In most Korean academic articles, K-pop is defined as Korean idol pop music that emerged in the late 1990s.
Korean pop music other than idol music is called “Gayo,” in general — even though there are more sophisticated and detailed sub-genres within it.
Meanwhile, the articles also define K-pop as 1) “a fictitious concept that aims to become a transnational popular music and in this process ‘K’ transformed into a brand name for exporting goods” (Lee, 2016) and 2) state that “K-pop, or Korean idol pop, was the first time in the history of Korean pop music to be a genre of music that was planned/produced for the world market, while the first case that was being given their identity from outside, not inside” (Kim, 2017).