that research. Because it received government funding, the work was subject to official evaluation. The review revealed a distinctly Western bias. Critics argued that modernizing classics was suitable for works like “Hamlet” but dismissed the reimagining of giak as inappropriate.

The world’s recognition of K-culture today is welcome, and the popularity of “KPop Demon Hunters” underscores the strength of Korean creativity. Yet cultural vitality cannot rest only on external validation. It must begin with a willingness within Korea to recognize, respect, and nurture its own traditions and innovations. Only then can Korea ensure that its cultural achievements are both celebrated internationally and sustained at home.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.