although most Koreans claim descent from Yangban, the ruling class, a survey taken on 1910, just after Japan annexed Korea, showed that ot out of 2.89 million households in Chosen (name of Korea during the Japanese rule), only around 54,000 of them belonged to the ruling class, or less that 2%, and the rest were peasants.
In addition, the ruling , landowning class and the landless class fought for many years, with the landowning class, who were mostly happy with Japanese rule, branding the other party as 'enemies of state'.
After Japan was defeated, the southern part of Korea, where more people lived, was occupied by the Americans who were content to honor the local system, although some concessions were later made for the landless.
after the Korean war in 1950, where the most vocal opponents were either killed outright or had to flee to north Korea, the landed class reaffirmed their rule, although industrialization and all that did weaken their power somewhat.
So most Koreans have an ingrained fear of landowners, building owners, company owners , etc.
The owner of Attrakt, whose track record is much less than stellar, was nevertheless able to play this fear very well, winning Korean opinion and throwing a huge wrench over Fifty Fifty , significantly derailing its success, by inciting the Koreans.
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One theme I have explored since 2012 is why IU, who has no presence out of Korea (she did some sporadic work in Japan and concerts in southeast asia, for no lasting effect ; she did try to advance into China but China closed doors for Korean acts in 2016, only allowing Chinese members in Korean acts such as the Chinese members of Seventeen or Yuqi of Gidle) and to this day, even when minor acts have concerts in USA and Europe, IU's total number of performances in these continents is 1, KCON 2014 at Los Angeles.
But, IU belongs to Kakao, which owns Melon, the chief digital music site.
In a sense Melon is the owner, and every single KPop act is a tenant on there, although the importance of Melon declined in recent years.
BTS conquered the world but they were not owners, while IU, confined in Korea only was the owner of her company 2020-22. That made her belong to the same rank with Lee Sooman, Park Jinyoung (JYP), Yang Hyunsuk (YG - technically he was not the owner of YG when IU was the owner of Edam, but frankly speaking, everyone knew he still ran YG) and Hitman Bang Sihyuk. She was an owner, which is why Dispatch didn't reveal anything about her at the end of 2021 despite of she occupying 9 of 22 potential scandals , and only revealed her travel to Japan with Lee Jongsuk when she was not the owner.
It is interesting that IU was the host of 2 BTS members and all the singers who showed up in her Palette, but she herself hardly became guests in other figures' potcasts. The owner does not visit the tenants' shacks, and since she belong to Melon/Kakao, she represented the owners , and had no need to go to attend others' shows. It is remarkable that she mostly befriended actors after she effectively began to run her own show in 2015, treating all singers, including the major acts important outside of Korea, as not being her equal. She still maintained friendship with Jiyeon of T-Ara and a few others who were her friends before 2015, but has done as little as possible with the newer generations.
Without understanding the owner-tenant system, it is hard to understand why Koreans rank IU and BTS in the same level, despite of their significantly different international stature. IU represents the owner class which is why she is still respected in Korea.
