South Korea was one of the few countries which had a lightning-fast response when the pandemic first appeared. Now, in order to stop the spreading, they decided to ban music that exceeds 120 BPM (beats per minute). The measure is designed to prevent fast breathing and sweating on other people. Unfortunately, this means that most EDM tracks won’t be heard in the South Korean gyms, as most have a BPM of around 128.
Fortunately, when it comes to South Korea’s #1 “Foolish Love” by M.O.M or the iconic gym classics like “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor are still allowed.
Kang Hyun-Ku, a gym owner said that “Playing bright tracks is to cheer up our members and the overall mood, but my biggest question is whether playing classical music or songs by BTS has been proved to have any impact on spreading the virus,- Many people use their own earphones and wearable devices these days, and how do you control their playlists?”
Health officials are confident that they thought of all possibilities. President Moon Jae-in said in a press conference that he “very much regrets having to ask people once more to withstand and endure a little more”. We hope that South Korea will recover and reduce these drastic measures.
