You've reminded me of watching some behind the scenes footage of Dong Bang Shin Ki filming a music video. There's a Black woman in the video, and the band members were discussing how she was the first Black person they'd ever met, and they were a bit surprised at how quiet and refined she was (I believe there was mention she was a model). That made me blink, then sit back and think. I know the U.S. has Black military stationed in South Korea, and I realized I'd been assuming there were more in the general population, and that the military would mingle freely. Except really, I know better. U.S. military bases can be very insular, even in the U.S. Also, young Korean entertainers tend to live in rather closed-off systems of their own, so while the members of DBSK may have seen Black people on the street, it's not unreasonable that they never actually met or talked to a Black person.

At any rate, my own experiences would indicate it's pretty easy to fall into the trap of believing stereotypes when you don't have living examples that break the stereotypes around you. I was also considering how exported U.S. media, with its negative portrayal of Black people, might interact with anti-U.S. military sentiment, thanks to our imperialist activities in Asia. Certainly, that seems to be a big issue in South Korea. I'm not sure how it feeds into pre-existing racism and systems of white skin=better than dark, since I've never really looked into that aspect, but I have no doubt none of it helps.