The late 1990s and early 2000s introduced the world to the concept of Hallyu, or the “Korean Wave,” a term used to describe the growing global popularity and profitability of Korean popular culture. Thanks to Hallyu, South Korea has become one of the first non-Western countries to export a diverse array of cultural products to international audiences. This global reach has made South Korea a unique case. While it is common for a country’s popular music, movies, or fashion to reach foreign markets, it is less common for multiple forms of a country’s popular culture to gain global audiences simultaneously. For South Korea, these cultural products include music, television programs, films, as well as other cultural and digital productions.

Far from an accident or happenstance, Hallyu was the result of the South Korean government’s heavy investment in pop culture and media, which many officials saw as the key to increasing Korean influence throughout the world. The current popularity of South Korean media is a culmination of decades of concerted planning and funding by government entities. They believed that promoting South Korea’s “soft power,” or non-military cultural influence, would also bolster its economic and political standing.

In this module, we will discuss the growth of South Korea’s soft power, and its significance to Korean Americans and how they’ve come to be perceived.