How did K-pop become a global phenomenon?
Since the Korean singer Psy’s Gangnam Style and his horse-riding dance swept the world in 2012, the heat of Korean pop music (or K-pop) did not die down but has instead galloped into a global phenomenon. The success of K-pop (and the South Korean cultural industries in general) has not happened by accident. It is a carefully contemplated and deeply rooted synergy between South Korean government initiatives and the country’s cultural industries.
South Korea’s cultural industries started exporting to Asia from the late 1990s and beyond Asia in the 2000s. The dramatic turn in the government’s approach towards the cultural industries in the late 1990s was due to the attitudinal change of viewing the industries as core economic drivers. The updated definition of the cultural industries is based on their commercial viability and economic value. This coincides with the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis and the Korean government’s efforts in a comprehensive transition of the entire country from political control to market commodity. Institutional support was provided to the cultural industries through funding and infrastructure for domestic growth and facilitation with global market access.
These policies turned out to be mutually beneficial to the country’s economy and the cultural industries. The success can be quantified with remarkable figures. According to the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the total export revenue of the Korean cultural industries grew by 553%, from US$658 million to US$4.3 billion between 2001 and 2011. In a more recent report in 2019 on the economic effects of the Korean Wave (Hallyu) by the Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange (KOFICE), Hallyu-related exports rose by 22.4% from 2018 to US$12.3 billion in 2019. The world is also paying more attention on the Korean cultural industries, especially after the Korean film Parasite won four Oscar awards and K-pop boy band BTS topped the Billboard 200 albums chart for the fifth time. The cultural industries in Korea are now mature enough to grow organically in the global markets, with less and less government interventions needed.
During this process, we can see unbalanced development among different sectors within the cultural industries. The government prioritised sectors that showed substantial growth potential, such as film and music. On the other hand, sectors with less growth potential, including publishing, cartoon and traditional arts, seemed to be the “middle child” receiving less attention and support. The popularity of K-pop and Japanese anime left their neighbour with a similar cultural origin — China — in the shadow. Chinese pop culture has unmeasurable potential with its huge domestic market and deep cultural reservoir. However, the tight state-control over the industries poses obstacles for C-pop to become the next K-pop. Unless censorship is eased, creativity will be hammered.
K-pop and Hallyu have led to exponential growth in other sectors, such as tourism, education and beauty, contributing to Korea’s overall economic growth. However, the ultimate goal of the Korean government is to build the country’s soft power and increase its political influence. South Korea’s soft power is ranked in the top 20 in 2019 by Portland Communications. And the cultural industries played a crucial role in this result. We are yet to see whether the government can translate its cultural resources into concrete impact in the political arena.