I WAS not much of a Korean pop culture fan. In fact, just a couple of years ago, I could not quite understand the appeal of Blackpink (sorry, Blinks) and Crash Landing on You. And then the pandemic happened. I started re-watching some of my favorite US series on Netflix, but got tired of going through those shows after a few months. I then decided to watch Goblin, which I now refer to as my “gateway drug,” in June 2020, and that changed my life—or at least my perception of Korea and some of my consumption patterns.
I then started researching the highest-rated K-dramas, and ended up watching shows off those lists. My husband began watching with me and, at some point, was even watching some shows by himself. Now we have a “K-drama date” every night, accompanied by beer, wine, or soju on weekends. Ramyeon packs are now a pantry staple, and we sometimes even have packaged tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes) and kimchi. I have also begun learning the Korean language. I am officially a hallyu convert.
The Oxford English Dictionary defines hallyu, or Korean Wave, as “the increase in international interest in South Korea and its popular culture, especially as represented by the global success of South Korean music, film, television, fashion, and food. Also: South Korean popular culture and entertainment itself.” Yes, the word made it to the Oxford English Dictionary this year, more than 20 years after it was coined in the late 1990s.
Like many successful nation branding and “soft power” campaigns, the global rise of hallyu did not happen overnight. It took decades to take flight: from planning to government intervention to industry consolidations to execution of strategies to impact measurement—it took thousands of hours and hundreds of minds to reach the status that hallyu enjoys now.
Hallyu history and influence on Filipinos
According to Korea.net, the official web site of the Republic of Korea, the term “hallyu” first appeared in 1997, when the drama What is Love was aired by state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) and clinched the second spot on China’s list of all-time biggest and most popular imported video content.
Japan was next to be hit big time by the Korean Wave when Winter Sonata, a drama produced by national broadcaster Korean Broadcasting System (KBS), aired via Japan government-owned broadcaster NHK in 2003. Nami Island in Chuncheon, the drama’s location, landed among the top places to visit for Japanese tourists.
The Philippines was not spared from the K-culture invasion. GMA 7 aired Bright Girl in 2003, considered the first K-drama broadcast on Philippines shores. This was followed by a slew of K-dramas, not only on GMA, but also on rival networks ABS-CBN and TV5. These shows were dubbed in Filipino, and not English-subtitled like those found on streaming services Netflix and Viu, making them an easier sell for the mass market.
The early 2010s, meanwhile, saw the rise of K-pop in the country, with “idol groups” like Super Junior, Girls’ Generation, 2NE1 (which featured ABS-CBN Star Circle Quest runner-up Sandara Park), BigBang, 2PM, 4Minute, Beast, and ZE:A stealing the hearts of local fans, according to an article on Korea.net.
Even before K-dramas and K-pop landed in the country, however, the Philippines has been host to Korean nationals wanting to learn English, establish businesses, or just go to a warm place during winter. This has given rise to a new sub-economy, composed of English language centers catering mostly to Koreans and Korean groceries, the latter now catering more and more to Filipino consumers.
‘Soft power’ strategy
The global phenomenon that is hallyu has allowed Korea to inject parts of its culture into the daily lives of many of the world’s population. It can be said that this is part of Korea’s soft power strategy, a theory developed by former Harvard Kennedy School of Government Dean Joseph Nye. He later came up with the concept of “smart power,” where hard and soft power are combined into a successful national strategy.
In the realm of foreign affairs, “hard power” refers to the use of force or coercion to get the rest of the world to do what a specific nation wants, while “soft power” represents the ability to get what one wants by way of attraction: “It arises from the attractiveness of a country’s culture, political ideals, and policies,” Nye said.
Just a few months ago, K-pop phenomenon BTS delivered a speech at the United Nations headquarters in New York City, a day ahead of the UN General Assembly. The seven-member idol group accompanied South Korean President Moon Jae-in, as the presidential envoy for future generations and culture. They made their UN debut three years ago as part of UNICEF’s Generation Unlimited campaign, which sought to educate young people and give them vocational training.
In 2019, another popular idol group, EXO, joined President Moon in welcoming then-US President Donald Trump to Seoul on the last day of the G20 Summit. The year before, girl group Red Velvet and singer Baek Ji-young top-billed a concert in Pyongyang, North Korea, celebrating the first summit between President Moon and North Korea Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un.
“This kind of event is not about Seoul lecturing foreign audiences on its policies—rather, the South Korean government is tapping into genuine interest among global fans, as clips from the concert racked up a combined 3 million views and counting on YouTube,” University of Chicago PhD candidate Jenna Gibson wrote on the web site of thinktank Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
She said, however, that South Korea has yet to fully harness its soft power to influence global policies, as this is “something the South Korean government is still figuring out as it transitions from a focus on nation branding to a deeper soft power strategy.”
Economic and cultural impact
While Korea’s influence on global policies may not yet be that visible, if at all, hallyu has provided huge economic benefits to the country—even as much as the gross domestic product (GDP) of some small economies—over the past years.
Bloomberg journalist Alex Webb summed it up very well: “South Korea has made other megahits—its drams and rom-coms are lapped up across Asia. But the effect of its rising cultural influence may be more economic than ideological. US exports helped sell US values. For Korea, the exports themselves may be enough. It’s not trying to sell its system of government, but it does have Samsung smartphones, Hyundai cars, and Samyang noodles to offer. And in a world of rising trade tensions, convincing China and the US alike to be open to buying your products may be a far more desirable outcome.”
The 2020 Global Hallyu Trends report, published by the Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange, showed the following hallyu-derived economic benefits from 2019: close to $6.4 billion from export of cultural content and $6 billion from export of consumers goods, for total hallyu-driven export receipts of more than $12.3 million.
BTS alone was contributing $4.65 billion of Korea’s GDP—even more than the annual output of Fiji, Maldives, or Togo—a Forbes article by William Pesek in 2019 revealed. And this was before the group made waves on the Billboard music charts, the American Music Awards, and the Grammys. Not to mention their sold-out concert at the newly built SoFi Stadium in California, which sold 214,000 tickets across four nights from November 27 to December 2, placing ticket receipts at $33.3 million.
Chew on that while I munch on some crushed ramyeon with the flavor powder mixed in, eaten like a bag of chips, the way K-drama characters sometimes eat their instant noodles. Happy hallyu holidays!
(To be continued)
PR Matters is a roundtable column by members of the local chapter of the United Kingdom-based International Public Relations Association (Ipra), the world’s premier organization for PR professionals around the world. Abigail L. Ho-Torres is AVP and Head of Advocacy and Marketing of Maynilad Water Services, Inc. She spent more than a decade as a business journalist before making the leap to the corporate world.
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