Hallyu Wave
The Global Impact of South Korean Cultural Exports
By: Avery Calvert, University of North Alabama
Now famous for its music, dramas, and food–South Korea was not always the cultural exporting powerhouse it is today. It has taken years for South Korea to develop its soft power, but in doing so, the country has strengthened its economy and standing with other nations.
Soft power refers to using cultural or economic influence to persuade other nations in international relations.[1] As recently as 1965, South Korea’s per capita gross domestic product (GDP) was less than that of Ghana’s.[2] Now South Korea’s per capita GDP is 36.13 thousand US Dollars, around the same as Spain’s.[3] What changed in this short span of time? To discover this, we first need to look back on recent South Korean history.
In 1997, the Asian Financial Crisis, or IMF Crisis as it is called in South Korea, pushed the country to export its cultural assets to other countries.[4] The biggest of these exports: K-pop. K-pop, or Korean popular music, is now a worldwide phenomenon with several groups’ albums selling millions or more copies. However, many do not realize that these cultural exports were encouraged by the government. As previously mentioned, the IMF Crisis in 1997 forced South Korea into billions of dollars of debt. To stop this crisis, the government asked for a $57 billion loan from the IMF of which South Korea only used $19.5 billion.[5] Realizing that the country was deeply in debt, the government encouraged companies to enter into the world market. Just one year after the IMF Crisis, in 1998, South Korea established the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, whose purpose is to share South Korean culture with the world.[6] Commonly known as Hallyu (a Chinese word for “Korean Wave”), South Korea started to export K-pop around Asia in the early 2000s. In 2000, South Korea lifted its fifty year ban on Japanese cultural exports; thus opening the industry even more. Throughout the early twentieth century, Japan controlled many territories in Asia, including South Korea. Even after liberation, this made Japanese goods unpopular throughout Asia. South Korea used this opening in the market to export Korean culture, starting with K-pop.[7]
The second generation of K-pop, from 2005 to 2011 commonly known as the Golden Age of K-pop, launched K-pop into the rest of the Asian continent.[8] For the first time in K-pop history, groups sold out venues across Asia. Groups like Super Junior, SHINee, TVXQ, Kara, Girls’ Generation, BIGBANG, and 2NE1 made Japanese and Chinese debuts to promote their music in their international fans’ native languages. However, K-pop is not the only cultural export of South Korea. K-dramas, or Korean dramas, also started becoming popular around Asia in the early 2000s. Some of the most famous K-dramas include Squid Games, Goblin, and Crash Landing Into You, as well as the Korean movies, Train to Busan and Parasite.[9] At the 2020 Oscars, Parasite was the first foreign language movie to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.[10]
A principle strategy of the South Korean government’s sharing of Hallyu is knowing the culture of the place where you are trying to export.[11] By matching the type of Hallyu entertainment with the place, greater success is ensured. Published in 2012 by the Korean Cultural Trade Commission, Hallyu Forever provides advice on which Hallyu markets might fit different regions of the world. This book considers the target region’s socioeconomic, political, and cultural backgrounds.[12]
Another way that Hallyu has been marketed is through public relations campaigns. By August 2020, thirty-two Korean Cultural Centers had been set up in twenty-eight countries around the world by the Korean Culture and Information Service.[13] Moreover, the South Korean government produced specialized cultural tours that include popular K-drama filming sites, Korean music companies, and food markets to taste Korean cuisine. These tours are marketed by K-pop idols and actors that are popular around the world.[14]
In 2021, the Cultural Content Office of the Ministry of Culture had a staggering budget of $5.5 billion USD to boost the economy through cultural exports. Twenty to thirty percent of a one billion US dollar investment fund is specifically for nurturing and exporting popular culture with the remaining percentage coming from private companies and investment banks managed by the Korean Venture Investment Corporation.[15]
The most recent Korean cultural exports to look out for are Korean literature and Korean food. In 2024, South Korean writer Han Kang received the Nobel Prize in Literature making her the first Korean writer and Asian woman to receive the award.[16] Also, in 2024, the Netflix show Culinary Class Wars, a South Korean cooking competition show, trended across the globe.
Since the early 2000s, South Korea has been building its soft power through cultural exports and it is not stopping any time soon. South Korean culture continues to grow in popularity around the world; thus, putting South Korea on the map as a country to be remembered.
Top Left Photo: Avery Calvert, NCT Dream Concert, September 22, 2024, photography, Atlanta, Georgia.
Top Right Photo: Marie Claire Korea, Park Seo-joon in a Marie Claire video in December 2021, December 1, 2021, Photograph, 726 × 1,062 (pixels), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3NoVV7_Slo.
Bottom Left Photo: Jeon Han, GOT7 at 2015 Summer K-POP Festival, August 4, 2015, Photograph, 2,545 × 1,517 (pixels), https://www.flickr.com/photos/koreanet/20282747632/in/dateposted/.
Bottom Right Photo: Avery Calvert, NCT Dream, September 22, 2024, photography, Atlanta, Georgia.
Notes
[1] “Soft Power,” Cambridge Dictionary, accessed November 19, 2024, https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/soft-power.
[2] Euny Hong, The Birth of Korean Cool: How One Nation is Conquering the World Through Pop Culture (New York: Picador, 2014), 2.
[3] “IMF DataMapper,” International Monetary Fund, accessed November 19, 2024, https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/profile/KOR.
[4] IMF stands for International Monetary Fund.
[5] Euny Hong, The Birth of Korean Cool: How One Nation is Conquering the World Through Pop Culture (New York: Picador, 2014), 92.
[6] “Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism,” Korea.net, accessed November 19, 2024, https://www.korea.net/AboutUs/Ministry-of-Culture-Sports-and-Tourism.
[7] “Korean Wave (Hallyu) – The Rise of Korea’s Cultural Economy & Pop Culture,” Martin Roll, October 2021, https://martinroll.com/resources/articles/asia/korean-wave-hallyu-the-rise-of-koreas-cultural-economy-pop-culture/.
[8] Snigdha Verma, “Decoding the Four Generations of Kpop,” Halsug, Accessed February 25th, 2024, https://halsugprod.com/blog/decoding-four-generations-of-kpop.
[9] “Korean Wave (Hallyu) – The Rise of Korea’s Cultural Economy & Pop Culture,” Martin Roll, October 2021, https://martinroll.com/resources/articles/asia/korean-wave-hallyu-the-rise-of-koreas-cultural-economy-pop-culture/.
[10] Stephen Eldridge, "Parasite," Encyclopedia Britannica, accessed November 18, 2024. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Parasite-2019-film.
[11] “Korean Wave (Hallyu) – The Rise of Korea’s Cultural Economy & Pop Culture,” Martin Roll, October 2021, https://martinroll.com/resources/articles/asia/korean-wave-hallyu-the-rise-of-koreas-cultural-economy-pop-culture/.
[12] Euny Hong, The Birth of Korean Cool: How One Nation is Conquering the World Through Pop Culture (New York: Picador, 2014), 195.
[13] “Korean Wave (Hallyu) – The Rise of Korea’s Cultural Economy & Pop Culture,” Martin Roll, October 2021, https://martinroll.com/resources/articles/asia/korean-wave-hallyu-the-rise-of-koreas-cultural-economy-pop-culture/.
[14] “[SEOUL X BTS] EoGiYeongCha Seoul - BTS,” (2021; Seoul: Visit Seoul TV), YouTube, https://youtu.be/tli25GoI8yg?si=ctSfmCYA-lsEQeFg.
[15] “Korean Wave (Hallyu) – The Rise of Korea’s Cultural Economy & Pop Culture,” Martin Roll, October 2021, https://martinroll.com/resources/articles/asia/korean-wave-hallyu-the-rise-of-koreas-cultural-economy-pop-culture/.
[16] “The Nobel Prize in Literature,” NobelPrize.org, October 10, 2024, https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/2024/press-release/#:~:text=in%20Literature%202024-,Han%20Kang,the%20fragility%20of%20human%20life%E2%80%9D.
