I live in Seoul and work in music and it's still very much a "conservative" place when it comes to sexuality in the public domain. No celebrities are openly gay here as far as i know. Of course gay people exist here but it's certainly never spoken about in the media. Sexuality is never really talked about in the media at all.
I've certainty never heard of pop stars having their sexualities manufactured to appeal to different demographics here. It wouldn't fly. Not sure where you've read or watched that, but as someone who is in the music industry in Korea, I can safely say that's not correct.
If anything, those boy bands here are probably handled like they were in the 90s in the UK..i.e if there's a gay member, they won't (be allowed to) come out at the time because of their teenage girl fanbase.
Thailand is basically an anomaly in Asia in terms of being more open about sexuality, maybe the Philippines a little. But the likes of Japan, China, Korea etc..it's basically still a topic that's kept in the dark.
Yes, Thailand is a little strange in that it has still, by and large, a very conservative population, but is very liberal on matters of sexual orientation. Maybe it's a Buddhist thing. On the whole, I approve of Buddhism.
Anyway, K-pop. You will presumably know more about this than I do, but I don't have a lot of time about for how it appears to me it is run. They take young kids aged 12-13, give them contracts which are tantamount to slave contracts, make them live together, monitor them 24/7, feed them as they see fit, over-work them, sexualise them, deprive them of a childhood and, as they get older either discard them before they are 20 into a world they are totally unprepared for (how many have committed suicide?), or give them new contracts which forbid any relationships, homosexual or not, and invent stories of relationships that sell to a particular demographic, completely controlling individual endorsements and all for little reward (at the beginning certainly) even making them reimburse costs of training since they started. The political aspect I don't like, either. K-pop as a political tool for portraying a mythical impression of Korean culture, leading to interference, misogyny and xenophobia in line with
actual Korean politics and culture.
Sorry for that. You can tell me in DM where I am wrong. I don't suppose anyone else is interested :)
What is it you do in the music business there?