Hallyu: A Closer Look at Korean Globalization

LeeAnn Choi

82-254 World of Korea

Professor Shin

December 14, 2014

Hallyu: A Closer Look At Korean Globalization

        The Korean Wave or Hallyu has become a cultural phenomenon worldwide. The term Hallyu refers to the consumption of and enthusiasm for South Korean popular culture (Lie & Oh 333), describing its extraordinary and unexpected popularity since the late 1990s. Hallyu first began with the spread of Korean dramas across East, South and Southeast Asia. Studies have attributed this phenomenon to the “technological superiority of Korean productions such as attractive mise-en-scene and well-made music or to engaging and touching plot” (Lee 448). Furthermore, the physically appealing male characters in the dramas acted as “eye candies” and attracted a large group of female fans. However, the originality of the Korean dramas faded in the mid-2000s and seemed to taper off. Then during more recent years, with the growing music industry in Korea and advancement of technology, Hallyu progressed from a regional to a global sensation, attracting fans from all over the world and expanding particularly into the Middle East, Europe, and the Americas. While the popularity of Korean television shows still lingered to support Hallyu, K-pop held its position as the heart of Hallyu. With the rise of K-pop, the new Hallyu has transformed South Korea from a nation with no cultural significance to a “new center of cultural production in Asia” (Joo 490). If the first Korean Wave came about in the forms of television serials and films that were broadcast on terrestrial and cable television throughout the Asian region, the second Korean Wave took the advantage of the social network services such as Facebook and YouTube (Lee 448), taking its steps into continents from all over the world. Although Korean popular culture items were thoroughly enjoyed within the boundaries of Korea, prior to the rise of Hallyu, Korean media depended heavily on the Western imports. Korean television serials and pop music were not known for “sophisticated production values” (Lee 449) and were often criticized for “banality and lack of depth” (Lee 449). Knowing that a great population of Koreans preferred Western movies and television programs to domestic productions in the previous years, people – including scholars – became curious as to how Korean pop culture received such sudden interest. While the quality of Korean pop culture products “improved with the country’s economic and technological development” (Lee 449), the two factors cannot fully explain the recognition Korean pop culture received around the world. Given the many questions and wonders surrounding the unprecedented success of Hallyu, this paper takes a closer look at the history of Hallyu and how Hallyu took different approaches to develop, at an astonishing pace, into a global sensation today.

        Hallyu first made its appearance in the mid-1990s through early 2000s when Korea began to export its television series and films to Asian countries such as Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, and Japan. In 1994, South Korea set up a cultural industry bureau to develop the media division, encouraging large conglomerates and chaebols to expand into the film and media industries. During the Asian financial crisis in 1997, Korea’s major conglomerates suffered heavy losses in the manufacturing industry and shifted their focus to the entertainment sector. Wit        h the support of the conglomerates, Korea produced its first big-budget film Shiri, which released into the cinemas and surpassed the local theater attendance record set by Titanic during that time period. When Korea lifted its restriction of cultural imports from Japan in 1998, the South Korean music industry expedited an intricate training and export system, which allowed the broadcast of television dramas in China. Although SM Entertainment’s first idol group H.O.T. gave the first overseas performance with a sold-out concert in Beijing, China restricted the number of Korean television drams to Chinese audiences and the breakthrough for K-pop did not come until later with the debut of TVXQ, Super Junior, and SS501.

        Although the Korean Wave seemed to decline as the Chinese-speaking countries in Asia established import quotas on Korean broadcasting programs, Korea made its comeback in 2002 with the drama Winter Sonata, which became the first of its kind to equal the success of the Taiwanese drama Meteor Garden. As Winter Sonata products surpassed over US $3.5 billion in Japan, television series from South Korea and Taiwan filled slots reserved for Hollywood movies during prime time in Asia. Furthermore, Winter Sonata yielded US $27 billion, including the profit gained from tourism in Namiseom – the island where the Winter Sonata series was shot. Following Winter Sonata, Full House and Dae Jang Geum, released in the more recent years, also experienced analogous levels of success. With such accomplishments, Korean dramas played a significant role in the beginning of the Hallyu phenomenon and became the leading export of the broadcasting systems in South Korea (Tuk 9). Korean drama attracted its audience with the element of “fantasy” (Lee 454), where fantasy refers to the pleasant situations that are extremely unlikely to happen in reality with ideal relationships and ideal characters. The success of Korean dramas can also be attributed to their almost unrealistic male characters that are always portrayed as sweet, romantic and sensitive, but also handsome and physically fit. Many reports regarding Asian women traveling to South Korea to find a Korean husband began to appear in the public media. Washington Post also reported about smitten Japanese women “settling for nothing less than a Seoul-mate”. Hallyu took its steps outside the borders of Southeast Asia when parts of India banned Bollywood movies and consumers turned their attention to Korean entertainment products. In Manipur, phrases like “I love you” and “Hello” in Korean were heard in everyday conversations.