Economic Influences of Korea Wave - Essay Example

 Introduction The Korea wave, also referred to as Hangul, Hallyu, or Hanryu is the popularity of the Korean popular culture in other Asian countries and beyond. These include Korean Music, movies, and television programs. The Korea wave started with the popularity of the Korean television series “Winter Sonata” in Japan in the mid 1990s and “What is love” in China in 1997 (Sun Jin Lee 2011). The series “What is love” in China performed amazingly well with a reception of 15% of the population (Sun Jin Lee, 2011). It was among the best performing foreign television programs. This created a high demand for Korean programs (Sun Jin Lee 2011). Chinese Journalists coined the term ‘Korean wave’ on the realization that there was a high appetite for Korean television programs in China. This trend has continued to the present days with the likes of Psy whose music Gangnam style, released in 2012 gained worldwide recognition (Messerlin and Shin, 2013). What started as just television programs and music has gone beyond to include other aspects of Korean culture, including food, clothing and creative imagery and video games. This created an economic benefit for the people of Korea. This paper will discuss the economic influences of the Korea wave. The Beginnings The Korea wave started in the mid 1990s and late 1990s in East Asia (Messerlin and Shin, 2013). It all started when two programs, “Winter Sonata” and “What is love” gained popularity in Japan and China respectively in mid and late 1990s (Sun Jin Lee 2011). These two programs created a high appetite for the Korean programs in these two countries. Within a short time, the wave spread to the neighboring East Asia countries like Hong Kong, Taiwan, Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia. Consequentially, the Korean television programs spread to the rest of Asia, including Islamic countries like Iran. The Korea Wave became a force to reckon with and influenced major film industry countries in Europe and the United States (Kim, 2013). The Korea wave became common among all people, including the old politicians and the young studying youths. Sun Jin Lee (2011) shows the way East Asia regions accepted the Korean television series. According to Sun Jin Lee, when the Vietnamese government delegation visited Korea for a bilateral meeting, the Vietnamese delegations requested a certain woman to sign their menus at a luncheon. It later emerged the woman asked to sign the menus was Kim Hyun-joo of the popular Korean television program “Yuri Gudu” meaning (Glass Shoes). A Vietnamese television station aired the program in May 2003. Korean television series were more common among the youth creating a youth craze all over the East Asia region (Sun Jin Lee 2011). Economic Influence The Korea Wave played a major role in improving the Korean economy in several ways. Korean producers could sell their programs and television sales abroad (Sun Jin Lee 2011). Korean program exports earned 37.5 million dollars in 2003 compared to just 12.7 million dollars in 1999 (Sun Jin Lee 2011). This was a large step in the appreciation of the Korea wave. Korean movies, also started to be popular among other East Asia nations. The film Shiri, released in 1999 gained worldwide recognition (Sun Jin Lee 2011). The film budget was huge, just like many Hollywood movies. After the release, Shiri outperformed American movies like Titanic and Star wars in South Korea. The movie sold more than ten million dollars in the Japanese box office (Sun Jin Lee 2011). This is a clear indication, many people started appreciating Korean movies and culture in the region. During the beginning of the Korea Wave, Koreans imported more programs than they exported. However, this trend started to reverse in 2001 (Sun Jin Lee 2011). The number of programs imported was approximately the same with programs exported (Sun Jin Lee 2011). In 2002, the Korean television programs’ exports were more than the television programs’ imports. In the following years, the gap between television programs imports and exports started to widen in favor of exports. By 2007, South Korea exported 162,584 television programs and imported 32,269 programs (Sun Jin Lee 2011). The gap will continue to widen in the coming years (Sun Jin Lee 2011). The popularity of the Korean television programs and music improves the lives of many Koreans. According to Jung (2011), the entertainment industry in South Korea has grown enormously. Producers and entertainment executives are constantly looking for talent within the country. Actors are paid relatively well improving their lives and that of their families. In addition, there is intense competition among different producers within Korea. The increased competition creates a good economic environment for the actors. In addition, Korean Culture and Information Service (2011) points out Hollywood producers are casting Korean actors. This puts the Korean actors on the global landscape, increasing their chances of casting with well renowned actors. Such is likely to bring in more money for the actor and the Korean government. Korean wave has also influenced many other aspects of the Korean culture (Ogura, 2005). The Korean television series “Jewel in the palace”, based on traditional Korean culture changed the Korea wave completely. After the release of the series, there was increased demand for traditional Korean food, art, fashion, language and culture (Ogura, 2005). “Jewel in the Palace” aired in 87 countries in Asia, Europe, America and Latin America (Ogura, 2005). The Korean aspects of life inspired many people. Japan is one of the countries, Korean films inspired many. According to Moori (2004), the “Winter Sonata” appreciation in Japan went to cult status. When the 2003 series of the program launched, the DVDs sold out within three hours. Many people appreciating the Korean way of life through films just wanted to have a feeling how it is. For most people, the only way they would experience the Korean culture well was going there. The Korean wave increased tourism to Korean, which was not a major tourism region traditionally. According to Seiko Yasumoto (2006), Korean film industry increased the number of tourists to Korea. More than half of the tourists to Korea were from the neighboring Japan. Korean Airline confirmed there were increased flights from Japan to Korea for the purpose of tourism. Moori (2004) implies that many Japanese tourists wanted to visit the sites where especially winter sonata cast. The realization of the high demand in Japan and beyond for some Korean movies inspired some people to produce merchandise associated with the film. Winter Sonata merchandise includes clothes, jewelry, accessories, books, DVDs and magazines. What started like a joke created a two billion dollar market, associated with just one film, winter sonata (Moori, 2004). Membership for Korea wave also started at a price of three hundred dollars, for registration. Membership fans increased across the globe exponentially and are still increasing at a dramatic rate. The Korea wave also mended the economic and political ties between Korea and Japan. The two countries were like water and paraffin since the end of the World War Two and Korean War. Japan colonized Korea and the two were constantly having conflicts. As a result, a bitter never-ending rivalry and distrust emerged between the two countries. Korea had banned the importation of Japanese goods. The increased demand for Korean films and music inspired the Korean government to lift the bans with Japan. The renewed economic ties with Japan opened a new avenue for the Koreans. Japan is one of the leading gaming consoles and accessories manufacturers. With the ban lifted, some Koreans ventured into the gaming field. The Korean gaming became popular as well. According to Nam (2013) and Jin (2012), Koreans got creative and started making excellent electronics, vehicles and other products. This led to the emergence of some of the world’s largest electronics and motor vehicle companies, LG, Samsung and Hyundai. The success of these companies is because of the success of the Korean television series and music (Nam, 2013). Conclusion Korea wave, which started with the television series, grew to include music, gaming consoles and other Korean products. Some Korean companies’ success is because of the demand for Korean products created by the television series. The Korea wave played an important role in ending the rivalry between Korea and Japan, which consequentially led to the lifting of the economic ban between the two. This opened a new avenue for the Koreans to manufacture high quality products and services putting the country on the global map. Korea wave improved the economy of Korea by creating employment, opening the country to the world and increasing tourism activities in the country, improving the lives of many. It is beyond imagination, whether South Korea would be where it is now if there was no Korea wave. References Jin, D. (2012). Hallyu 2.0: The New Korean Wave in the Creative Industry. International Institute Journa,l 2(1). Jung, S. (2011). Korean Masculinities and Tran cultural Consumption: Yonsama, Rain, Old boy, K-Pop Idols. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press Kim, Y. (2013). The Korean Wave: Korean Media Go Global. Routledge: London. Lee, S. (2011). The Korean Wave: The Seoul of Asia. The Elon Journal of Undergraduate Research in Communications, 2 (1). Messerlin, P & Shin, W. (2013). The K-pop Wave: An Economic Analysis. Retrieved from http://www.gem.sciences-po.fr/content/publications/pdf/MesserlinShin_K-pop01072013.pdf Moori, Y. (2004) Nisshiki Kanryuu. Tokyo: Serika Shoboo. Nam, S. (2013). The Cultural Political Economy of the Korean Wave in East Asia: Implications for Cultural Globalization Theories. Asian Perspective, 37 (2), 209-231. Ogura, K. (2005). Kanryy Impakuto. Tokyo: Kodansha Read More