Over the last decades, the cultural influence of Korea has been steadily increasing. Korean cultural exports such as music, video games, movies, and TV shows have reached remarkable popularity not only in Korea itself but also far beyond its borders, notably in the United States. The process of Korean media reaching international markets is referred to as the Korean Wave or hallyu in Korean. Following its emergence, the Korean Wave has become an object of study by many scholars. The article The Korean Wave: Retrospect and Prospect by Dal Yong Jin and Tae-jin Yoon discusses the history and implications of the Korean Wave, as well as the framework and prospects of its academic study. The authors argue that as the Korean Wave has impacted the world in many ways, the studies of this phenomenon should reflect these changes and include fresh perspectives on the matter.
To expand on this point, the authors present several arguments. According to the article, over the last 20 years, the unique popularity of Korean cultural exports has affected the world by shaping the global fan culture and the interactions between cultures. Notably, the Korean Wave is shifting the image of Korea in the eyes of Western consumers. This has not gone unnoticed by the Korean government, which introduced several policies with the aim of using the prolific Korean media as a source of soft power around the globe. Therefore, the sociocultural studies of the Korean Wave are expanding and have widened their focus to reflect these developments. As per the article, the research focuses not only on the contents of the media but also on their wider implications on the world and the relationships between national and global cultures.
To explore the argument further, it seems prudent to explore the relevancy of the article (originally written in 2017) to the current state of affairs. At the moment of writing, the Korean Wave phenomenon shows no signs of waning, as Korean music, shows, and games retain their popularity with Western and Asian audiences. Consequently, the study of the Korean Wave continues to proliferate. For example, the scientific database Google Scholar offers 62,500 articles based on the “The Korean Wave” query, as well as 7,220 results based on the “hallyu” query. Based on these results, we can conclude that the Korean Wave continues to provide discussion points that intrigue scholars all over the globe. This fact echoes the point of the authors regarding the need for fresh perspectives.
I would like to agree with the article; to me, it seems logical that the growth of the Korean cultural influence feeds the sociocultural studies around it. The penetration of global markets by Korean media products inevitably produces intercultural exchange between the creators and the consumers, which provides ground for the exploration of these relationships. From my point of view, the article has successfully captured the phenomenon of the Korean Wave and its historiography at its time.
As the Korean Wave continues to dominate the current global media landscape, more authors offer their view of the enlargement of Korea’s role in the global media market and the consequences of its rising power. It is likely that other works exploring the Korean Wave will be published going forward. The article has correctly predicted this development, so it seems fair to say that it has withstood the test of time.
Reference
Jin, D. Y. & Yoon, T.-J. (2017). The Korean Wave: Retrospect and prospect. International Journal of Communication, 11(2017), 2241–2249.