[Feature: Outlook for Japan-Korea Relations] Sun-hye Hwang: Why Has Hallyu Culture Swept the World?

2022/05/09

The phenomenon known as "Hallyu" (the Korean Wave) emerged in East Asian countries and regions, including Japan, around the year 2000. It was featured in various media as a synonym for Korean popular culture, sparking a massive boom. In Japan, 2003—the year the Korean drama "Winter Sonata" was broadcast on NHK Satellite Broadcasting—is referred to as the first year of Hallyu, or the First Korean Wave. Next year will mark the 20th anniversary of Hallyu in Japan. Twenty years is equivalent to the time it takes for a child to grow into an adult and be recognized as a mature individual. When Hallyu first began, it was treated as a "boom" phenomenon, and there were many sociological inquiries exploring the mechanisms and causes of its reality. The journey of Hallyu over the following 20 years has brought about diverse changes, such as the expansion of the content industry and serving as a bridge for cultural exchange.

How did Hallyu continue to grow instead of remaining a temporary boom? This article examines this from three perspectives. The first is its aspect as a cultural industry with economic power. South Korea's economic impact as a content industry is so significant that it is often called a content-exporting country. Within this, it is extremely important to have an international perspective and a business approach while being conscious of domestic and international markets from the planning stage. Based on the market size of Korean content, I will describe the production environment resulting from changes in various media and needs. I will also explore the reality of new content following dramas and K-POP, as well as the interrelationship between local and global business strategies. The second is its aspect as a national cultural policy. I will discuss how South Korea's national strategy and support to sustain free creative activities were promoted, highlighting the results and challenges of these measures through representative cultural policies. The third is as a cross-border global culture. With the development of web and social media, fans of Korean content are expanding across national borders. I will discuss the influence of Korean content fandoms and communities, including consumption patterns and ripple effects.

Based on the three perspectives above, I would like to depict the state of mutual cultural exchange between Japan and South Korea through the bridge of content and indicate a future-oriented vision for both countries.

As an important export resource, Korean content established its position in the global market by being conscious of global expansion from the planning and production stages, responding to changes in platforms.

At the forefront of Hallyu are so-called Korean contents such as dramas, movies, music, and games. The definition of content has expanded over time, and in recent years, it has been treated as a "commodity" due to its economic value and effects. In South Korea, content refers to creative works produced as cultural, artistic, or academic material, encompassing all processed goods reproduced using those creative works; they are also called cultural products. Sales in the cultural industry, which includes the development, production, manufacturing, distribution, and consumption of cultural products and related services, continue to grow every year.

According to the Content Industry Statistics Survey released by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Creative Content Agency, sales in 2020 were 128.2 trillion won (approx. 12.8 trillion yen), up 1.2% from 126.7 trillion won in 2019*1. In 2020, while genres such as music, film, and animation decreased significantly due to behavioral restrictions caused by COVID-19, comics, games, and broadcasting increased, showing an average annual growth rate of 4.9%.

Within that, what are the imports and exports of content like? Compared to the $11.92 billion in exports of Korean content in 2020, the import value was $920 million, a gap of more than ten times. Games account for more than half of the export value, followed by characters, broadcasting, knowledge information, and music.

In this way, Korean content is an important export resource, and expansion into related industries such as tourism, food and beverage, and language learning is expected. In short, content can serve as an opportunity for people to get to know Korean culture and society better. From there, it expands into an indispensable "culture" in daily life through the consumption of Korean-made "goods" and enjoying interaction with "people."

While the entire world was under the influence of the spread of COVID-19, the use of digital content through internet video streaming services and applications resurfaced. Amid growing demand for home entertainment, the reaction to Korean dramas shown through video streaming services was swift and honest. Until now, Korean dramas were expanded overseas primarily in regions and countries where there was demand, and in certain regions, they could be seen at the earliest three months after the broadcast ended in Korea. However, now new works can be enjoyed simultaneously worldwide on global video streaming platforms. Users can watch all episodes at any time and anywhere, driven by their own initiative, without being bound by media window structures such as weekly one- or two-episode broadcasts or the sequential release of DVD BOX 1 and 2.

Such changes in the media environment have influenced the production environment of Korean dramas, triggering business mechanisms and new challenges optimized for it. By separating dramas intended for television programming from works intended only for video streaming for both domestic and international audiences, business models and strategies were differentiated. There is a strong awareness of how to utilize a single story and diffuse it through business one after another. Korean dramas that expanded to the world as Hallyu utilized their experience and know-how in global expansion to convey uniquely Korean stories to the world while incorporating international universality and the latest trends. As a result, user evaluations on global streaming services are linked to viewing time, leading to them consistently occupying the top of the rankings. From now on, a variety of story developments and the acting skills of actors across all genres—such as suspense, romantic comedy, historical drama, fantasy, horror, and sci-fi—will continue to fascinate the world.

By the way, following dramas and K-POP, there is content throwing down the gauntlet in the global market: WEBTOON (hereinafter referred to as webtoons). It is a compound word combining "WEB," meaning the internet, and "CARTOON," meaning comics/animation. It refers to comics that can be read on the web, but it has major characteristics. Webtoons are read by scrolling vertically frame by frame to fit the screen of a smartphone. This unique way of advancing a story is extremely conscious of the development of the story and artwork for each scene. It is just like the cuts in a movie or drama. Regardless of the genre, stories can be drawn infinitely and uploaded to the web, where users can easily enjoy them.

According to a survey on the use of Korean comics by type, the usage rate for webtoons only is 67.4%, those who use both print comics and webtoons is 28.6%, and print comics only is 4%*2. Many webtoon users are more interested in the story than the artwork, and popular works are reproduced into dramas, movies, musicals, and more. Representative works based on webtoons include the recently popular dramas "Itaewon Class," "Hellbound," and "True Beauty," as well as the movie "Along with the Gods." Japanese TV animations such as "Tower of God," "Noblesse," and "The God of High School" are also based on Korean webtoons that gained popularity worldwide. I am convinced that webtoons will become next-generation global content with infinite possibilities, allowing people to enjoy stories adapted to media and creating new stories from there.

The development of Korean content has been supported over the past 20 years by a consistent cultural policy of "support but no interference," even as administrations changed.

The "Comparative Research Study on Policies of Foreign Countries" published annually by the Agency for Cultural Affairs in Japan shows the cultural expenditure, the percentage of the government budget, and the expenditure per citizen for five countries (Figure). Regarding cultural expenditure as a percentage of the government budget, South Korea is the highest at 1.24%. Expenditure per citizen is also the second highest after France. Looking at the trend of the government budget ratio with 2010 as 100%, South Korea increased by 156% in 2020, with budget amounts for items such as "Fostering the Content Industry" and "Promotion and Normalization/Industrialization of the Arts" increasing significantly.

Why was South Korea able to increase cultural expenditure? At the root of it is "Hallyu," which has continued to spread for 20 years. In particular, through the overseas expansion of content, the country has fully experienced the potential for growth in related industries such as national image, tourism, food and beverage, language, and consumer goods, along with market expansion.

It was about 25 years ago that the 15th President, Kim Dae-jung, brought the industrialization of intangible culture as a commodity to the forefront. In his February 1998 inaugural public speaking, he declared, "Culture is an important key industry of the 21st century that creates a cultural industry and generates enormous high added value." He emphasized that culture as a future key industry should promote globalization to create a profit structure like other industries and inherit and develop high cultural value. Meanwhile, he strongly indicated that the role of the state is to "support but not interfere." While emphasizing a shift from a policy of control to a policy of promotion regarding cultural policy, he began the abolition and relaxation of various regulations on creative activities. Changes in growth were brought about by the quantitative input of budgets centered on the promotion of cultural industry policies based on economic principles, such as the amendment of the Framework Act on the Promotion of Cultural Industries (2001) and the enactment of the Online Digital Content Industry Promotion Act (2003).

The next president, Roh Moo-hyun, made support for the socially vulnerable and regional development the center of cultural policy, aiming to become one of the world's five major cultural industry powers. He focused on human resource development, Culture Technology, and the establishment of production support centers to strengthen the foundation for content creation. He also promoted the construction of an Asian cultural industry network and the strengthening of overseas marketing. He enacted the 1st and 2nd basic plans to develop the online digital content industry, which Kim Dae-jung had focused on legislating, in more detail, declaring that South Korea's digital content industry would be fostered into a core industry of the 21st century.

The 17th President, Lee Myung-bak, based on the efficient operation of public policy, transferred digital content duties from the Ministry of Information and Communication (now the Ministry of Science and ICT) to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, expanding the functions of that ministry. He treated culture as a concept directly linked to the lives of citizens and proposed a Cultural Vision (2008) as a goal for national development in addition to social development.

The 18th President, Park Geun-hye, held up cultural prosperity as a national vision and actively promoted the enactment of laws such as the Framework Act on Culture and the Regional Culture Promotion Act. Representative cultural policies include the 5-Year Plan for Regional Development (2012) and the Basic Plan for Regional Culture Promotion (2015) to revitalize regional culture.

In 2018, the 19th President, Moon Jae-in, announced a core strategy to strengthen competitiveness in the content industry. With the three keywords of content competitiveness, employment, and a fair environment, he established and promoted a basic policy of a fair industrial foundation and the production of high-quality content and creation of demand. In the Three Major Innovation Strategies and Ten Major Projects for the Content Industry announced the following year, he showed strategies such as supporting innovative cultural companies by expanding policy finance, securing future growth drivers by fostering immersive content, and driving the growth of industries related to the New Hallyu.

In May 2022, Yoon Suk-yeol was inaugurated as the 20th President, and a new cultural policy will be presented. As mentioned above, South Korea's cultural policy has been recognized as an important national policy even as presidents change. The provision of opportunities and venues to best exercise creativity and the maintenance of an infrastructure where excellent human resources can be fostered should be continued.

Through the formation of fandoms and works that evoke "empathy," Korean content has had a major impact on the formation of an image of South Korea, creating a global culture called K-Culture.

In August 2020, the K-POP group BTS released their new song "Dynamite," which became a global hit, spending two consecutive weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. One month later, the choreography version of BTS's "Dynamite" was premiered worldwide in the popular online game "Fortnite" operated by Epic Games, becoming a hot topic. In September 2021, their collaboration with Coldplay on the new song "My Universe," where they performed together via hologram, attracted significant attention.

I would like to discuss four elements that led to K-POP's success in global expansion: 1. Looks, 2. Stage performance, 3. Music videos, and 4. Music reflecting global trends. According to music industry insiders, K-POP's dancing, which overcomes language barriers and appeals to the visual and auditory senses, and music videos that convey the worldview of the artists and songs, have evoked empathy among fans worldwide. For this reason, they develop unique songs while incorporating global trends and share an international sensibility. This is also why BTS collaborates with games and artists from other countries.

K-POP's challenge does not stop there; it is expanding fan community platforms globally. Platform development that provides information and systems in a one-stop manner—including new song releases, live performances, merchandise, original content, and communities—is active. These include "Weverse," launched jointly by BTS's agency HYBE and the portal site NAVER; "UNIVERSE" by NCSoft, which has worked on popular global games like Lineage and Brave Sword; and "BUBBLE" by SM Entertainment, which was early to convey K-POP to the whole world.

According to the "2021 Overseas Hallyu Status Survey" conducted by the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange, K-POP has the greatest influence on the formation of South Korea's image, accounting for 16.8%. This is followed by Korean food at 12.0%, the IT industry at 6.9%, Hallyu stars at 6.6%, and dramas at 6.4%*3. Although there are some differences by country, those who experience Korean content are greatly influenced in their image formation of South Korea by the content they personally encounter. The experience brought by Korean content serves as an important catalyst for imagining South Korea. Sharing empathy, sharing with peers, and continuing to convey it to people around the world can be said to be the factors behind K-Culture's attention as a global culture.

On October 8, 1998, Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi and President Kim Dae-jung announced the "Japan-South Korea Joint Declaration: A New Partnership for the 21st Century." The joint declaration included a 43-item action plan for expanding exchange across a wide range of areas such as politics, economy, and culture, and both countries pledged to fulfill mutual cooperation and cultural exchange for implementation. Now, 24 years later, the sight of people laughing and crying together while watching Korean dramas and Japanese animation, cheering together through K-POP and games, and saying they like each other's pop culture is the result of the joint declaration pledged by both countries.

I want to believe that sharing and disseminating universal values through content will lead to the establishment of new relationships throughout Asia, starting with Japan and South Korea. To that end, Japan and South Korea should first take the lead in "collaboration," "division of labor," "co-creation," and "utilization" across multiple facets together. Such cultural practice is now in an important period.

*1 Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism 2020 Content Industry Survey (Accessed April 5, 2022)

*2 Korea Creative Content Agency "2019 Comic User Trends" (Accessed March 30, 2022)

*3 Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange "Overseas Hallyu Status Survey" (Accessed March 31, 2022)