Hallyu as Korean Economic & Political Strategy
If you know anything about Korean history as an American, then you probably know about the Korean War. But if you know anything else about Korean history as an American, it’s probably that the country has undergone one of the most radical economic transformations in modern history. In 1953, at the “end” of the Korean War, the country’s GDP was only $40.9 million and more than half of the country was living in absolute poverty. Today, 70 years later, its GDP is $1.6 trillion and only 2% of the population lives in absolute poverty; it is the 10th largest economy in the world. Pop culture has been a huge component of that economic rise, in the last two decades. Hallyu (“Korean Wave” in Mandarin Chinese) is a term used to describe the exportation of Korea’s cultural economy. It most commonly refers to movies, TV, and music, but it expands to cover other sectors of K-culture as well, including beauty and food. In The Birth of Korean Cool: How One Nation is Conquering the World Through Pop Culture, Euny Hong writes about the role culture has played in Korea’s radical economic rise: “Did South Koreans know that ‘Gangam Style’ would be the song that put K-pop on the map? Of course not. But they knew it would happen eventually. They had been setting up the mechanism for pop culture domination since the dawn of the World Wide Web in the 1990s.” What does Hong mean by that? In 1997, when the Asian financial crisis hit, Korea’s hard-won economic progress was threatened, and President Kim Dae-jung saw the entertainment sector as an area of potential economic growth. The government restructured its Ministry of Culture, and began seriously investing in its entertainment industry, including everything from making sure the entire country had good broadband internet to regulating the karaoke industry. Today, the Korean government spends over $500 million annually specifically on Hallyu promotion through the Ministry of Economy and Finance. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Culture’s 2022 budget is over $6 billion, and includes $142 million earmarked for “Hallyu production,” $41 million earmarked for “international cooperation and export of cultural content,” and $25 million earmarked for “cultural content.”
Netflix Steps Onto the K-Culture Bandwagon
Squid Game may be the first Korean series to claim the #1 spot on U.S. Netflix Top Ten list, but it is not the first Korean drama to claim a spot on the list. Last year, horror Sweet Home became the first K-drama to make it onto the U.S. Netflix Top Ten List, with romantic drama Crash Landing On You soon following. (Notably, Korean space opera film Space Sweepers also made a splash globally and in the U.S., though it didn’t rank on the U.S. Netflix Top Ten List.) Netflix has a pretty solid catalogue of Korean content, with much, much more on the way. The streamer has been seriously investing in the Korean entertainment industry since 2016, investing $700 million in the country in the past five years alone. They have a multi-year content partnership with CJ ENM/Studio Dragon and JTBC, and, earlier this year, they started leasing two of the country’s largest production facilities. As Netflix continues to both grow globally (especially in “emerging economies” in Asia) and invest more heavily in the Korean entertainment industry, the “next Squid Game” is not a question of if, but when… and when… and when. Netflix will continue to release many Korean dramas that don’t have as broad appeal and/or quality but that continue to find a passionate audience, but as for more major hits, I have my eye on Hellbound and Silent Sea, both set to come out before the end of the year. Hellbound is a November release from Train to Busan writer-director Yeon Sang-ho. Based on a webtoon, it is a supernatural horror in which creatures materialize on Earth to drag humans to hell. In December, we’re getting The Silent Sea, a science fiction thriller set on a future Earth that has undergone desertification. The story follows members of a special team sent to recover a mysterious sample from a deserted lunar research facility. The group includes a scientist whose sister was killed in the accident that led to the facility’s abandonment. The Silent Sea stars Squid Game face-slapper Gong Yoo and Sense8‘s Bae Doona, and is one of my most-anticipated releases of the year.
