How South Korea became a cultural powerhouse, and what's next

Indian Express

18 hours ago

A Tony Award-winning play on Broadway. The finale of a record-breaking Netflix show. And a reunion of arguably the world's biggest pop band.
South Korean culture is having a moment. Again.
'Maybe Happy Ending' clinching the best musical Tony this month added a new art form to South Korea's growing list of international cultural successes. It followed 'Parasite,' which in 2020 was the first foreign-language film to win an Oscar for best picture, and Han Kang, who won last year's Nobel Prize in literature.
On the K-pop front, the last member of BTS has completed his mandatory national service, stirring the hopes of fans worldwide about a reunion. And Blackpink will start a global tour next month with a gig near Seoul.
At the end of this month, the third season of 'Squid Game' has arrived on Netflix, the final installment of a show whose first season set viewership records. But the so-called Korean Wave shows no signs of subsiding. Global interest in seeking out all things Korean, from cosmetics to food, is surging.
Experts say the nation's cultural wave, known as 'Hallyu' in Korean, began in the late 1990s, when South Korean soaps started gaining popularity in China and Japan. The rise of the internet spread these exports further.
In 2012, Psy's horseback dance moves and rap melody made 'Gangnam Style' the first video on YouTube to surpass 1 billion views. The breakout hit brought global attention to K-pop. But it was BTS — a group of seven handsome young men who rap, dance and sing (all at the same time) — that took K-pop into the global mainstream. During the pandemic, BTS broke several Guinness World Records for streams and views of their tracks 'Dynamite' and 'Butter.'
Well before K-dramas lit up screens in homes across the world, South Korean restrictions on Hollywood film screenings in the country strengthened domestic filmmaking. The Busan Film Festival, which started in 1996, grew to become one of the most prominent in Asia. In 2004, director Park Chan-wook won a Cannes Grand Prix for 'Oldboy,' a violent revenge thriller.
Another surge in global interest came with 'Squid Game,' which debuted in 2021 and kicked off so much discussion worldwide that it created a 'cultural zeitgeist,' said Minyoung Kim, Netflix's vice president of content in Asia. It remains the platform's biggest show.
Many experts believe that K-culture is ensconced in the global mainstream. But some say there is still far to go before the country's cultural might reaches the international influence of countries like the United States, France, Italy and Japan that are globally known for things like food, fashion and cinema.
There are geopolitical hurdles, too. After a dispute over the deployment of a missile system in South Korea, China placed an unofficial ban on K-pop performances in 2016. And in North Korea, music and shows from the South, and even slang they have popularized, are banned because its leader, Kim Jong Un, sees them as a threat to his regime.
The Korean exports have only a sliver of the global market for their respective categories, and experts say it is still too early to tell if K-culture has already peaked or will have lasting power.
While K-pop is extremely popular, it has yet to influence other music genres, said professor Andrew Eungi Kim, who studies culture at the International Studies Department at Korea University.
But the popularity of K-pop and K-drama can spark interest in other aspects of South Korean culture, said Cha Woo-jin, a music critic in Seoul. People want to taste the food the stars eat, wear the makeup they use and even learn the language they speak.
'People used to think of Hallyu as entertainment,' Cha said. 'But now, it's a lifestyle.'
South Korean celebrities are envied for their flawless skin. Overseas consumers, especially younger ones, are eager to copy their skin care routines, which can be rigorous.
Korean cosmetic exports soared nearly 21% to a record $10.2 billion in 2024, according to government data. They topped French cosmetic exports to the United States last year. South Korea is now ranked as the third-largest exporter of makeup after those two countries.
Lyla Kim, who works for TirTir, a Seoul-based makeup brand, said its sales nearly doubled to about $300 million last year after its cushion foundation went viral on TikTok.
Viral videos of kimbap — seaweed-wrapped rice rolls stuffed with meat, fish or vegetables — have caused American grocery store shelves to be cleared out. Samyang Foods, the maker of the superspicy Buldak instant noodles, has said its exports have quadrupled in recent years. Overall exports of Korean agricultural food products reached a record $2.48 billion in the first quarter, up nearly 10% from last year, according to government data.
Korean food also got a plug from the Netflix show 'Culinary Class Wars,' which was released in September. It pitted 80 underdog, or 'black spoon,' chefs against 20 renowned chefs.
And it may be only a matter of time before the world comes to view a Korean dish like bibimbap, a medley of rice, vegetables, meat and fermented chili paste, as being as universal as pizza, pasta or sushi, said Choi Jung-Yoon, who has been a chef in South Korea, Spain and Australia and heads Nanro, a food research nonprofit.
'K-pop and K-dramas may have led to the interest of South Korean food, but it's K-food that will carry Korea's cultural legacy into the future,' Choi said.
As interest in South Korea grows, the number of tourists, foreign residents and exchange students in the country has steadily increased over the past four years, according to government figures. Some arrivals say they were inspired by the life that its dramas and popular culture icons depicted on social media.
Onjira Mahitthafongkul, who grew up in Bangkok, first visited South Korea after finishing high school, when Big Bang was her favorite pop group. She has lived in Seoul, the nation's capital, for five years, getting her master's degree at Yonsei University and working in marketing. The nation's 'rich food scene' and 'convenient lifestyle' drew her to stay in the country, she said. Its lively drinking culture helped her make friends.
Still, she said, 'there is always some level of discrimination as a foreigner, and I've come to accept that.'
Government surveys show that many immigrants have experienced some form of discrimination.
'South Korean society has been pretty strict in that you need to look or act a certain way to be accepted,' said Cha, the music critic. But as it draws more visitors, he said it is only a matter of time before the nation becomes more accepting.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.