The National Gugak Center describes Jindo Arirang as a modern folk song created during the Japanese colonial period from musical features of Namdo Arirang and Sanaji Taryeong. Testimony attributes its arrangement to daegeum master Park Jong-gi, and its earliest confirmed appearance is on a 1934 record.
The song became widely popular after liberation and came to represent southern Korean folk repertory. Its yukjabaegi-mode melody continued to grow through the singing traditions of the region.