Global Hallyu Issue Magazine

Hallyu Now

2017 – 11+12

vol.21

Global Hallyu Issue Magazine

Hallyu Now

2017 – 11+12, vol.21

● Published by: KOFICE

● Publisher: Youngjin Kwak (KOFICE Chairman)

● Editorial Dept.: Sang-Hyun Nam, Ah-Young Kim, Kyong-Jin Park

● Inquiries to: KOFICE Research Center

Tel. +82.(0)2.3153.1779 Email. kjin@kofice.or.kr

Hallyu Montage

- The Kim Dae-jung Government: February 25, 1998 - February 24, 2003

- The Roh Moo-hyun Government: February 25, 2003 - February 24, 2008

- The Lee Myung-bak Government: February 25, 2008 - February 24, 2013

- The Park Geun-hye Government: February 25, 2013 - March 10, 2017

Bigdata ReviewAnalysis of media reports on Hallyu policy issues by regime

By Park Kyong-jin, Korea Foundation for International Culture Exchange Research Center

Researcher

Bigdata Review

- Industrialism and commercialism as a result of the Hallyu phenomenon

- Passionate laborers as victims of industrialism

- Hallyu is not an export phenomenon but an acceptance phenomenon. The quality of the workis the most important factor.

- From culture export policy to cultural industry development policy

The problems of culture industry of Korea brought about by ”Hallyu” commercialism

By Hong Seok-kyung, professor of the Department of Communication of Seoul National University

Zoom 2

- Hallyu-related policy of Moon Jae-in government

- The need for interactive cultural exchange and “Good Hallyu”

- Tasks for improving the sustainability of Hallyu

Hallyu policy based on interactive culture exchange

By Kim, Hui-jeong, Legislative Investigator, Korean Assembly Research Service Education and

Culture Team

Zoom 1

Contents

Zoom1. Hallyu policy based on interactive culture exchange

By Kim, Hui-jeong Legislative Investigator, Korean Assembly Research Service Education and Culture Team

The current government's Hallyu-related policies can be summarized as the establishment of new

emerging market projects in Southeast Asia and Central and South America, localization strategies for the

domestic content based on global online platforms, advancement of business desk operation for overseas

expansion, hosting overseas job fairs, and continuous joint social contribution projects by the government

and private sector. This could be seen as a change from the past way in which government directly

supported the export of Hallyu content to an indirect support system through which the government sets

the conditions for export and expansion of Hallyu to strengthen the cultural industry ecosystem.

Since the anti-Korean sentiment or anti-Hallyu in some East Asian countries rather stems from changes

of political and economic situations between countries than from Hallyu content itself, the “interactive

cultural exchange” and “Good Hallyu” projects intended change the perception of Hallyu targets to a

positive direction should be considered as the foundation for Hallyu expansion. This article will discuss

the tasks our government should tackle for sustainable Hallyu. The government should act as a facilitator

for the private sector and content producing companies that act as the main players in advancing and

expanding Hallyu.

1. Hallyu-related policy of Moon Jae-in government

On July 19, president Moon Jae-in and his government announced the "Five-Year Plan for National

Administration.” The five-year plan presented five goals, 20 strategies, as well as the top 100 priority tasks

for national administration. Among these, the goal related to culture is "A country that takes responsibility of

its people’s lives.” Five national strategies have been announced for the achievement of this goal, one of

which is “cultural nation full of freedom and creativity.” The national task related to Hallyu falls under the

Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism's national policy tasks as a part of Cultural State Strategy, which

aims for “the establishment of a fair cultural industry ecosystem and the worldwide spread of Hallyu

(National Task No. 69). The government has aimed for a “6% increase of Hallyu export in total,” for which it

will “expand the cultural content export market as well as related industries through interactive cultural

exchange and implementing the “good Hallyu.” The "Five-Year Plan for National Administration" will act as

a blueprint that sets the direction for each new government and road map for policy implementation by stage

and period. This blueprint considers the importance of forecasting the implementation and development of

Hallyu policies by each stage and period in regard to this plan.

The detailed project name of the Hallyu-related policy included in the project description of the 2018

National Budget Proposal is “International cooperation for cultural content and establishment of export base.”

Comparing the projects of 2018—which reflect the current government’s Hallyu-related policies—and the

projects of the past two years, it is noteworthy that the budget for building the foundation for expanding

cultural content overseas has increased by about 40%, whereas the budget for strengthening cooperation

regarding international exchange of cultural content and direct support for overseas expansion of cultural

content decreased about 14% and 4%, respectively.

Looking at the details of “Building the foundation for expanding cultural content overseas,” the major part

of the project is the operation of 6 core strategic overseas business centers for Hallyu (U.S., Beijing and

Shenzhen of China, Japan, UK, Indonesia), with the support for “Development of new market for Hallyu” as

a new project. The “new market” referred here include 2 countries in the East Asian region (Vietnam,

Thailand) and 2 countries in the Latin American region (Brazil, Mexico) respectively. In these regions, the

Korean government plans to host B2B export conventions on various content categories and content pitching

events, as well as B2C Hallyu boom-up programs where local residents can view exhibitions and experience

various Hallyu content. In contrast, the budget for the “Building the Korea-China joint DB on cultural

content,” which had received 500 million won ($ 456,000) in 2016 as a new project, was cut entirely in 2017.

This was partly due to its inability to spend even half of its budget except on research studies. As one could

see in the discontinuation of related projects, it is clear that the Chinese government’s ban on Hallyu content

has prompted the Korean government to turn its strategic focus to the diversification of the export market for

Hallyu content, rather than making efforts for joint cooperation on cultural content between Korea and China.

The 2018 budget for “International Exchange and Cooperation Strengthening for Cultural Content” totaled

about 3.3 billion won, down by 52.1 billion won from 2017. This is due to the scaling down of the “Hallyu

promotion project” which the last government mainly focused on. This project, which was implemented as a

separate sub-project by the last government, was scaled down and included into the “International

cooperation on cultural content and building a foundation for export” sub-project as an agenda called

“Strengthening international exchange on cultural content.” The project that was scaled down the most was

the “Support for Fusion Hallyu” which was created in 2016. The past government had publicly hosted

contests, gathering ideas for a converged cooperation project that expands the scope of Hallyu and raises its

synergy effects. It also supported commercialization of ideas and MCN projects, including promoting the

development and commercialization of Korean language education applications using the handwritten fonts

of 6 Hallyu stars. As a result, however, the budget for the Hallyu converged cooperation project support was

cut entirely for 2018, with the “Foundation building for the advancement of Fusion Hallyu into the overseas

market” from the “Fusion Hallyu support” project being the only surviving project included in the

“Government-private sector joint overseas social responsibility” project. This change is due to the fact that

the so-called “Cultural convergence belt” project, which was ambitiously pursued under the agenda of

cultural prosperity and creative economy by the past government, was discovered as one of the main

examples of the past government’s national scandals, which led to an end of overall support for the project

for converged content planning.

The “Support the overseas expansion of cultural content project has been sponsoring costs for business

matching through activities such as participation in overseas expos, operation of Korean exhibition halls, and

hosting showcases for expanding the market for various Hallyu content (animation, characters, music, comic,

fashion, stories). The budget for this project was finalized as 8.1 billion won for 2018 (down by 370 million

won compared to previous year) and submitted to the parliament. The policy direction seems to be similar to

the previous year in terms of the fact that the reduction is not large. However, this contrasts with the

expansion of the budget for the “Cultural Contents Overseas Expansion Project” as mentioned in the

introduction. In other words, the current government's Hallyu policy focus is moving from its past way of

directly supporting the export of Hallyu content to indirect support, including localization of Hallyu content

through the advancement of business desk operation for overseas expansion, support for reproducing quality

content in each region in cooperation with global online distribution platforms such as Netflix, and building

the foundation and environment for export through discovering new markets. This aspect aligns with the

current government’s policy direction of Hallyu expansion, which will be discussed below.

2. The need for interactive cultural exchange and “Good Hallyu”

According to the “2016 - 2017 Global Hallyu Status” research conducted by the Korea Foundation for

International Cultural Exchange, the anti-Hallyu sentiment rose to 21.1% in 2016, which is 4.9% higher than

previous year. This percentage was relatively high in China, Japan, Taiwan, and India in the Asian region.

The main rationale behind this was that “Hallyu content is uniform and stale,” followed by “Hallyu content

is too provocative, suggestive, and commercial.” “Political and diplomatic tension between my country and

Korea” was especially mentioned often among respondents in China and Japan. Thus, the negative

perception regarding Hallyu in nearby Asian countries could be mainly attributed to negative feelings caused

by diplomatic affairs between countries rather than to issues with Hallyu content themselves.

Consequentially, it could be said that solutions for this negative perception is the first priority when

establishing a policy for expansion of Hallyu content targeting neighboring countries (Korea Foundation for

International Culture Exchange, 2017).

Government policies related to the expansion of Hallyu content could be categorized as △Expansion of

global cooperation channel for cultural content and△Promotion of international exchange of cultural content.

The former aims to strengthen the network of government, content industry, and related institutions through

activities such as operating consultative bodies between governments (e.g. Korea-EU Culture Cooperation

Committee) and hosting the Korea-Japan-China Forum and Asia Summit International Contents Conference,

according to the conclusion of Korea-EU FTA and culture industry cooperation MOU between governments.

Since the inauguration of the current government, the 2018 budget proposal included a new fund for overseas

job fair business. This project aims to create overseas employment for domestic content professionals

(animators, web designers, CG designers, game planners, etc.) and strengthen the foundation for overseas

expansion by linking overseas buyers by inviting Korean content companies as well as concerned Korean

parties across the border.

The latter consists of interactive cultural exchange with major programs such as international video

content exchange and interactive cultural exchange events, research projects to analyze Hallyu trends, and

overseas social responsibility projects jointly implemented by the government and private sector. The

purpose of the project is positive: it aims to resolve anti-Korea sentiments by promoting the airing of quality

overseas content in Korea and providing broadcasting rights of K-Drama free of charge to Hallyu market

pioneering countries, as well as build a friendly environment for Hallyu content expansion through

interactive cultural exchange between regions where Hallyu is spreading. However, Hallyu culture exchange

events are only supported in 1 region per year, and there are hardly any interactive, joint projects on cultural

content exchange such as joint productions. Looking at the area of culture industry alone, there are hardly

any other international exchanges besides dramas or movies, even though content genres have been

segmented in a variety of categories. In areas more closely associated with fine arts, such as performances,

visual art, and traditional culture, various entities such as affiliates and sub-institutions of the Ministry of

Culture, Sports, and Tourism as well as private institutions are implementing international exchange projects.

This situation, in which the international exchange of cultural content is so marginal, leaves doubt on

whether “cultural exchange” through cultural content is possible at all, considering the fact that the cultural

content industry based on popular culture is not only an economic and industrial power but has huge

emotional influence on people of other countries as well.

Meanwhile, the “Didimdol Community Building” project, which is a part of the interactive culture

exchange projects, sponsors the activities of overseas Hallyu communities that are home to heavy consumers

of Hallyu content. It aims to maintain continuous interest in Hallyu and solve the anti-Hallyu sentiment

within the greater China regions by inviting college newspaper reporters in those regions and Hallyu opinion

leaders from overseas and providing them opportunities to experience Hallyu content. Considering that the

past Hallyu-related policy focused on the “Push-strategy,” including export of Hallyu mainly led by the

government, caused the unintended effect of anti-Hallyu sentiment and exclusivism of the target countries,

the importance of “Pull-strategy” which aims to enhance the local perception of Hallyu and the related

environment is greater than ever. Because the Korean government’s decision to deploy THAAD in July 2016

and the current government’s gesture of appeasement toward North Korea have been fortifying anti-Korean

sentiment in China and Japan, policies aim to maintain a positive attitude within the target population. The

Hallyu opinion leaders in those countries also have a reasonably positive opinion of Korea. Looking at the

details of the interactive culture exchange project or Hallyu community building project, however, it seems

that the actual content of exchange mainly consists of Hallyu content in the forms of performances,

exhibitions, reports, and touring, rather than true interactive activities. Therefore, the need for the so-called

“Good Hallyu” discussed below has become even more important.

Projects aiming to set a foundation for Hallyu not restricted by borders in the forms of ODA (Official

Development Assistance) have existed in the past, but the “Good Hallyu” program sponsored by the Korean

government and started in 2012 is different in that it leads the social responsibility of enterprises through

Korean companies in the overseas market and activates international culture exchange through the private

sectors. Numerous companies from various industries have participated in this program, including not only

leading Korean content-producing companies such as CJ E&M, Mujoo YG Foundation, and SM

Entertainment, but also construction and service-related companies such as POSCO E and C. This program is

different from existing interactive culture exchange projects in that the Korean government and companies

don’t just provide materials and human assets, but they also actively promote the participation of local

communities and try to achieve mutual growth. Examples of this program include POSCO E and C’s support

for building multimedia rooms in schools and public institutions in Thailand and Uzbekistan (2015), hosting

Hallyu cultural classes and donating educational equipment for children in culturally isolated areas (Sechuan

in 2016, Nanjing in 2017), and inviting social and economic minority groups (such as aborigines, immigrants,

and the disabled) from Australia and giving them the opportunity to plan and operate the “KCON” stage

(2017). Even if the results are not immediate, the “Good Hallyu” program will naturally lead to interactive

culture exchange between Korea and the targeted countries if they are based on the needs of the beneficiary

country and focused on generating mutually beneficial value. Ultimately, this project is expected to create a

virtuous circle in which people of target countries will develop a pro-Korean perception.

As part of the social contribution program of

POSCO E and C with the Korea Foundation for

International Culture Exchange in 2015, the

POSCO E and C College Student Volunteer Group

“Happy Builder” presented a Nanta performance

in Thailand.

As part of the 2017 “Good Hallyu private and

public joint cooperation project” jointly

implemented by KOFICE and CJ, K-Pop group

NCT DREAM (SM Entertainment) participated in

the “Dream Big Class” for children in culturally

isolated regions in Nanjing, China.

3. Tasks for improving the sustainability of Hallyu

So far, we have discussed the focus of the current government’s Hallyu-related policy as well as the need

for interactive culture exchange and a “Good Hallyu” program that can minimize any negative sentiment

toward Hallyu and help expand this phenomenon. Lastly, we would present some suggestions regarding

tasks that need to be tackled to maintain the status of Hallyu content, which started gaining popularity since

the mid-and late 1990s and has become the pride of the Korean people ever since.

First, the situation in which Hallyu is consumed simply as a means of marketing to support the export of

small and medium-sized enterprises should be avoided in the future. For example, projects that hired Hallyu

stars who have appeared in K-Pop and K-Drama as PR ambassadors and used them as tools for promoting

Korean products would be a major obstacle to the sustainability of Hallyu (Kim, Jae-Beom, 2016). In the

long run, the best win-win scenario would be for Hallyu and Korean products to naturally attract local people

to Korean products when they experience and consume Hallyu, or by consuming Korean products and

becoming interested in Hallyu. From this point of view, the new government has implemented a marketing

strategy for reinforcing Hallyu’s local sustainability through collaboration with “local” cultural brands,

artists, and Hallyu content when planning new Hallyu market pioneering projects scheduled for

implementation in 2018.

Second, in order to minimize the adverse effects caused by political and diplomatic issues between

countries on cultural content, collaboration or joint production between countries that to make content that is

effective should be actively implemented, rather than being obsessed with Hallyu for its own safe. In other

words, one should go beyond the traditional definition of Hallyu which indicates pop culture content made in

“Korea” for the advancement of Hallyu into the overseas market. Cultural content that can be easily absorbed

by other Asian countries should be produced to dilute the image of “Korean” content and overcome any anti-

Korean sentiment. To achieve this, the cultural content international exchange project (previously known as

“Hallyu promotion project’) whose budget and programs have been cut down by the current government

should be further strengthened so that conferences on content can evolve into the international joint

production of content.

Third, the export and import of cultural content between countries—regardless of whether it is the trade of

culture-related products or culture exchange—should be evenly balanced. For example, improving the

relationship with China should be prioritized by balancing the trade amount of culture industry between

Korean and China that has been dominated by Korean export, and by making efforts to understand the

Chinese “culture’ (Kim, Hui-jeong, 2017). As the export conditions in the Chinese market have worsened, it

is reasonable to direct policies toward diversifying the market for Hallyu content. Still, the “post-China”

strategy regarding Hallyu advancement may be misleading on some parts, particularly because China

contributes to 27% of all Hallyu content, according to the amount in 2016 (Korea Creative Content Agency,

2017), even surpassing Japan (26%). China is the largest—and still the most important and

attractive—market for Hallyu. Thus, the present challenge for the government is to focus on building the

foundation for networking so that even if the Chinese government’s regulation on Hallyu content is tightened,

the communication between Korean and Chinese culture content companies can continue and exchange in

the private sector can expand. The Korea-China Contents Fund is an example that shows the gap between a

government-led Hallyu related policy and the market. This fund was announced and pushed ahead by the

Korean government in 2015, but it received little consent by the Chinese government and funding and

experienced difficulties in appointing a local fund management company within Korea.

Fourth, another major task for the government as a facilitator for the public sector and the content industry

pursuing the advancement and expansion of Hallyu is to secure the stability of culture industry exchange.

The immediate pivot point would be whether the government can effectively negotiate deregulation, such as

the opening of the culture content market and concluding an agreement on joint broadcast production on the

successive negotiations on the Korea-China FTA service and investment field. Considering that the exchange

of pop culture between the 3 major Asian countries has always been accompanied by political tension, it is

necessary to admit the need for a “companion-like” relationship between culture and

politics/diplomacy/trade, overcoming the mindset that culture is dependent on politics or economy (or vice

versa, that culture goes beyond political barriers).

Finally, it is urgent to abolish the regulations on content which obstructs the free exchange of cultural

content between countries. The view that Korean culture is a product of a hybrid culture that has transformed

into a Korean style rather than a product with a Korean identity (Kim, Jeong-soo, 2017) is dominant. The

current government’s main tasks on regulatory reforms should be the relaxation of the online music video

classification system, which has fallen into the old system under the current situation, where the boundary of

content consumption among countries has collapsed due to the development of ICT. The government must

also mitigate the recommendation system for foreign performance artists that restricts the active influx of

foreign culture.

※ References

Kim Deok-joong, Nam Sang-hyun et al. (2017) –『Hallyu Makers』, Korea Foundation for International

Culture Exchange

Kim Jae-beom (2016) –「Task for the 20th assembly: Current issues for the policy regarding culture」,

『Korean Assembly Research Service Publication』Summer 2016, Korean Assembly Research Service

Kim Jeong-soo (2017) –『Culture Administration』, Jibmoondang

Kim Hui-jeong (2017) –「China’s ban on Hallyu and issues for the cultural content industry」,『Issue and

Focus』Issue 1264, Korean Assembly Research Service

Shim Sang-min (2017) –「Play Hallyu」, 『Causes and countermeasures for ban on Hallyu - policy seminar

sourcebook』, Korea Foundation for International Culture Exchange·The Korea Association for Cultural

Economics

Korea Foundation for International Culture Exchange (2017) –『2016-2017 Global Hallyu Status』

Korea Creative Content Agency (2017) –『2016 Content Industry Statics』

Zoom2

The problems of culture industry of Korea brought about by ”Hallyu”

commercialism

Written by Hong Seok-kyung professor of the Department of Communication of Seoul National University

The commercial success of Hallyu has made people misunderstand the Hallyu phenomenon as one of

exportation, and they think it has brought excessive commercialization and unbalance in the structure of

the culture industry. Too many indirect advertisements interfere with the storylines. Hallyu actors are

being paid a skyrocketing amount of money, and staff is being paid too little for their hard labor. One of

the best solutions for the continuation of Hallyu is to secure labor rights of people who work for Korea’s

culture industry and to harness their cultural sensitivity. What we need to do is secure the production of

high-quality products in the long term, such as support for superior production companies, rather than

implement policies that are focused on exportation and events.

At some point in time, the production of competitive content in Korea’s culture industry without the

expectation that it would be sold to a foreign market became unimaginable. This is a major change that the

Hallyu phenomenon has brought about upon Korea’s culture industry. In this article, I want to carry forward

the discussion centering on the two big genres of Hallyu, television dramas and pop music. During the period

beginning from the birth of the television drama in the early “60s and before the end of the “90s, when

Korean dramas began to become popular in neighboring East Asian countries, Korean television dramas

were purely for the domestic market. Ratings during the airings of a drama directly influenced the cost of

television advertisements airing before and after the airing of the drama, and the result either pleased

broadcasters or didn’t. Thus, the production and broadcasting system developed in such a way to directly

reflect the tastes of the domestic audience. This system was a labor-intensive process through which a drama

was produced while the producers simultaneously observed the ratings during its airing. Amidst this fierce

competition, the three terrestrial channels fought a ratings war by producing similar programs airing during

the same time slot. The conventions of genres that could be recognized as particularly Korean, such as

romantic comedy and historical drama, developed here. Even during this period, drama production was

labor-intensive: writers were hospitalized due to overwork and staff members would work nights without

sleep. From a larger perspective, however, this was fair competition that took place among players of

comparable size. This system of competition produced high-quality dramas, and the first generation of the

Hallyu phenomenon was a blessing to Korea’s broadcasting history.

1. Industrialism and commercialism as a result of the Hallyu phenomenon

Due to the Hallyu phenomenon, markets began to appear outside the national borders, and the fees for

Hallyu stars rose drastically. As this new situation brought about a outsourcing system, the broadcasting

production industry started to become more complex. As is already well known, the issues of unfair contracts

with copyright and production costs related to the broadcasting company and the outsourcing company have

been brought forward. As the star performer's fees sharply rose due to the birth of Hallyu stars, outsourcing

companies would suffer from a continuous lack of production cost, and there have been tragic events of

unpaid appraisals. In order to cope with the shortage of production costs, independent producers had to lean

on the two methods of “indirect advertisements” and “enthusiastic labor.” Permission was given for indirect

advertisement in exchange for production costs, and this was taken for granted by the market demand. In

order to raise indirect advertising revenue, active indirect advertising, which not only exposes products to

dramas but also intervenes in storylines, developed. Logos and figures of the products used to be naturally

exposed in the drama, but now these products began to be referred directly in conversations by the characters

and are directly used in situations in dramas. Consider the close-up of a busy nurse who takes a shower in the

daylight (the advertisement of a shampoo brand for which an actress in <Doctors> serves as an

advertisement model). There is also a scene in which the main characters of a drama have a dish fight and

fold towels gently, thereby provoking each other’s jealousy. It was ostensibly used to portray the

relationships among two male protagonists and a female protagonist (the dish and the towel advertisement in

<Goblin>), but it was also an indirect ad. Indirect advertising is considered to be an opportunity to expose

products and increase exports at the cost of small advertising expenditures by small and medium-sized

companies seeking to enter the overseas market through Hallyu dramas. This is how Hallyu dramas and

commercial interests now work together.

A shampoo advertisement scene in <Doctors>

(Source: Screen capture from SBS broadcast

A towel advertisement scene in <Goblin>

(Source: Screen capture from tvN broadcast)

This commercial tendency in Korean dramas is regarded as one of the characteristics of the Korean drama

and is subject to the cynical criticism of Hallyu fans and foreign media.

The world of the Korean drama is not just about working and loving, arguing and loving, and investigating

and loving. Surgery patients also eat sandwiches, and many people use similar large refrigerators and air

conditioners.1 However, government and public authorities may not overlook product advertisement (PPL:

product placement) in countries where indirect advertising is prohibited. This is a problem for the Korean

drama, which is becoming more explicit in its indirect advertising. In the case of France, American dramas

need to erase all product logos before they can be broadcast. If it were a Korean drama, re-editing would

probably be required. If <Goblin> were broadcast in a European country where indirect advertising is

prohibited, then viewers would miss out on various scenes.

To what extent will the viewers at home and abroad tolerate PPL intervention? Even Korean viewers who

are accustomed to product exposure complain through SNS. It is expected that the viewers of other

developed countries who are familiar with programs without PPL will also be as resistant as Korean viewers

to the entry of ads in a fictional space as much.

Such commerciality of the drama world is not a natural part of the world of drama: it is the product of the

pursuit of industrial profit arising from broadcast production following the market logic. While the

broadcasting market is getting bigger, both the broadcasters and the producers, which are the main players of

the industry, have been complaining about management difficulties. Regulation has been eased in the way of

lowering the production cost pressure so that these management difficulties could be solved. As long as

broadcasters are dependent on copyright and direct advertising revenue, and independent producers are only

concerned about production costs and getting indirect advertising from broadcasters, this problem will not be

solved. The larger the pie of Hallyu, the higher the star's performance fee will be, and the problems described

above will continue. In addition, internet broadcasting and new platform operators are emerging in the

broadcasting market. Programs for certain target audiences will be produced, attracting a lot of broadcasting

ads. Thus, the rate of ad sales of existing broadcasters is lower than that of the 1997 IMF. Although the

overall Hallyu market is growing bigger and bigger, the broadcasters and the producers still suffer from

management troubles, and the vicious cycle in which the drama world is getting polluted by excessive

indirect advertising continues.

2. Passionate laborers as victims of industrialism

Passionate, low-income workers are often overlooked on the balance sheet for the Korean drama industry.

The broadcaster already only allows a limited production fee, and stars’ fees are skyrocketing: this means

that the other performers and staff must produce the drama on a limited budget. Even so, Hallyu is increasing

the sales of the Korean cultural industry as a whole. Universities are now offering majors related to theater,

film, musical, screenwriting, practical music, and broadcasting production, and there are Hallyu-related

1 Moon Yeong-su, "[National Administration Plan] Cultivating Hallyu Exports with Cultural Content,” 『iNews

24』, 2017.7.19

graduate schools. 2 Many young people who want to achieve their dreams in the cultural industry are

saturating the market. Such young workers in the cultural industry are not gaining enough attention,

compared to the aspiring idols and trainees who roam around entertainment companies. There are also many

idol groups and trainees who are forced to enter unfair contracts with entertainment companies. Low-income

staff or non-income interns working on site also endure cold and hungry days, believing that they can

someday play an important role in this industry. Behind the brilliant slogans of the creative industry are

unstable jobs and unfair working conditions that are bad enough to drive a full-time PD to suicide. To

produce a television program, extreme overwork, enthusiastic labor, emotional labor, and unprotected work

continue.

As idol music has become the main trend of Korean pop culture, the power of the agency, a new

intermediary in the Korean cultural industry, has greatly expanded in the world of popular music. Such

agencies have adopted some practices of the Japanese idol systems, but they have evolved to produce

something that is distinctly Korean, creating idols that are more competitive and capable of high-quality

performances. The reason for the growing power of these agencies is that the K-Pop genre has grown due to

the cross-industrial development between the fandom of the idol groups and various sectors of the Hallyu

culture industry. The agencies are now working on filmmaking, involving actors and performers from

various fields. In addition, they are developing into multi-entertainment companies as they produce and

broadcast star-studded content through Internet multi-channel networks. One agency, like an existing, small

broadcasting company, is dependent on its own workforce (entertainment workers, production manpower)

for its planning ability, programming ability, and production ability. In addition, several large agencies have

developed a variety of derivatives, including restaurants, using K-Pop and idol stars as part of its content.

They are making the most of fans’ purchasing power. It’s impossible to be a K-Pop fan without a certain

amount of purchasing power, which you will realize as soon as you go to an idol group performance or visit

a huge SM town. From albums produced by each member of an idol group to every kind of consumer

product promoted by an idol star, there is a vast amount of available commodities that are somehow related

to these idols. While we cannot criticize the byproduct strategy itself in this capitalist cultural industry

system, we cannot overlook the fact that the main consumer is young. A large number of white audience

members in K-Pop performances and KCON events in North America and Europe are likely to create a

problem of purchasing power, rather than racial distribution in the fandom. Since K-Pop fandom is still in its

early formative stages, overseas fanatics are demanding more K-Pop products and content. But if the

agencies and broadcasters become overly concerned about their commercial interests, they are likely to be

criticized by world fans. It should not be forgotten that Hallyu is not an export phenomenon but one of

voluntary acceptance that is centered on the positive power and attractiveness of Hallyu content.

2 Used the news big data program “BIGKINDS” of Korea Press Foundation.

SM Entertainment “SM TOWN” is a 6-story

enter-mall, where you can view SM star-related

content and purchase idol goods. (source :

SMTOWN@coexartium)

Fans waiting in line in front of a pop-up store

selling idol group Wanna One-goods (Source:

Lotte Department Store)

3. Hallyu is not an export phenomenon but an acceptance phenomenon. The quality of the

work is the most important factor.

The industrial approach to Hallyu and the resulting over-commercialization make us overlook that the

Hallyu phenomenon is not an export phenomenon but an acceptance phenomenon. As a result, when the

growth curve of Hallyu export slows down, the rumors of a Hallyu crisis emerge. This wrongly assumes that

Hallyu is the result of the Hallyu product market. Cultural policy makers and practitioners need to clearly

recognize that Hallyu is not an export phenomenon but an acceptance phenomenon, despite the importance

of foreign markets. Hallyu is not a result of special export activities and export support policies but a

phenomenon that is generated, maintained, and spread through voluntary acceptance. It is easy to confuse

Hallyu with the export activities of general merchandise because Hallyu has made the possibility of

exporting new culture goods and products quite evident. However, the cultural realm operates on a different

logic from commodity exports. It is a more dynamic area in which values and identities, aesthetic sense,

history, common experiences, and power relationships intervene. External factors such as THAAD and some

negative sentiment in Japan may disrupt the acceptance of Hallyu. More crucially, if the fans of the countries

that love Hallyu no longer prefer the products of the Korean cultural industry for any reason, then Hallyu

would definitely be over.

In the case of East Asia where the Hallyu phenomenon first appeared, the broadcasting program market

mediated the distribution of Korean programs. However, distribution outside of East Asia was done through

the Internet, and this was achieved through the voluntary acceptance of consumers from all over the world

without intervention by any institutionalized media or intermediaries. The voluntary, participatory, and

productive fan culture in the world brought about by the digital culture has begun to actively export the

products of East Asia to the outside world. The cultural products of Korea were then widely consumed as a

representative of the trendy contemporary East Asian popular culture. Early fans of Hallyu invested time and

effort in making subtitles in English or in other languages for dramas and entertainment programs so that

they could introduce their beloved content to their contemporaries.

In addition, fans uploaded K-Pop reaction videos, flash mobs and cover dancing videos on YouTube,

thereby expanding K-Pop's popularity. This is not a result of any cultural export support or planning.

Although we may acknowledge that the Korean government's cultural policies and support have helped the

development of the cultural industry, the government has hardly contributed to the Hallyu craze. In the end,

the Hallyu phenomenon will continue as long as the Korean cultural industry produces high-quality content,

regardless of the increase or decrease in overseas sales of Hallyu due to changes in political situation, such as

THAAD or anti-Korean sentiment.

European fans' flash mobs protest in front of the

Louvre in Paris to increase K-Pop performances

(Source: www.louisien.com)

BoA music video reaction video uploaded by a

foreigner to YouTube (Source: YouTube Shane’s

K-Pop Videos)

The biggest crisis for Hallyu's continuation and proliferation will come when Hallyu content cannot be

diversified, remains stuck the past successes of idol culture or romantic comedies, or adheres to the star

system and the immediate commercial profit that results from it. A crisis to Hallyu will also come when

Korean pop culture, which appears to be exotic, attractive, and alternative, no longer offers anything new to

foreigners. At this time, the enthusiasm of the Hallyu fans will shift to other competitive cultural providers.

Consider the case of Hong Kong popular culture and Japanese pop culture that preceded Hallyu. The biggest

obstacles to maintaining and spreading Hallyu are what I have explained at length in this article: excessive

commercialism, the excessive pursuit of secondary commercial interests using Hallyu content, the inhumane

labor realities of cultural industry workers, and quality degradation of the programs. Let me take it a step

further. As shown in several cases, there has been a lack of awareness of racial and minority discrimination

among Korean entertainment industry workers. There are various conflicts, misunderstandings, and antipathy

due to a lack of understanding about multiculturalism. These factors can also be obstacles in spreading

Hallyu.

4. From culture export policy to cultural industry development policy

There needs to be a paradigm shift. In order for the Republic of Korea to continuously communicate with

the world through the Hallyu phenomenon and to expand its presence in the world at the public (national)

and the private (as Koreans) level, we should not take an industrial approach to Hallyu. Hallyu should be

removed from economic interests and approached for its cultural appeal. To this end, the Hallyu policy

should deviate from the export support policy. We need to change the principles and direction of public

support and re-establish our goals so that the structure of Korean pop culture can be improved in a healthier

way. South Korea, which has gained presence in the world through rapid economic growth, tends to support

the subjects and fields that are likely to quickly become "winners." For example, the Korean government is

keen on raising the number of medals in the Olympics by supporting national players who are likely to win

medals rather than supporting the people's sporting activities and sports education. In addition, it attaches

greater importance to promoting the Nobel Prize-winning project for renowned writers than in creating

infrastructure and environments that provide support for the leisure and reading activities of citizens improve

the reading education curriculum.

We need to acknowledge that culture is not an investment that brings quick results. The reason why

Korean popular culture flourished in the “90s was because of the accumulation of educational and cultural

capacity throughout the “70s and “80s finally created results after meeting with democratization. In the early

2000s, Korean dramas became the representative drama of East Asia as a result of the competition and

human investment of Korean terrestrial broadcasters over 30 years. Hallyu is good news that shows that

Korea has achieved not only economic development and political democratization but also cultural

development.

In the arts as well as popular culture, Koreans have gained a strong presence in the world. Korea has

enough reasons to have confidence in its own cultural capabilities. It no longer needs to prove its ability by

any rank or prize to the world anymore. Instead, now is the time to focus on the internal workings of the arts

and popular culture.

We require a transition in thinking when it comes to policy regarding the Hallyu field. In order to ensure

the quality level of the Korean cultural industry over the long term, it is necessary to ensure that the industry

improves its rules at various levels so that lower level talent don’t need to be sacrificed, rather than solely

focusing on supporting the production and overseas promotion activities of producers who are able to create

exportable content. It is also necessary to focus on improving production conditions and working conditions.

In order to ensure that the cultural industry workers, that is, broadcasting companies, outsourcing producers,

agency companies, producers, and entertainment workers, as well as media conglomerates—who are

currently playing an unfair power game—become beneficiaries of a fair industry, we must develop policies

that protect the weak and make the benefits for all beneficiaries widespread throughout the cultural industry.

We must take fundamental measures to improve the conditions of work and life for many passionate workers

who are not legally protected. We need active policy developments, such as rules and regulations on labor

contracts and wages that will provide the 4 major types of insurance for employees, incentives for companies

that have provided these employee benefits, and rules that make it so that production cost pressures from

employing a few star performers do not affect the labor costs, and a money circulation system.

This does not mean that support for drama export activities is not necessary. We do need support for the

overseas promotion and exportation of Hallyu content. Moreover, there are business areas that are difficult

for individual providers, who inevitably focus on short-term profits, to carry out, such as making good-

quality foreign subtitles for drama DVDs. We need to focus on long-term and systematic support for such

people. In this way, we need to look beyond the problems that need to be immediately addressed in the

Hallyu industry and see the big picture. It is necessary to establish a long-term policy so that the broadcast

and cultural industries, which have become advertising playgrounds as the advertising market has been

reorganized with the advent of new operators, will be able to develop in a balanced manner. Culture industry

policies can sometimes be applied passively, spontaneously changing the regulations according to the

difficulties that businesses face. A cultural and economic approach is also needed in regard to the broader

domain of the culture industry.

Bigdata Review Analysis of media reports on Hallyu policy issues by

regime

Written by Park Kyong-jin Korea Foundation for International Culture Exchange Research Center Researcher

The new government, which officially launched in May 2017, set a target of a 6% increase in Hallyu

exports pursuant to the “Five Year Plan for the Moon Government Administration.” To this end, the

government announced that it would expand the cultural content export market and the joint industry by

realizing “interactive cultural exchange” and “good Hallyu.” 3 In fact, the necessity of “interactive culture

exchange” as an alternative to the anti-Korean sentiment that has been caused by one-way cultural export has

been continuously emphasized in public and academic circles. However, due to the nature of cultural

exchange that is vulnerable to visible and short-term results, the importance of interactive exchange and

good Hallyu has not been widely accepted by policy-makers and media. In fact, the degree of association

between “Hallyu” and “interactive exchange” seen through Big Data media was very low. In this article, I

used the keywords “Hallyu” and “Policy” to analyze how the Hallyu policy has been reported and issued

through the media.4

First, I looked at the origins of the term “Hallyu,” which started overseas, to set up the period of Big Data

media analysis. The term “Hallyu” was coined in 2000 to report on the popularity of Korean popular music

in the Chinese newspapers "Beijing Manbo (北京晩報)", "Beijing Daily (北京日報)" and "Beijing Youth

Manbo (北京靑年報).” Domestic media began to introduce this expression from Chinese media in the same

year. Scholars in academia say that the term “Hallyu” was first officially used in Korea in 1999, when the

Korean Ministry of Culture distributed the album titled “韓流-Song from Korea” to promote Korea's popular

songs to China.5 As such, the term “Hallyu” was first introduced in the year 2000, and the domestic media

introduced Hallyu in the Chinese territory as “a trend for Korean style.” In addition, the domestic media

reported that Hallyu is not just about interest in Korean culture, but it also raises the image of Korean

products and increases the sales of such products.6 It referred to the press coverage of the Chinese media on

the activities of first-generation Korean stars such as HOT, NRG, and Ahn Jae-wook, expressing amazement

3 Jang, Gyu-soo (2011), 「A Study on the Etymology and Usage of Korean Wave」, 『The Journal of the Korea

Content Association』 vol.11, no. 9

4 Jang Kyung-duk, “21C Keywords is ‘Culture’,” 『Maeil Business』, 2001.1.10

5 Yoon Deok-no, “Hallyu Blowing in Beijing Again,” 『Maeil Business』, 2000.7.10

6 Today’s Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism. I wrote the government ministry names including the

Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism according to their names at each period.

at how Hallyu has proven the power of the culture industry.7 In particular, the domestic media focused on

the boom in Hallyu that began to spread in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Vietnam. In 2001, in recognition

of its influence, the Kim Dae-jung government began to make policy regarding the term “Hallyu.” Due to the

continuous Hallyu wave, the Korean government has been using Hallyu as a policy term until recently.

For the purpose of this analysis, I set my analysis period and target based on media materials that include

both keywords “Hallyu” and “policy,” released from the Kim Dae-jung administration, where “Hallyu”

began to be officially used as a policy term, to the Park Keun-hye administration (February 25, 1998 - March

10, 2017). The policies referring to Hallyu were differentiated according to the international issues and

policies of each regime in each period. Although the content of the policy referring to Hallyu is different, the

amount of related media reports has continuously increased, as can be seen from the graph above.

In 2000, as the term “Hallyu” became known to the public through media reports in Korea, the amount of

“Hallyu” issues related to “policy” gradually increased. In 2005, when the Roh Moo-hyun government was

in power, there were 579 media reports, more than double from the previous year. Since then, there have

been 441 cases in 2010, 1,135 cases in 2011, and 1,584 cases in 2012, when the Lee Myung-bak government

was in power, indicating a large increase of more than three times in three years. Since 2012, the volume of

media reports has steadily increased. Regarding the media reports mentioning “Hallyu” and “policy,” I

divided the timing based on the launch of each government in order to analyze the detailed issue changes of

Big Data. I looked at related keywords and relevant reports from the Kim Dae Jung government to the Park

Geun Hye government.

1. The Kim Dae-jung Government: February 25, 1998 - February 24, 2003

China's entry into the WTO, expansion of exports by “Hallyu”

Prior to China joining the WTO in November 2001, new policies began to be reviewed by each ministry

on how to handle China, which would soon be incorporated into the global capitalist market. At this time, the

term “Hallyu” was very useful, as it was referred as a step of economic growth that can have a ripple effect

in other industries besides the culture industry. At the time, the Ministry of Finance and Economy said, "As

part of the strategy to overcome sluggish exports, ministries such as the Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and

Energy have decided to make full use of the ‘Hallyu craze’ in China, as China has entered WTO and there

will also be the Beijing Olympics in 2008.” The Ministry of Culture and Tourism 8 came up with ideas to

utilize Hallyu in more diverse ways. Considering that sales of Korean products such as apparel, cosmetics,

7 Song Se-yeong, "China announces change in its aggressive trade methods ... Using Hallyu as much as

possible for exportation,” "『Kookmin Ilbo』, 2001.8.8

8 Hwang Gook-seong, "Ministry of Culture and Tourism supports Hallyu related cultural exportation,” 『Maeil

Business』, 2001.8.28

and electronic communication devices were rapidly increasing due to the Hallyu craze, they announced that

they will hold overseas investment roadshows in China or establish a Korean culture center to strengthen the

export support system for Korean products. They also said that they plan to develop tourist products using

the Hallyu craze to attract Chinese tourists.9

"Hallyu Culture Industry" policy centering on China

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced a plan to foster the "Hallyu Industry" to support the

Hallyu craze at the national level for the continuation and spread of Hallyu. "We need to maintain and

develop the quality of our cultural content for the sustainable and proliferation of Hallyu," said Kim Han-kil,

the minister of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, in 2001. "We plan to expand the award system and

advance support system for excellent public performances, music. and videos."10 He said the ministry would

organize and run the “Asia Cultural Exchange Council” to prevent no-show performances and low-quality

content from being integrated into Hallyu and being indiscriminately exported abroad. In 2000, the Chinese

government announced that it would sanction Korean singers' performances immediately after the accident

broke out in which Korean singers canceled their Chinese performances on the day.11 Externally, the Korean

government tried to communicate with the Chinese government so as to lift sanctions on Korean singers’

performances.12 Internally, the Korean government regarded this as a case of a loss of national credibility in

the cultural exchange between the two countries, and decided to form the Asia Cultural Exchange Council in

order to prevent a reoccurrence of such an event.13 Based on the cultural policy stance of "supporting but not

interfering," the Ministry of Culture and Tourism intended to "focus on solving the difficulties that the

industry faces and releasing institutional limitations, rather than directly resorting to government

intervention" for the sustainability and proliferation of the Hallyu industry.14

Apart from this, the ministry announced plans to build a Hallyu infrastructure at home and abroad. They

announced that they were planning to dispatch cultural centers to major Chinese embassies in cities such as

9 Kim Hwa-young, “Presentation of the Korean Cultural Industry Promotion Policy,” 『 The Korean Economy 』,

2001.8.28

10 Heo-yeop, "Sanctions on Korean singers’ performance in China will be lifted from next month,” 『 Dong-A

Ilbo 』, 2001.3.13

11 Lee, Kwang-hyong, “The Ministry of Culture initiates investigation on fraud related to singers’

performances in China ,” 『 Kookmin Ilbo 』, 2000.10.4

12 Lee Kwang-pyo, “The Formation of Asian Cultural Exchange Cooperation ... Ministry of Culture Announces

‘Korean Industry Promotion Plan’” 『 Dong-A Ilbo 』, 2001.8.28

13 Jeon Ji-hyeon, “Korean Drama Hits the Japanese Archipelago,” 『 Maeil Business 』, 2003.4.17

14 Choi, Jin-hwan, “Effects of Opening Up to Japanese Pop Culture and the Countermeasures/ New Wave of

Animation • Video is shocking,” 『 The Korea Times 』, 2003.9.17

Beijing and Shanghai to provide local market information to the industry and to set up overseas offices of the

Korea Culture and Content Agency (now the Korea Creative Content Agency). They also emphasized that

they would establish Hallyu experience centers in major cities like Beijing and Shanghai so that the local

general public can get to know Korean pop culture. Joint events such as the Korea and China Youth Music

Festival were considered. Furthermore, the ministry announced plans to create a Hallyu mecca inside Korea

so that foreign tourists can experience Hallyu in a special tourism area. As such, the priority of the

government's initial policy approach to Hallyu was to alleviate external regulation that cannot be solved by

the private sector and to operate culture industry-related organizations to prevent indiscriminate Hallyu

content from entering the overseas market. In particular, the policy was geographically implemented in

China for the most part, and the government tried to build a basic infrastructure to facilitate local access to

the Korean cultural industry. Since then, “China” has been used in all the periods as an important keyword

related to “Hallyu” and “policy.”

2. The Roh Moo-hyun Government: February 25, 2003 - February 24, 2008

Opening of Japanese popular culture as a result of “Hallyu” competitiveness

With the popularity of Korean cultural content and its related stars, Hallyu in Asia started to become a

sustainable popular culture, not a fad. Domestic media focused on the popularity of <Winter Sonata>, which

gave birth to “Yon Sama” syndrome in Japan. The media noted that Korean dramas, which used to copy

Japanese dramas in the past, now have enough competitiveness to lead the trends in Japanese households.15

Naturally, “Winter Sonata,” “Bae Yong-joon” and “Competitiveness” emerged as keywords in this period.

The Hallyu boom in Japan, which was represented by the popularity of BoA, who ranked No. 1 on the

Japanese Oricon album chart, and the popularity of <Winter Sonata>, gave a boost to the government's

policy of opening up to Japan's popular culture.

The government's policy of opening up to Japanese popular culture has been implemented step by step

since 1998, when President Kim Dae Jung took office. After the third opening in 2000, the government set

up a policy of “complete opening before 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup.” However, this policy was nullified

in July 2001 because of the controversy related to Japanese middle school history textbooks. However, as a

great deal of Korean cultural content became popular in Japan in 2003, the government resumed the 4th

opening to Japanese popular culture that had been held for a while. As the competitiveness of our popular

culture was getting stronger through Hallyu, it was the government's view that the opening to Japanese

culture was not a cause for concern.16 According to a report released by the Korea Tourism Policy Institute

15 Park Hyun-jung, “The Fourth Opening Up to Japanese Culture... Expressing Confidence in Broadcasting,

Positive Evaluation on Animation Protection,” 『 Digital Times 』, 2003.12.31

16 Seo Han-ki, “Interview with Minister of Culture Chang-dong Lee,” 『 Yonhap News 』, 2003.9.16

(now the Korea Culture Tourism Agency), the import of Japanese broadcasting programs in 2000, just after

the third opening to Japanese pop culture, was $2.73 million, but it decreased to $1.63 million in 2001. On

the other hand, the revenue of exported Korean broadcasting programs in Japan had doubled from $1.18

million (2001) to $2.31 million (2002). The media also predicted that the opening to Japanese culture would

have a positive effect on exporting Korean films, TV dramas, and popular singers to Japan. 17 Lee Chang-

dong, Minister of Culture and Tourism, at the press conference held in September 2003 , announced the

confirmation of the fourth opening-up to Japanese pop culture: "In response to the trends of information and

globalization, and for active cultural exchanges between Korea and Japan, we decided to boldly open up to

Japanese movies, music, and games, though broadcasting programs and theatrical animation films are

excluded."18 Since then, Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi's visits to shrines and China's distorted history of

Goguryeo have caused historical problems related to Japan and China. However, Lee Chang-dong stated,

“"The greater the tension, the more we need to expand exchanges to promote understanding between the two

countries and broaden the scope of cultural openness," making known his position that Hallyu can be a way

of solving historical issues with Japan and China through cultural exchange.

Policy for sustaining Hallyu through mutual cultural exchange: Establishment of “Asia Culture

Industry Exchange Foundation”

In 2004, the Asian Cultural Industry Exchange Foundation appeared as a related keyword. This was a

period when Hallyu was spreading in Asia, in nations such as China, Japan, Hong Kong, and Vietnam. At the

same time, anti-Korean sentiment was becoming a social problem. In this social atmosphere, it became

necessary to expand mutual cultural exchange with the countries where Hallyu proliferated. The consensus

was that there needed to be a window for exchange and cooperation between the private sectors. The

Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced that, "Hallyu has been popular, but there have been many

difficulties because windows for private cooperation were not unified. The government will continue to do

business at the government level, but we will unify these windows in the Asian Cultural Industry Exchange

Foundation."19

The Asian Cultural Industry Exchange Foundation started its official activities with the founding ceremony

in January 2004. Its first president Shin Hyun-taek said that he would move away from the existing one-

sided culture propagation system in order to create a new cultural cooperation window so that different

nations can acknowledge each other's culture. He said this was a way of responding to anti-Korean sentiment

that had arisen behind the Hallyu craze. He also announced the plan to initiate cultural exchange with 9 East

17 Kang Dong-ho, “Overcoming history issues in Japan and China through culture exchange,” 『Seoul

Economy』, 2004.1.7

18 Jeong Cheol-jin, “Hallyu fever as a window between cultures,” 『Maeil Business』, 2004.1.19

19 Jang Yoo-kin, “Hallyu's economic effect amounts to 4.5 trillion won,” 『Naeil News』, 2005.3.15

Asian nations, apart from Japan and China. For the concrete implementation, the organization held cultural

exchange events such as “Asian Song Festival” and conducted surveys on the Hallyu phenomenon and

Hallyu consumers in Asia. 20 The organization also commissioned the Korea Institute for Industrial

Economics and Trade to study the economic effects of Hallyu. In 2005, it provided specific statistics related

to the economic effect of Hallyu for the first time, announcing that Hallyu's economic effect amounted to 4.5

trillion won.21

The Asian Cultural Industry Exchange Foundation changed its name to "International Cultural Industry

Exchange Foundation" in 2006 to expand the range of private cultural exchanges confined to Asia.22 Since

the foundation of the Asia Culture Industry Exchange Foundation, the government has been able to

implement its policy of continuing Hallyu through mutual cultural exchange and cooperation.

3. The Lee Myung-bak Government: February 25, 2008 - February 24, 2013

The New Hallyu Policy Centering on “K-Pop”

The Hallyu boom, centering on the broadcasting platform, entered a new phase as cultural content

distribution spread to online platforms. Hallyu, which was mainly composed of drama sales in Asia, began to

spread around the internet. Through the internet platforms such as YouTube and SNS, Hallyu has spread

beyond Asia and to the world, and “K-Pop” provided much of the hit content for Hallyu. UCC videos of

European and South American K-Pop fans following the dances and songs of Girls' Generation, Shinee, and

TVXQ have been shared throughout the internet. In addition, foreign fans' K-Pop flash mobs were performed

in local areas, demonstrating new type of fandom culture. With PSY's “Gangnam Style” in 2012, the K-Pop

craze reached its peak. With the change in the way of Hallyu spreading out and the replacement of major hit

content, this period is distinguished as the so-called "New Hallyu" period.

During this period, “policy” related reports in which “Hallyu” is mentioned showed the highest increase in

their numbers, and “K-Pop” emerged as the most important keyword related to the issue. If you look at the

related articles, you can see that Hallyu-related policies have been re-powered by K-Pop. The “Gaon Chart,”

which compiles Korean pop music charts, was launched in 2010 in accordance with the "Mid-term Plan for

the Music Industry" announced by the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism in February 2009. The Gaon

chart, sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, is run by the Korean Music Content

20 In 2009, it changed its name to "Korea Cultural Industry Exchange Foundation" and has been using it until

now.

21 Yang Seung-joon, “Will the Korean billboard chart ‘Gaon’ succeed?,” 『E-daily』, 2010.2.23

22 Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism blog, "2011 Culture Ministry people (2) Our mission is to make our

popular culture spread all over the world!,” 2016.2.15 <http://blog.naver.com/ mcstkorea/220627325106>

Industry Association and is a Korean version of the Billboard chart. For the Gaon chart, the sales volume of

the major digital sound source sites and the sales volume of the offline music albums are collected on a

weekly basis. At the opening ceremony of the Gaon Chart, Yoo In-chon, then the minister of the ministry,

said, "The Billboard of the United States and the UK's UK chart have contributed to the spread of pop music.

I hope the Gaon chart, which is fair, plays an important role in promoting K-Pop to the world.”23

In August 2011, a department dedicated to popular culture industry was established in the Ministry of

Culture, Sports, and Tourism. The Korean pop culture industry team, which was established in order to

oversee the related tasks involving popular music, entertainment industry, Hallyu, and fashion that were once

handled by various departments, especially emphasized K-Pop support. At the time of the establishment, the

Korean pop culture industry team prioritized the task of securing domestic performance facilities in order to

support the popularity of K-Pop.24

The expansion policy from “K-Pop” to “K-Culture”

Choi Kwang-sik, Minister of the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism who took office in September

2011 after Minister Yoo In-chon, said that he wanted to be remembered as the minster of Hallyu. He

announced that he will focus on expanding Hallyu to K-Culture based on the global enthusiasm for K-Pop.25

For this purpose, in January, 2012 in the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, he initiated the “Hallyu

Cultural Promotion Advisory Group.” Afterward in April, he initiated the “Hallyu Cultural Promotion

Advisory Committee,” which would advise the “Hallyu Cultural Promotion Advisory Group. 26 The

committee consisted of 19 experts from various fields including traditional culture, fine arts, cultural content

industry, tourism, and economy.

Choi Kwang-sik sought to develop K-Culture, which existed throughout our culture. To industrialize K-

Culture, he came up with “Hallyu 3.0” and gathered opinions. 27 He discussed with the committee the

23 “K-culture development. Engine for national development.,” 『Busan Ilbo』, 2012.1.3

24 Lee Jae-hoon “’It’s dangerous only with K-Pop.’ Launching of 3.0 Advisory Committee on Cultural

Promotion,” 『Newsis』, 2012.4.3

25 Unlike the early Korean wave, which started from the sale of broadcasting rights and centered on the

drama, Hallyu, which has spread by Web 2.0 that enabled active participation of the internet users and

collective cooperation, is referred to as Hallyu 2.0. Since then, the Lee Myung Bak administration has

started to use Hallyu 3.0 as a policy term to create a new culture by combining traditional culture with

modern culture. (Hong Seok-kyung, “[Hallyu Exploration] Let’s not make Hallyu 5.0,” 『Joongang Daily』,

2017.5.18, quotation)

26 Jeong Chun-ki, “Hallyu Cultural Promotion Advisory Committee Launched,” 『Yonhap News』, 2012.4.3

27 Cho Min-sun, “The world in ‘K-CULTURE’ shock... K-Pop, K-Classic, K-Ballet, K-Drama,” 『Herald Economy』,

2011.7.11

direction of policies such as “creative development of traditional culture” and “development of Korean

culture and art with the world,” which was first mentioned in the inaugural address of President Lee Myung-

bak. They also discussed the “industrialization development plan for Hallyu.”28

Beginning from this period when, the government started emphasizing the term “K-Culture,” the letter “K”

began to be officially used in multiple ways in the industry. As a result of big data analysis, I found out that

“K-beauty” has been a hot topic in the cosmetics industry since 2012, and “Korean drama” is now more

popularly known as “K-Drama.” K-Musical, K-Fashion, K-Classic, K-Ballet29 , and even K-Healing30 have

emerged, indicating how popular the usage of K is.

4. The Park Geun-hye Government: February 25, 2013 - March 10, 2017

Government-private Joint Hallyu Policy: From “Hallyu 3.0 Committee" to “Hallyu Planning

Committee”

The new government announced “creative economy” as a paradigm of state administration and “cultural

prosperity” as the key to achieving it. These two keywords appeared as related analysis terms for “policy”

related to “Hallyu” at this time. The government pointed out that the successes of Korean shows abroad are

examples of the creation economy, referring to the popularity of Hallyu broadcast content in China such as

"The Descendants of the Sun," "I Am a Singer," and "Where is My Father.” The government emphasized that

the export of Hallyu content can improve the image of Korea, and will also have a big impact on promoting

exports of related businesses such as tourism, beauty, home appliances, and medical care. The government

also emphasized that the government and the private sector must work together so that the Hallyu content

can expand beyond Asia and into the world and continue to develop into a mainstream culture, not a

temporary one.31

The government reorganized Hallyu-related organizations for public-private cooperation. Firstly,

following the previous government to concretely realize “Hallyu 3.0,” the government organized the “Hallyu

3.0 Committee” to hear the opinions of experts from academia, private, and the government and collect

policy proposals. The Korea Foundation for Cultural Industries Exchange, which has been functioning as a

specialist organization for Hallyu since 2003 under the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, hosted the

28 Lee Jin-yong, “New ‘K-healing’ of Hallyu arises” 『Herald Economy』, 2012.8.29

29 Jeong In-hong, “President Park, know-where is more important than know-how,” 『Financial News』, 2014.2.17,

Lee Gwang-bin, “President Park praises ‘The Descendants of the Sun’,” 『Yonhap News』, 2016.3.21

30 Kim Kyoon-mi, “Hallyu 3.0 Committee Launches ...The First Forum Opens,” 『Seoul News』, 2014.3.20

31 O Mi-hwan, “‘Hallyu 3.0’: Through growing competitiveness, the government seeks to expand the cultural

domain,” 『Hankook Ilbo』, 2015.1.22

launching ceremony of the Korean Wave 3.0 Committee in April 2014, sponsored by the Ministry of Culture,

Sports, and Tourism. Choi Kwang Sik, who led Hallyu 3.0 under the last government, was offered the

position of chairman. The members of the committee consisted of 22 experts from various fields related to

Hallyu—apart from drama and music—such as fashion, tourism, Korean food, and Korean studies. 32

Afterward in March 2015, the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism decided to take the role of a

continuous Hallyu control tower by launching the "Hallyu Planning Group" jointly with the private sector in

order to expand cultural territory through Hallyu and overcome the crisis of Hallyu. The Hallyu 3.0

Committee was also adopted as a subcommittee.33 The Hallyu Planning Group has proposed Hallyu policies

that have been adaptable to the market in question, and it provided support to the private and public sectors

to implement them actively. For instance, in new Hallyu markets such as Latin America and Middle East,

there has been support for local activities, while at markets where Hallyu has long been popular, there has

been increase in surplus value through connection with consumer goods export.

Difficulty in Policy Countermeasures for Korea Ban Law

On July 8, 2016, as the decision to deploy THAAD in Korea was announced by the Ministry of Defense,

“THAAD,” “Korea Ban Law,” and “Chinese government” emerged as keywords related to the “policy”

related to “Hallyu.”

The media quickly reported the Chinese government's retaliatory measures in response to the THAAD

deployment decision, and stocks related to Hallyu businesses such as entertainment, beauty, and tourism

industry began to react sensitively. 34 In the industry, there has been proposals to build a profit structure

excluding the Chinese market or to find “the third market.” Similar opinions have arisen in the academic

circles, adding that such sanctions should have been predicted beforehand. Although the ban on Korean

products seems like a warning and threat from China as a result of South Korea's decision to deploy THAAD

on the surface, if you look deeply into it, you also see other motivations, such as protecting the nation’s own

culture and advancing its cultural content into the world market.

Although this cannot be found by the Big Data analysis, as part of governmental countermeasures, culture

industry-related government bodies are receiving companies’ reports about damage they are experiencing

related to THADD. They are also gathering experts from academia and industry to facilitate discussions on

solving the problem.

Actually, “China” as a keyword from 2001 to now has always been placed among the top keywords related

to “Hallyu” and “policy.” The ban on Korean products, as a result, has a very large impact on Hallyu. Some

32 “[Opinion]China’s ban on Korean products,” 『Maeil Economy』, 2016.11.22, Lee Eun-ji, “IBK and Amore Pacific

face troubles by the Chinese government’s sanctions… stocks going down ↓,” 『Herald Economy』, 2016.11.23

33 Ahn Jin-yong, “Korea struck by China’s sanctions… The third market needs to be found,” 『Moonhwa Ilbo』,

2016.11.21

34 Park Ki-soo, “What to learn from the ban on Korean products,” 『Seoul News』, 2016.12.6

policies have been proposed, such as diversifying the export markets and increasing competitiveness, but

until political and diplomatic solutions to ameliorate the conflict arrive, the impact of the ban on Korean

products will continue.