Korean Wave: an Introduction

Hilary Finchum-Sung, SeoulNationalUniversity

Korean Wave: An Introduction

‘Korean Wave’ refers to Korean popular culture’s dominance in Asian cultural markets as well as its sudden popularity in places such as Africa, Central Asia, and Europe since the beginning of the 21st century.[1] The Korean Wave, referred to popularly as hallyu, has been credited with the lifting of South Korea into global consciousness. The sheer success of hallyu has meant a greater awareness of Korean culture abroad which, of course, has also meant an expansion of Korea’s cultural export market. Hallyu has spurred debates regarding popular culture’s role in strengthening diplomatic ties, as well as repairing relationships damaged by occupations and territorial disputes.

This lecture explores the roots and impacts of the Korean wave. Here, I will take a look at the major factors for the spread of Korean popular culture as well as the variety of forms this has taken: dramas, popular music and videos, and film. In addition, I will examine the popularization trends in Japan, Taiwan, and mainland China. Finally, I will consider the regional and global implications of the Korean wave and analyze the potential ofhallyu’s sociocultural and economic impact.

Historical considerations

A discussion of hallyu should begin with a look at 20th and 21st century developments that have impacted Korea’s sense of identity and global standing.Because I am an ethnomusicologist, this discussion is, admittedly, ethnomusicological in character. It takes as its point of reference the changes represented in the shifts and turns in musical forms in recent history.The changes that characterized Korea as a relatively isolatedkingdom, as part of an empire, as a third-world country, as an industrialized society, and as a major global contender comprise all that is contemporary South Korea. Nowhere are these changes more evident than in musical developments, and people’s use and perceptions of them. The process of defining a cultural form, such as music, as ‘Korean’ relies on assumptions deeply embedded in cultural constructions that emerged over the past one hundred years. Hallyu draws on essentialist ideas regarding Korean values and ideals while at the same time incorporating cultural practices of foreign origin and redefining these as ‘Korean’. In this sense, hallyu stands justly as a metaphor for contemporary South Korean culture.

Korea, for centuries a dynastic society and a society proud of its five-thousand-year history, has been part of a rapidly change world for the past one hundred years.[2] Korea was opened up to international trade toward the end of the nineteenth century and it was then that Western music began to find a place in Korean society through missionaries’ hymns and Western classical music. Before that, the primary realms of Korean musicality were the court and the daily lives of people, the former having been meticulously recorded while the latter was virtually non-existent in historical annals. The importation and ‘Koreanization’ of foreign musical forms was not a new phenomenon in Korea, yet the timing of Western music’s importation intersected with massive shifts in Korea’s social structures and relationship with the outside world. The early twentieth century began a period—one that has yet to end—during which the ‘Korean’ has been in competition with the ‘foreign’ (usually, the ‘Western’) for socioeconomic and cultural dominance. Needless the say, the presence of Western music impacted cultural developments on the Korean peninsula, which were further shaped by two primary factors: 1) Japan’s thirty-five year occupation of the Korean peninsula, and 2) the dawn of mass media on the peninsula including, but not limited to, radio broadcasting.

The annexation of Korea by Japan in the early twentiethcentury ended a period of almost one thousand years of independent rule, severely limiting Korean cultural freedom to the extent that, at one point, the Korean language was forbidden. As Bruce Cummings puts it, “Korean culture was simply squashed,” and the Japanese cultural policies contributed to a restriction of native artistic practice.[3]Some blame the imported Japanese education system for creating an irretrievable gap between Koreans and their culture.[4] With the goal of the Japanese imperial subjugation of those under its control, Korea suffered 35 years of foreign cultural, political and military dominance. “Cultural objectification”was particularly intensified as Koreans were faced with cultural and political oppression during the Japanese annexation and through forced participation in the global economy.[5] Japanese scholars debunked Korean mythological and folk history, and, in response, Korean scholars looked to their culture for evidence that the Japanese claims were untrue. [6]The Japanese occupation inspired a revolutionary spirit in scholars and through such movements as the ‘new folk song movement’ national identity was entwined with such abstract concepts as “the people’s sentiment” or “spirit.”

The Korean War brought with it more foreign troops and when GI culture found its way to the peninsula there was no turning back from the importation of foreign popular culture.[7] As Western popular culture was disseminated widely via radio and televisionhopes for Korea’s survival rested in South Korea’s ability to become a modern, industrial nation. When opposing forces agreed to cease fire on the peninsula, the process of reconstruction began. The drive towards modernization affected the perception of indigenous music. Folk and court music became symbols of a backward cultural expression while Western classical and popular forms were accepted as signs of a progressive culture. This created an atmosphere in which the different musics did not intermingle but remained separate.

In South Korea, It is widely accepted that the events of the 20th century served as catalysts toward generating a crisis in Korean culture. Yet, the 1960s saw attempts at both revision and preservation of cultural form.In 1962 the South Korean government established the Bureau of Cultural Properties (Munhwajae kwalliguk) as a way to preserve cultural forms that were disappearing from popular use. The designation of certain cultural forms as tangible or intangible cultural properties, or of an individual as a human cultural treasure, through muhwajae pohobǒp (cultural properties legislation) increased the visibility of older forms of cultural creation by encouraging cultural education.[8] At the same time, ideas regarding proper or authentic Korean aesthetics were cemented, and alterations were discouraged initems or genres designated as cultural properties.

Another important development was the emphasis on indigenous modernity in the 1980s, often cited as a reaction to Westernization, whichfound a voice through the minjung (the masses/the people) movement (minjung munhwa undong). The minjungmovement, identified by a master narrative that “[struggles for a] definition, for a sense of what it means to be and act as ‘the Korean people’ amid the far-reaching global and domestic changes that have affected them personally” (Wells 1995:3), strove to find an indigenous modernity amid a seemingly endless influx of foreign influence. Along with the cultural properties legislation, the minjung movement ushered in an era during which contemporary ideas regarding Korean identity and the arts were being formed.

At the tale-end of the 1980s, an event catapulted Korean culture into the international limelight. The event, as well, helped pull arts identified as ‘Korean’ out of the museum display case and into living, breathing culture. The 1988 Seoul Olympics provided an opportunity to put on display South Korea’s modernity for the world. At no point in the two-week long ceremonies was this more important than in the opening ceremonies. In Margaret Dilling’s recounting of music created for the 1988 Seoul Olympics, composers dipped into a “storehouse of treasures” to create in accordance with the theme of the event. The compositions represented a simultaneous maintenance of the principles of tradition as well as a departure from traditional formulations.[9] The “storehouse of treasures” offered an immense range of possibilities for producing heritage in the moment, yet served as a foundation for expectations regarding musical/cultural form. The exposure through this event of many Koreans to this presentation of Korean culture on the global stage caused many Koreans to experience a resurgence of pride in their heritage.Older forms of cultural expression that had once been reviled as backward were brought back into fashion as indigenous culture was begin celebrated. The Olympics serve as a seminal event in contemporary cultural developments in South Korea as it forced a redefinition of Korean culture that drew on traditional elements and forged a connection with contemporary lifestyles.

The 2002 World Cup similarly standsas an important point in time as it is really the springboard from which the Korean wave leapt and made its splash. Economic developments and cultural legislation of the decade following the Seoul Olympics laid the foundation for television dramas and pop music that were to soon dominate much of the Asian market. The World Cup proved to be a catalyst for the Wave’s international explosion as it is through this event South Korea, once again, found itself the center of global attention.

The Wave

As demonstrated earlier in the lecture, Korea is a country that has experienced changes at breakneck speed. Lifestyles and technologies have shifted at such a dizzying pace that much time and effort has been spent on self-reflection. For the most part, this self-reflection has been aimed at determining how to define Korean cultural identity NOW; at this moment. In addition, this identity carries over into an international consciousness. If Korea can be defined in certain way, how does the world view Korea? And, more pointedly, how does Korea want the world to view ‘Korea?’

The Korean Wave was born of a crisis. A financial crisis, widely known in Korea as the ‘IMF crisis,’ hit Asia in 1997 and plunged Korea into a depression. Office workers found their wages cut in half and mothers were donating their families’ gold jewelry to help rebuild the economy. Yet, despite this, new ways of doing business and developing the economy emerged in the form of Internet ventures. According to Cho Hye-Jeong, “Once Koreans became aware of the flow of various forms of capital around the world—financial, investment, and speculative—they threw themselves into that world created by full-blown capitalism. One of the most unexpected dramas to emerge from these large movements of capital, media, culture, and people centered around hallyu or the

‘Korean Wave’ (2005:148). According to Cho, this ushered in a new area in which Korea could be labeled as a full-blown capitalist society.

The roots of the Korean Wave began forming before the crisis hit in the early 1990s. Strict guidelines regarding censorship and production values meant that the dramas produced for television consumption were constructed according to a very specific formula: the melodrama. Melodramas featured predictable storylines and heavy emphasis on the emotional lives of the characters. It is this melodramatic character, combined with a relatively high level of production value that initiated interest in Korean dramas outside of the peninsula. Once news of the success of overseas sales by Korean marketing hit, concerted efforts were directed at developing dramas and marketing these beyond Korea’s borders.In addition, Korea’s neighbors were ripe for something new after a long period during which Japanese film and music dominated the pop culture market. Consumers in places such as Taiwan, Hong Kong, and mainland China were ready for something new. The appeal of Korean products, it must be said, rested as well in its decided lack of cultural baggage that haunted Japanese products that were marketed in Taiwan and other parts of Asia.The marketing of dramas was quickly followed by the marketing of individual pop artists who experienced much success initially in mainland China and Taiwan and then Japan. The successful dramas and pop music inspired spin-off promotions of Korean food, tourism, and language study. Here, I will provide a brief overview of hallyu’s trends in Taiwan, mainland China, and Japan (keeping in mind that hallyu’s reach includes other parts of Asia, Europe, and the U.S.) as well as the prominent dramas and artists contributing to the ebb and flow of the wave.

Taiwan

Taiwan stands arguably as the point from which the Korean wave really began. While Korean pop songs had been covered by local artists, Taiwanese artists had been relatively unaware of music and films from South Korea. Japanese popular music, dramas, and film had dominated the Taiwanese market for years. It was not until 1999 when the Korean pop group CLON burst upon the Taiwanese scene that Taiwanese audiences became interested in Korean culture on a mass scale. CLON’s initial release in Taiwan sold 400,000 copies. This started a craze for Korean dance music; a craze that emphasized image and dance moves over musicality.[10] According to Sang Yeon Sung, part of the appeal, as well, was the quality of the music videos, which enhanced the images of the performances. The quality far out-shined that of Japanese or Chinese music videos, and quickly encouraged a widening fan base in Taiwan. Despite the initial success of CLON, no other pop groups (with the exception of BOA) have achieved the same level of success on their own.

While dance music may have opened the doors for Korean cultural imports, it was the television dramas that cemented hallyu in Taiwan. The dramas—really, melodramas—featured beautiful actors, idyllic scenery, overly dramatic plotlines, and musical backgrounds. The appeal of the dramas rested in their production quality, which by far exceeded that of Chinese or Japanese dramas. The characters in the dramas were pictured living ultra-modern lives, driving luxurious cars, and wearing fashionable clothing. The image s of these characters played on the projected new Asian imaginary—one that embraced modernity and challenged assumptions regarding Asia’s second-tier status to the West. Audiences were also drawn to the themes in the dramas that at once connected to pan-Asian Confucian morality while emphasizing emotional connections. Heretofore sentiments regarded as distinctly Korean---such as chǒng (connection between people) and han (deep sorrow)—were marketed alongside the beautiful clothes and hairstyles. Taiwanese audiences connected to the emotions expressed in the dramas, which cemented their appeal.[11] The original sound tracks (OST) of these dramas were promoted through dramatic music videos, many of which had nothing to do with the lyrical content of the songs. The videos were often mini dramas in and of themselves, offering melodramatic storylines in which, for example, lovers sacrificed everything they had in the name of their love. OST compilations sold more copies than recordings produced by individual Korean artists. The sustained success of Korean popular culture in Taiwan, in this sense, is intricately connected with the popularity of Korean dramas.

Mainland China

Korean dramas and the associated OSTs ushered the Korean wave into the lives of mainland Chinese audiences, beginning full-force in 1997 with the drama “Star in My Heart”/ Pyǒl-ŭn nae kasŭm-e starring Ahn Jae-wook. Satellite television soon spread the music videos of pop groups such as H.O.T., CLON, and NRG. According to Rowan Pease, the appeal of this music was its absence of a ‘cultural odour.’ Band names made use of English acronyms, English lyrics were commonplace, and artists incorporate complicated dance routines and the highest production quality in their performances.[12] The wave in mainland China peaked in 2002, right at the time of the World Cup. Many Chinese fans associated the overt displays of nationalistic sentiment with the emotions depicted in the drama, at once an example for many mainland Chinese searching for an identity and enviable.[13]

Hallyu cooled a bit shortly thereafter to its present state: Korean pop recordings (mostly OSTs) occupying only a small percentage of the overall music sales and a legion of dedicated, online fans.[14] The spread of the Korean wave from the eastern seaboard to the western regions has meant a shift in hallyu from hip discovery to played-out fad. Recently, two primary factors have spelled trouble for the Korean wave in China: backlash and piracy. Some Chinese artists have discouraged fans from purchasing Korean-produced pop out of a sense of nationalism. Piracy, as well, has taken its toll. While, admittedly, the Korean Wave would not have been possible without the illegal publishing in China that spread Korean music like wildfire through the country, the high piracy rate has meant that Korean entertainment companies have very little control over how the products are disseminated in China. Piracy has meant relatively little benefits to Korean artists despite wide dissemination. [15]

Japan

In July 2004, “Winter Sonata”/Kyǒ-ŭl yǒnga aired on Japan’s NHK. The drama featured beautiful people and scenery and sensitive yet masculine men. The primary audience for this drama consisted of middle-aged housewives who developed a cult following of the lead character played by actor Bae Yong Joon. The fever surrounding the drama in Japan provided additional momentum for the Korean Wave. “Winter Sonata” made such an impact in Japan that people considered it to be an important catalyst in easing Korea-Japan relations, still chilly after Japan’s occupation of the Korean peninsula from 1910-1945. Yet recent territorial disputes between Japan and Korea over DokdoIsland have fostered a backlash against Korean “cultural imperialism” in Japan. A comic book “Hating the Korean Wave” was published as part of this backlash. Yet, despite this, singers such as BoA have maintained a high level of popularity in Japan.