There are countless who have fantasised about attending a BTS concert, eating fried chicken with maekju, or wished that someday, they will meet their own Captain Ri. All of this is nothing but the consequence of the Hallyu Wave hitting them.
Over the past few years, with the increased influence of OTT and social media platforms, people have become more welcoming of new ideologies and cultures. This has provided many countries with the opportunity to advance economically by marketing their culture and leveraging it as a principal export product.
The Origin of Hallyu
The term 'Hallyu' originated in the Chinese language and is made up of two root words – 'han' meaning 'Korean' and 'ryu' meaning 'wave' – making 'Hallyu' a Korean wave. It is a collective term used to refer to the phenomenal growth of Korean culture, encompassing everything from music, movies, and drama to online games and Korean cuisine.
In the late 1990s, South Korea was severely impacted by the Asian Financial Crisis. Kim Dae Jung, the then President of the country, decided to revamp the economy by making Korean pop culture the primary export product. The strategy used by him is referred to as "soft power", the term being first coined by the political scientist Joseph Nye in the 1980s. Soft power refers to a strategy wherein a country uses non-coercive diplomatic tools to strengthen its political position in the world rather than using military or coercive economic power (Bartlett, 2022). It was then that the censorship laws in Korea were lifted and the country's culture crossed borders. Today, South Korea is the 10th largest economy in the world (World Bank, 2020) and part of it is because of the tremendous effects of Hallyu.
Growth of Hallyu
An interesting point of note about the Hallyu Wave's exponential growth since 1999 is that it was not something that sprung up spontaneously, rather, it was meticulous effort on the part of the Korean government that shaped the cultural environment in Korea.
One of the key strategies used by Koreans in propagating Hallyu was the careful study of the target audience. The market was dissected by the Korean government by understanding different Asian cultures to deduce where their products would fit well. Since many Asian countries were former colonies of Japan, Japanese pop culture couldn't gain stardom, and thus, Korean pop culture gained momentum as Asians could relate closely to their cultural products without feeling any sense of animosity.
Another factor that helped Korea build its brand name was its two indigenous consumer electronics companies – Samsung and LG. With LG transforming its image from a manufacturer of cheap products to a brand of global repute and Samsung ranking fifth in Interbrand's 100 Best Global Brands 2021 with a brand value of USD 74.6 billion (Samsung, 2021), South Korea created a strong reputation in the international market. Furthermore, the government of South Korea was very supportive. According to the 2020 South Korean budget, the Ministry of Culture injected 170 billion South Korean won into a fund for Hallyu production, spent 49 billion won on international cooperation, and invested 30 billion won in cultural content (Herald, 2021).
What Makes Hallyu Special?
The sixth-largest music industry in the world (Dredge, 2022), K-pop is much more than music to many of its admirers. It's not just music but a complete show with addictive melodies, slick choreography, fast raps, unique music videos, and eye-popping fashion that has successfully attracted an international audience. BTS or Bangtan Syeondan was the first significant boy band in Korea that gained a phenomenal international following, contributing around USD 3.5 billion to the nation's economy alone (Young, 2022). The reason their music surpassed the linguistic barrier was that the messages hidden within their lyrics touched upon many sensitive social issues like depression, anxiety, insecurities and self-doubt, something that's largely absent in western pop music. At a time when social media-induced insecurities were taking their toll on the youth, BTS's 'Love Yourself, Love Myself' campaign helped countless people overcome their insecure side and grow into much more confident human beings.
Unlike the deliberate international marketization of K-pop music, the creation of K-drama power was much more accidental. In the 21st century, where people use forms of entertainment as an escape from their sad and mundane lives, Korean dramas represent the perfect hideout from reality. K-dramas are unimaginably successful because they build an emotional connection with the viewers, with the characters being developed slowly and undergoing trials and tribulations in such a way that the masses relate to them deeply, allowing them to experience those same emotions. They are new, and different, involve less vulgar language and violence and bring focus to even trivial everyday problems with enthralling twists and turns, making them unique. Last but not least, they showcase a society that holds onto its traditions and moral values while progressing as an economically advanced and developed society.
Conclusion
Hallyu has given South Korea a momentous opportunity to display its rich cultural diversity, unique entertainment offerings, exotic locations, and domestic pan-Asian superstars while building a very powerful brand for the country in the process. This, in turn, has benefited South Korea with increased revenue from tourism. According to CEIC data, South Korea's tourism revenue has increased from USD 10 million in 1975 to an all-time high of USD 2,062 million in 2019 (CEIC, 2018). With international tourist growth anticipated at 3.3% per year to reach over 1.8 billion by 2030, the Korean government plans to increase its revenue by USD 35 billion (Martin Roll, 2021). Hallyu has enjoyed phenomenal international attention in the past two decades and its reach is still spreading. The reason behind its success is simple – originality. Thus, it will be interesting to see how Korea continues to innovate and tap into the massive potential of the Korean Wave to sustain its appeal to a global audience and flourish in the future.
Vrinda Gupta is a second-year student of Economics at Indraprastha College for Women.
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