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       The Saturday Profile

       Insooni Breaks Racial Barrier to Become Beloved Singer in South Korea

       Born to a South Korean mother and a Black American soldier, she rose to a pioneering stardom in a country that has long discriminated against biracial children.

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       Kim In-soon, known professionally as Insooni, taking a picture with a fan at a book signing in Seoul in March.Credit...Woohae Cho for The New York Times

       By Choe Sang-Hun

       Choe Sang-Hun spent several hours with Insooni at her school for biracial children in Hongcheon, South Korea.

       March 22, 2024

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       When she took the stage to perform at Carnegie Hall in front of 107 Korean War veterans, the singer Kim Insoon was thinking of her father, an American soldier stationed in South Korea during the postwar decades whom she had never met or even seen.

       “You are my fathers,” she told the soldiers in the audience before singing “Father,” one of her Korean-language hits.

       “To me, the United States has always been my father’s country,” Ms. Kim said in a recent interview, recalling that 2010 performance. “It was also the first place where I wanted to show how successful I had become — without him and in spite of him.”

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       Ms. Kim, born in 1957, is better known as Insooni in South Korea, where she is a household name. For over four decades, she has won fans across generations with her passionate and powerful singing style and genre-crossing performances. Fathered by a Black American soldier, she also broke the racial barrier in a country deeply prejudiced against biracial people, especially those born to Korean women and African-American G.I.s.

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       Insooni at a concert in Seoul in March.Credit...Woohae Cho for The New York Times

       Her enduring and pioneering presence in South Korea’s pop scene helped pave the way for future K-pop groups to globalize with multiethnic lineups.

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       Choe Sang-Hun is the lead reporter for The Times in Seoul, covering South and North Korea. More about Choe Sang-Hun

       A version of this article appears in print on March 23, 2024, Section A, Page 10 of the New York edition with the headline: Breaking Racial Barriers to Become an Enduring Star in South Korea. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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