This is really the key here. Kpop IS big in Korea, as in proportionally, it's (probably) bigger in South Korea than any other country, but as others have mentioned, SK's population is only 50m. To put things in perspective, California alone is almost as populous, and just 2 cities in China have more people like Shanghai and Beijing combined. That's why Kpop companies are largely abandoning South Korea as their target market. If they just wanted to make music that charts well, they could. However, they've basically already reached the peak of how much they can make there, and they (theoretically) have unlimited opportunity abroad.
yeah I am going to have to disagree here. You can't chart if you have no name recognition. Nct is a 5 year old group and can sell a million albums easy, but if you ask Koreans on the street they think they are 4th gen. You think with this level of recognition they are ever going to chart, regardless of the type of music they put out?
