Not Like Other K-Pop CEOs— How J.Y. Park Defies The Korean Work Culture

J.Y. Park, the founder and CEO of JYP Entertainment (JYPE hereon), runs his company a little differently than other major K-Pop labels.

Park recently appeared as a special guest on the popular YouTube channel TEO and talked at length about his philosophies regarding his work, be it as a singer or a CEO. During his conversation with the host Jang Do Yeon, Park revealed that he didn’t believe in age-based hierarchy and hence has instructed all JYPE employees to call him by his name.

In Korean society, seniority is an important element in people’s day-to-day interactions. Everything from the way to address someone to the words used in a conversation or even the body language is decided by the level of seniority, be it in terms of age or professional designation.

But according to J.Y. Park, at his company, even the newest recruit calls him by his name without adding any honorific suffix such as “-nim.”

Park added that he would have preferred if his employees simply called him “Jin Young” just like they do in the US, but they still use the basic honorific suffix and call him “Jin Young-ssi” instead. However, some of his artists, such as Wonder Girls’ Sohee, have always called him by his initials, “JY.”

This phenomenon left host Jang Do Yeon so utterly baffled that she couldn’t help asking the reason. Park responded by saying, “I don’t have the mindset of ‘People should still keep a line.’” He added that he never liked the idea of standardizing things according to age and would rather be someone his employees can easily approach.

My goal is to be the person that people look for when they are having a hard time. So, I don’t want to seem difficult. I think that’s really important.

— J.Y. Park

Park’s philosophy seems to be very effective, given how all of his artists speak fondly of him, even after parting ways with his label. Former JYPE artists like Sunmi and GOT7 are a few examples.

You can watch the full video here: