Why Is Kpop Popular

When I was my 15 years, I watched my first Korean dorama. Then I did not know how it would exert an impact on my fate and view of life. This was the world famous “Boys over flowers”, which became an occasion of my acquaintance with the country of morning freshness. I strongly believe that my life transformed for better and blossomed after watching this Korean dorama was watched by everyone, from the youngest to the oldest. It drew me in this world – the world of Korean drama, Korean pop and Korean cinema. Knowledge about Korea was increasing more and more gradually and new sides of Korea were opened. I found out the country is famous not only of the Korean wave, Hallyu, but also of kimchi, various traditional food, colorful nature and combination of tradition and modernity. And some pieces of the Korean culture and language are quite similar to

The story beginnings in the midst of the 1960’s, post Korean War. During this era South Korean was going through many, dramatic changes: socially, economically, and politically. Society was becoming for advantaged and

In Euny Hong’s book, The Birth of Korean Cool, she tells the story of the rise of “hallyu” or the “Korean wave” that is sweeping the globe. Having been born in the U.S. then immigrating to Korea, Hong gives a unique dual perspective on the changes Korea has undergone in the past decades. Korea today has a reputation of being modern technology hub, but this was not always the case. In fact, as Hong describes, the majority of the social, technological, and economical advancements came about within the past thirty years. Euny Hong details her experiences and observations as Korea traveled at a breakneck speed from a third world country to one of the most technologically advanced nations in the world.

This fan post shows a poem created by someone who identified herself as a Kpopper. The poem states that Fan Girling is the author’s hobby, but studying is her priority. Many people do not understand her because of her hobby. K-pop is her inspiration to achieve her vision to be successful. The poem also says that as a fan girl, she wants to go to Seoul Korea to marry her bias. The poem states that as a K-pop fan, she emphasized that music has no language barrier because communication through the heart is better,

"South Korea is a country with a population of 50,924,172 and counting" ("The World Factbook: KOREA, SOUTH"). It is a nation that has been the center of many tug-of-wars. It is a nation that has had to fight in order to survive independent. Years ago, no one thought much of this country. So what is it about this little place now, that sets it apart and breaks it out of the mold of just another Asian country? Though South Korea may be a small country, the style of cuisine, community culture, and generosity are just

South Korea is one of the most homogeneous countries in the world, in which it has its own culture, language, and customs that are different from other Asian countries. In South Korea, the citizens greatly value hard work, filial piety, and humility in their daily lives. South Koreans are very proud people in which they pride themselves in their traditional culture and their financial success.

South Korea is a booming country that is getting more people interested by the day. With the rise of K-pop in the United States and their celebrities becoming famous around the world, we get some insight on their country and what they consider beautiful by their celebrities, the people that represent their country. Korean people, especially women, are expected to have a small and thin body with very pale skin. They also like to have a shaped that is in the shape of a V. They will even get plastic surgery to get this face shape. Many sources state that South Korea is the plastic surgery capital of the

My return to Korea in the summer of 2001 was nothing short of a culture shock. I was in a country I thought I had learned by heart. It was the country I always rooted my identity and pride from. I wasn’t ready for the shock. I

Reality TV stemmed from Western countries, the source of Korea’s reality TV shows is also from Western countries. But Korea experienced imitation and study from the West, Reality TV this kind of programs has a new development. The main feature of Korea’s reality TV shows is celebrities participating. Television programme which is the outcome of culture and economic development influences people’s consumption and living concepts. Different cultures have their own characteristics of the ethnic culture, so adding these special properties into programmes’ design and production can make these programmes meaningful. Because of the geographical proximity and similar historical experiences of China and Korea, Chinese culture has higher degree of fusion with Korea’s culture than with Western culture.

Korean Wave simply means the rising of popularity of the Korean culture (Lee, 2011). This Korean Wave was an example of a ripple effect meaning it is continuing to spread. K-Pop is an abbreviation of Korean pop, which has different music genres incorporated into one. K-pop includes hip-hop, electronic, rock and R’n’B music that has originated from South Korea. Korean pop music began to gain its popularity among teenagers and young adults throughout Asia. K- Pop and TV dramas have impacted the Korean Wave in different ways.

Furthermore, global consumers are progressively embracing popular cultural products such as music like Gangnam Style as well as film and other audio-visual media content through online social media community networks. Jung & Shim (2014, pp.485) illustrate that following Psy’s global success, other Korean pop music or K-Pop, have become one of the most vigorously distributed forms of pop culture globally, through its distribution via social networks. Hogarth (2013, pp.144) illustrates how K-Pop entertainment agencies have recognised the Internet as an important means of spreading this cultural product internationally, and now continuously launch K-Pop music videos through YouTube. As most K-Pop videos are freely available on YouTube, they are accessible to a multitude of viewers worldwide. This in turn has facilitated the ubiquity of K-Pop music consumption though social media among individuals, on a global scale which Huat and Jung (2014, p.41) illustrates with example to the Indonesian youth. This however is not limited to Asia, as Sung (2014) shows how K-Pop and its popularity and participatory fan culture have spread quickly beyond Asia and have gained fans in America as well as European countries such as Austria. The dimensions with which K-Pop has spread worldwide within a media environment is noted through studies done by Jin & Yoon (2014) and Jung (2014). Such research show how a wide range of fans from all over the world embrace this Korean pop culture through

Korean wave (Hallyu in Korean) is term coined by Chinese media to describe the popularity of the Korean cultural products in China. It is said that the first wave of Hallyu is brought by Korean TV series that became a huge hit in China and Japan in mid 1990s. Two dramas, What Is Love About (1997) and Stars in My Heart (1999), are usually credited with kickstarting the Korean wave (Huat, 2012). In the early to mid-2000s, two more dramas, Winter Sonata (2002) and Dae Jang Geum (2003), catalyzed the Korean wave by shattering ratings records, not only in South Korea, but also in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, and Vietnam (Chen, 2016).

The car brand in Korea that people will think is Hyundai. Nowadays, South Korea becomes a country that is stable in all industry. How can music and Korean series become popular? Or how can they make people recognize the Hyundai brand? In order to have an understanding of Korean industry, people should know about its music Industry, tourist Industry, and automobile Industry.

The surge in the visibility of Korean culture has been coined ‘The Korean Wave’ or ‘Hallyu’ which translated literally means the flow of Korea. The Hallyu wave first began by the spread of Korean dramas being televised in other areas of Asia and continued to grow once Kpop artists began utilising social networking services and in particular YouTube. Much of the Hallyu Wave’s success can be attributed to the video sharing website. YouTube has allowed Korean (and other nationalities) artists to post their content online and be viewed by the larger overseas audience. As of 2012, the most viewed video that has ever been uploaded to YouTube is a Korean pop music video, holding a world record for the achievement and now totalling over 1 billion views. Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last 3

There were many things going on within week three because this class is coming close to the end, unfortunately. As I reflected back, I wished this class could be a semester long course, yet I could not control the situation. With this short period of time, I felt like I learned about Korean society that I never knew before. Prior to this class, I had never observed Korean society from the traditional perspective. However, I had a chance to explore traditional Korean music within this week. There were guests coming to show Korean traditional instruments (piri and haegeun), and perform pansori, traditional Korean opera. In addition to the guests, I also had a chance to view one of the most popular Korean movie directed by Kim Ki-duk, Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring. Thanks to this week’s agenda, I was able to experience the traditional side of Korea, which I