With the record success of the Netflix series Squid Game, foreign media often publish articles analyzing the success factors of the Korean Wave.

Is the success of the Korean Wave really thanks to the government?



SBS 8 News [The Specialist] On the 6th, SBS 8 News, which dealt with Hallyu, was prepared for 'Squid Game' thanks to the government?


▶ Part 1 [Report File] Squid Game - Does Netflix use Korea?


Is the success of the Korean Wave thanks to the Korean government?


Q. The word 'Hallyu' was mentioned in the Oxford dictionary, but these days, there are a lot of articles about Hallyu analysis in foreign media.

However, many articles see the Korean government's policy as a key factor in its success.

There seem to be many such views among the Korean Wave related papers.

How do you see it?



A. Foreign media are very curious about the reasons for the success of Korean popular culture these days.

So now I'm just trying to find the cause.

And the easiest and most absurd reason that the Korean government invested hard, supported hard, and made it for export, was the easiest and most absurd reason to keep writing in the media.

Even authoritative media such as Guardian, Economics, and Foreign Affairs use it that way.



The whole world knows that culture is not a material investment that produces results.

If it's an investment, shouldn't everything that comes out of Hollywood succeed, and that Chinese culture supported by the Chinese government should be the most successful abroad?

It's not like that.

Knowing that, why would it be easy to believe that it was thanks to the government's policy toward Korea?


What is the reason for the repeated 'wrong answer'?

In a way, didn't Korea have a very rapid economic growth? So, I know a lot about the five-year economic development plan and the role the state played in economic development, even in foreign countries. Since the Korean market is small, I had no choice but to go to an export-led type, but I think this logic of economic growth is applied to culture as well. We have emphasized the importance of the cultural industry a lot as we went through the civilian government, and the government also promoted it in that direction, so there must be an impact. If you look at the Korean studies papers published abroad, you can see examples of how the Korean pop culture industry succeeded simply with government support.



But even so, to say that many foreign media continues to say that Korea has come to this point through the government-led cultural industry is really denigrating Korea's cultural capabilities, and I think it reflects an orientalist perspective in a way. It is not only Korea that supports the cultural industry, but many countries are doing it. If you tell people from overseas missions or foreign correspondents, they will understand. Still, I don't think this attitude will change easily.



In a way, it must be said that Korea has grown rapidly and entered the ranks of developed countries, and although it recognizes economic and technological capabilities, it is still difficult to recognize cultural capabilities. How could they have achieved not only economic success so quickly without aggression, but also the ability to export their culture around the world? You keep asking these questions.



Overseas media articles dealing with the success factors of the Korean Wave



The Times, a prominent British daily, 'Korean Wave! In an article titled 'How Korean Culture Conquered the World?', 'We are all K-fans. But the popularity of export products like squid games is no accident. It is the product of decades of ambitious government planning.'


https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/hallyu-how-korean-culture-conquered-the-world-kb2swqwb5 This is a



French news channel (BFMTV) article. 'Squid Game', 'Parasite', 'Level Up Alone (Webtoon)'... In the article How Korean Culture Conquered the World, 'The unprecedented success of the Korean Wave is not a coincidence. This is the result of the political and trade strategy that Korea started in the 1990s,' he wrote.


https://www.bfmtv.com/people/cinema/squid-game-parasite-solo-leveling-comment-la-culture-sud-coreenne-a-conquis-le-monde_AN-202110090029.html?fbclid=IwAR3nGPJ7Mzv0h_uBRlUqlCE33Janj50noYt_tgili3jvYt_tgTL0 qgfkCElo



The American magazine 'Foreign Affairs' also said, 'For the promotion of Korean popular culture, the Korean government used the same public-private cooperation policy that it used for other export industries such as electronics, shipbuilding, and automobiles. Together with PR companies, technology companies, and other private companies, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism has developed detailed business plans for Korean TV dramas, films and songs to enter overseas markets, and has provided funding to entrepreneurs and artists,' writes.


https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/south-korea/2021-10-14/korean-invasion?utm_campaign=fb_daily_soc&utm_source=facebook_posts&utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwAR0XnlPfDz_qwkfMB0VYG4G



Amazingly Blessed History of Political History of Pop(d) In the article, ', he writes that the beginning of Hallyu-K-Pop was Korea, which suffered the IMF financial crisis, and started to pioneer a new market called culture. He also said that the Korean government has provided financial support and benefits to large corporations to advance Korean films, video games and music. (Did Hallyu-K-pop really succeed like this?)


https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/22532102/bts-kpop-blackpink-south-korea-psy



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The view that Hallyu is a result of government policy emphasizes political diplomacy and economic aspects, and explains that the Korean government, which has achieved economic development, has made efforts to acquire soft power as a result of the success of Hallyu today.



Of course, we cannot completely rule out that aspect of culture, and it is true that the government has tried to support it.

However, to think that popular culture can be developed and even exported overseas according to carefully designed government policies is to ignore the essence and autonomy of the ever-changing and vibrant culture and view it only as a dependent variable or means of something else. It works.

This 'misunderstanding' about culture is, in fact, something we encounter countless times in our daily lives.

In the first part of the previous interview, Professor Hong Seok-kyung said, 'I don't listen to people in culture, I only listen to people who make economics or investments', I think it also works.


the role of the state


Q. The theory of the cultural industry, which was sparked by 'Jurassic Park' during the Kim Young-sam administration, is said to be the beginning, and during the Kim Dae-jung administration, the source of the Korean Wave was intensive investment to make culture a new growth engine after the Asian financial crisis. He said



A. Of course, it is not that there was no national role. In fact, what the government did during the Kim Young-sam and Kim Dae-jung regimes was possible only after the democratization of our society. When President Kim Young-sam talked about 'Jurassic Park' in 1993 or so (*When Steven Spielberg's movie 'Jurassic Park' was released in 1993, President Kim Young-sam said, 'The box office income of one movie is the export of 1.5 million cars and He emphasized the importance of the film industry.) He himself would not have believed that Korea would export films back to Hollywood. inde cases the fact that investment rose, went to great example, many investors towards high culture rather than popular culture it is the cultural industry did thought as an investment area.



I look a little help then develop things cultural skills that support ventures rather than cultural support policy And IT development played a big role. In Korea, people have mobiles in their hands, can see a lot of things through high-speed internet, and see a lot of foreign things, raising our tastes and expressing them freely. Do you just look at the ?



And from overseas, many programs made in Korea are streaming right away on some sites as soon as they are aired.

Of course, they are all copyright violations and illegal areas, but it is also true that this power eventually played an important role in spreading Korean content around the world.

This would not have been possible without the high-speed Internet network in Korea.

It is true that the Korean government removed censorship of various popular cultures after democratization and opened up Japanese popular culture, and that China also opened culture at that time. , that's not why Korean pop culture was exported.

The Korean Wave is truly an acceptance phenomenon.


Hallyu is an acceptance phenomenon

Our government's efforts to globalize Korean food and hanbok didn't yield much results, and success came to us in surprising ways that we didn't always expect.

Whether it's the early Korean Wave in East Asia, BTS these days, or the 'squid game', it's all evidence of acceptance.

This was possible because many people around the world love Korean dramas, Korean movies, and K-pop, and we created content that has reason to love it, and the level of the cultural industry has risen that much.

It's not something the government just pushes out and exports.



Q Come to think of it, the Western media's tone on K-pop seems to have been in a similar vein.

Of course, it is true that there were a lot of problems with the trainee system in Korea, but there was an atmosphere of ignoring K-pop as a negative nuance and as a factory product without artistry.



A Yes.

There is definitely that part.

However, it is true that the Korean idol system has had a problem so much that we criticized ourselves a lot, and now it is BTS that has softened this kind of gaze from abroad.

BTS said that they were 'hip hop idols' and came out with a strong identity of hip-hop, but hip-hop is a genre that has to be spoken with one's own voice, and what we call authenticity is really important.

Because BTS succeeded in this path, success was recognized in the United States in a way, but critics had no choice but to acknowledge it.

Not just because they reached the top of the Billboard charts, but because BTS had to admit that they are a group that writes lyrics and composes with their own voice.

It was because by Western standards, to be an 'artist', one must have such spontaneity and self-creativity.



BTS, which has all the cultural elements of K-pop, made this possible, and many K-pop groups these days produce their own.

So, we raised the bar very high.

Not only do I have to sing and dance well, but I also have to compose and do everything.

So it seems that a lot of talented young people go there.

In the past, the path to success in Korea was to enter a good university, but an alternative path has been opened and many young people are coming in, so it is very active.


Hallyu research, Korea is rather poor


Q You mentioned 'prejudices' about the Korean Wave, but I really thought that a lot of research on the Hallyu itself was needed.

What is the current status of Hallyu research?



A Overseas, I am mainly researching in places with Korean studies courses or departments, or majoring in Korean films in the Department of Film, or studying Korean pop culture in the Department of Communication, etc.

There are quite a few young researchers who are currently pursuing a Ph.D. or who have recently received a Ph.D.



On the contrary, in Korea, even if a lot of people who study culture are produced, universities or research institutes cannot absorb them.

There must be a research institute that conducts this kind of research, and you have to teach it at a university to have a seat, but Korea is rather poor in that area.

So, I am going to study in the US to study popular culture.

The success rate of Korean popular culture is too fast, and the rest of the infrastructure is not keeping up.


The conversation I had with Professor Seok-Kyung Hong remains.

In the 3rd part to follow, we will discuss what the attractive points of Korean content that can be seen around the world are and what the Korean Wave policy should be.