The 'Korean wave' has hit Scotland's shores

The National

3 days ago

From the record-breaking final season of Squid Game, which amassed more than 130 million views on Netflix, or the chart-topping KPop Demon Hunters to high-street Korean restaurants, the 'Korean Wave' has hit Scottish shores and has embedded itself into mainstream culture and everyday life.
The phenomenon is referred to as the 'Hallyu' – a collective term for the global spread and growing popularity of South Korean culture.
One of the biggest contributing factors to the global popularity of K-culture is K-pop which has been popularised by groups such as BTS and EXO.
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The popularity of K-pop is constantly reaching new heights across the UK as artists such as Stray Kids and Blackpink have headlined BST Hyde Park in recent years, with the latter due to perform two nights at the 90,000-capacity Wembley Stadium in August.
Another significant milestone saw animated group HUNTR/X – from Netflix's KPop Demon Hunters – hit number one in the UK charts – the first Korean hit since PSY's Gangnam Style in 2012.
The global genre has proved popular across Scotland too, with growing demand for events and concerts in the country.
SeoulRush – a K-pop events company based in Glasgow – has witnessed this surge in demand first-hand too, as it has hosted K-pop club nights across the city since 2012.
'We've always tried our best to create an environment where people can come and enjoy K-pop. It has never been about money, or blowing up, or virality. So, we are just glad people still come to our events 13 years later,' said David Skelley of SeoulRush. 'We love to see that there are more and more K-Pop and dance societies growing each year at universities. We love working with students and trying to give them a place to showcase their talents.'
However, despite the growing fan bases in Scotland, K-pop groups don't typically perform in the country as part of their world tours. With concerts such as Kiss Of Life at O2 Academy Glasgow, fans have shown there's an appetite for more, but these events are few and far between.
'I honestly feel that you can't beat the passion of fans for anything in Scotland. We love hard. So, where it is tragic that a lot of these companies overlook Scotland for their events, the recent Kiss Of Life concert in Glasgow shows that people will be there. We just need that opportunity,' said Skelley.
Ahead of the release of season two of Squid Game, Just Eat conducted a poll to explore how the Korean Wave is impacting the takeaway industry in the UK as well.
The research showed that 53% of those polled have been motivated by Korean music and TV to try Korean food and products.
Leigh Phillipson, UK sales director of Just Eat, said: 'Cultural trends increasingly influence everything from what we eat to how we take care of ourselves, and the K-wave is testament to this – orders of Korean food on Just Eat have grown 23% in the past year.'
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The spread of Korean culture across Scotland goes beyond K-pop, K-dramas and cuisine as the demand for Korean beauty products also continues to boom.
K-beauty became popular among Western consumers in the 2010s, but re-emerged through social media platforms such as TikTok as influencers promoted the benefits
of the products.
The demand for K-beauty products can also be seen in Scotland, as Wee Ghost Beauty (pictured) recently became the first Korean skincare shop in Scotland when it opened its doors in Glasgow in June.
Founder of Wee Ghost Beauty and Scottish skincare expert Lauren Miller became obsessed with Korean skincare products and declared it like 'unlocking the secrets to glowing, healthy skin that I never knew existed'.
She added that Korean skincare focuses on 'achieving healthy, radiant skin through ultimate hydration'.
K-beauty is not just a trend but is seen as the future of the cosmetics industry, as it's expected to grow rapidly from being worth $113 billion in 2025 to more than $212bn
in 2032.
It's difficult to predict where this Korean Wave will lead, but Scotland has undoubtedly embraced K-culture and taken it into their hearts.
It's an exciting cultural moment to watch closely and Scotland could hopefully have more of a part to play in it. SeoulRush's Skelley believes that it won't be too long before we see 'the first Scottish K-Pop idol [as] we are a very culturally diverse country'.