Article on Korean Pop

Korean Wave: South Korea’s prized possession.

Globalization

When we talk about Globalization, we only consider the industrial sector and manufacturing industries, no one realizes that Globalization is not only confined to just Industrialization but also music, dance, dress, culture, food and so on. In union with the luxury of access provided by the internet, individuals now have the power to select the information they want to obtain. The cultural globalization that is found in contemporary society blend to familiarise the choices of individuals. This establishes certain trends in fashion, beauty or music. One such instance is the reputation of the Industry of Korean Pop, commonly known as K-pop.

100s and millions

Back in 2012, the Korean Wave took over the world and beyond with the discovery of PSY ‘Gangnam Style’ which became a hit with the Ínvisible Horse-riding’ dance. Though no one understood the song, the catchy beats, and the dance that an amateur could follow made the world happy. It got 100 million views within 51 days, more than what Justin Biber got with ‘Baby’. Till this day it has remained amongst the ‘most-watched’ videos. In 2012, which was supposed to be the year that marked the ‘end of the world’, became the beginning of the popularity of Korean-Pop. It was until 2017 when BTS entered the Billboard whooping the music charts across the globe with their latest album ‘Love Yourself: Tear. In 2019, BTS’ Love Yourself: Her peaked at No.7 on the Billboard 200. The Korean Music Content Association, Gaon Chart which is similar to the Billboard chart, gave out certification for selling out millions of copies following its release on May 18, 2019.

Korean pop music topping the chart isn’t new, BoA, a female Korean singer and a songwriter, released a self-titled English album was the first-ever Korean album to top the Billboard 200 in 2009 followed by Wonder Girls’ ‘Nobody’ English version was the first Korean single to appear on the Hot 100 song chart.

“PSY was next in 2012, and it took until 2017 for BTS, with DNA to become the first group to appear with a Korean song, not an English variant,” says Tamar Herman, a columnist for Billboard’s K-Pop section and contributing writer Forbes.

Reason for its fame:

The reason why K-pop culture could sustain and survive the music industry is chiefly because of its peculiar and notable fusion of melodies, sleek dance choreographies, ethereal vocals and production values and the South Korean producers who spent ‘n’ number of years rehearsing ruthlessly to gain that perfection.

The Korean Wave, Hallyu: No country takes the Entertainment media more seriously than South Korea.

The Korean Wave started back in the 90s. Hallyu is a term given by the Chinese, which means ‘Korean Wave’. It is a popular term used to describe the popularity, development and growth that took place in the Korean culture. It refers to the worldwide fame of South Korea’s cultural economy exporting pop culture, entertainment, music, TV dramas, movies and cuisine to online games and the list goes on. It has grown in prominence to become a major driver of the global economy for the South Korean Government.

Back in March 2012, The former president of U.S Barack Obama toured South Korea, had mentioned about the Korean Wave, and the South Korean government made it as the top priority. South Korea is the only country across the globe to give main importance to the popular culture to become a leading exporter of it.

“It is a way to develop its ‘Soft Power’” says Martin Roll, a Business and Brand Strategist. Soft power. Soft power is a famous term coined in 1990 by Harvard political scientist Joseph Nye. It refers to the impalpable control a country exercises through its image, rather than through hard force. Hard force applies to military power or economic power. An illustration of soft power in action is how the US lured the world to buy its Levi’s jeans, Apple iPhones, Marlboro cigarettes, Coca-Cola soft drinks and Hollywood movies, by leveraging on a charming image.

How Korean Pop affected the economy of South Korea.

For the start-ups and small businesses, the Hallyu effect has been a boon and a game-changer for its economy. The Hallyu effect is tremendous, contributing to 0.2% of Korea’s GDP in 2004, amounting to approximately USD 1.87 billion. Recently in 2014, Hallyu had an estimated USD 11.6 billion boost to the Korean economy. Over the last two decades, South Korea has become prosperous and futuristic. In 1965, Korea’s GDP per capita was less than that of Ghana. During the financial crisis in 1997-98, the crisis was a perfect recipe for bad debt, panic among lenders, they had taken a loan of USD 97 billion from IMF (International monetary fund) and ended up using USD 19.5 billion. The loan was paid back in 2001, Defeating poverty, and restoring the economy was a fight since they lacked in every sector. Their biggest crisis was their dependence on the Korean Chaebols, a massive industrial conglomerate that is governed and regulated by an owner or family in South Korea. A chaebol usually consists of several diversified affiliates, controlled by an owner whose power over the group often surpasses legal authority. They played a major role in the economy and the government of South Korea only focused on them. After the crisis, they shifted their perspective and gave a chance to the other small business to flourish. President Kim Dae-Jung proposed a deal: the two drivers,

1) Information technology, which would cooperate with inherited manufactures and generate new industries.

2) Popular culture, which would produce export products worth billions of dollars whilst aiding to fix the image of South Korea and drawing more businesses across the globe.

A ministry of Culture was established in 2008 specifically to focus on and promote Korean Pop music and to provide substantial funds. In 2012, the government funds constituted over 25 per cent of all venture capital money dispensed in Korea. One-third of all investment capital in Korea is spent on the entertainment industry. Today, South Korea is the world’s 12th largest economy.

South Korea reported a huge record balance of payments surplus for Hallyu- related products and services in 2018 and sequentially. Owing to the global triumph of Korea-made video games and K-pop, statistics from the Bank of Korea. According to the Bank of Korea Economic Statistics System, Korea’s BOP surplus for Hallyu commodities and services mounted 73% on-year to $2.43 billion in 2018. The Balance of Payments is an economic indicator that displays the difference between all the money a country gains from the exports and the money it spends on the imports during a specific period. A surplus means exceeding. The BOP surplus for music was $320 million in 2018, in 2017 it was $277 million, this was achieved by only one K-Pop group, BTS, the credits go to their fanbase, Army. According to Sohn Ji-young, the Korea Herald, the music video plus the extra content given out by the idols resulted in doubling the BOP surplus from $245 million in 2015 to $520 million in 2016.

Other BOP Surplus for purchases from overseas, downloads and games, came up to $2.11 billion in 2018 which is double the BOP surplus in 2017: $1.13 billion.

Support from the Government

A section of the ministry, the Popular Culture Industry Division, focuses on Korean pop music, fashion, mass entertainment, comic books, cartoons, and different essential products. The division, accompanied with three distinct divisions, is referred to as the Cultural Content Office. Its budget is USD 500 million, to build a USD 10 billion cultural industry export industry by 2019. Additionally, the Korean government sponsors 20-30% o

f USD 1 billion investment fund earmarked to nurture and export popular culture. The remaining funds come from investment banks and private companies and are managed by the Korean Venture Investment Corporation.

Conclusion

Though it has had an immense effect on South Korea’s economy it also has positively affected so many lives, the recent example would be of BTS who donated $1 million for the Black Lives Matter and that inspired their fanbase. The Army pledged to match their donation, raising another million dollars in less than 24 hours and it didn’t stop there together with boy/girl group bands like Blackpink, NCT and other K-pop groups decided that they would drown out any hateful messages on twitter by flooding the hashtag all lives matter. While the U.S president is busy threatening the military force, it appears to be that the only troops we should be sending in right now are the BTS Army and the whole K-pop fandom.

As rightly said by the leader of BTS, Kim Namjoon, “Music transcends language, countries, or races”. What was called the Korean Wave has become a wave of love across the globe, which we all need.

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