South Korea is facing major economy decline, with disrupt political scenes but one sector is still thriving despite everything.
One of the country's largest cultural exports, K-pop remains the only hope to bring in local and international investors in 2025.
As reported by CNBC, shares of the four major entertainment companies have gained around 20% to 33% this year, surpassing Korean Composite Stock Price Indexes (KOSPI), which gained 5.39% and the Kosdaq's 8.8% growth, as of March 4, 2025.
Among the four companies, Hybe is the largest K-pop agency by market cap, and is home to the renowned group BTS, while SM Entertainment, JYP Entertainment, and YG Entertainment are close behind.
The companies are having a better year than 2024, when they faced major decline due to low album sales.
According to Shinhan Securities analyst Ji In-hae, the significance reason why investors are not pulling out of the K-pop market is because the sector does not face the risk of US tariffs.
South Korea has the largest tariff difference in comparison to other Asian countries, meaning that if President Donald Trump remains true to his threats, the country would be hit with huge volume of taxes.
Notably, the K-pop sector is expected to thrive more in 2025 with major artist coming back into limelight and China reopening it's door to the South Korean entertainment industry.
