Author Valorie Lee Schaefer was adopted from Korea by American parents in the 1960s. Decades later, it was BTS that soundtracked her return.
Her essay circles the Korean concept of han — a word for deep, lingering ache, “a primal wound that never fully heals.” But han, she writes, isn’t only about hurt: it’s also a wellspring of strength and resilience, the thing said to have carried the Korean people through colonisation, war and poverty.
Standing by Seoul’s Han River — a gathering place for families and couples over fried chicken and convenience-store ramyeon, lit by the rainbow show at Banpo Bridge — she frames her homecoming as both personal and collective, a reconnection with a culture she was separated from as a toddler.
Music becomes the bridge: through BTS, Schaefer finds a way back to a heritage that had felt out of reach — proof of how pop culture can carry something far heavier than a melody.
