The Implications of the Rise of K-pop

To investigate “K -POP”: The emergence of K -Pop, -Pop, the changes to it, its differences to Western pop and the implications of it.

By Sofia Phillips

 April 2014

(Abstract)

The nature of my final product is an explorative piece into Korean popular culture and its development; more specifically its implications on society, the economy and politics. The content matter that is discussed in my essay is how it developed in the past two decades, its characteristics, what makes it distinctively different, its effects on the South Korean economy, how it’s effected

South Korea on a social and political level, its position as a soft power and finally the development of extreme fan cultures and the political implications of these topics. The final conclusions that I reached are that South Korean media has successfully managed to create a type of media that in many respects similar to that of the west’s but is also significantly different.  Furthermore, that they have still maintained and apply their own cultural values. Additionally, I conclude that they’ve failed

to use media to push social discussion and bring about liberal change in the same way Western media has as well as failing to addressing the negative effects of high media exposure.

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To investigate “K -POP”: The emergence of K -Pop, the changes to it, its differences to Western pop and the implications of it. By Sofia Phillips.

Introduction:

K-pop is the overall term used loosely to describe Korean popular culture; this includes, TV, film, music, fashion and magazine culture overall. It encompasses many aspects of audio-visual elements 1

(Encyclopedia 2012). It is commonly known as the Hallyu wave . It was coined by journalists in Beijing who had noticed the growth of popularity of Korean popular exports during the mid-1990’s within East Asia (Penh 2010) until 2011 where it then started to spread across to the west. Hallyu peaked at its all time international high in 2011 (when the studies were done in May 2012) as seen in figure1 and figure 7 . K-pop is often compared to that of Western pop as a result of western hegemony (Jo Elfv ing-Hwang 2010, 5-6) however it is fundamentally different and is considered much more complex due to the structure of the industry.

The rapid economic growth within South Korea and it becoming one of the

Four 2

 Asian Tigers

was not only a result of the

main

industries but also that Figure 1 of the media exports (WEBAIR 2004). K-pop has been able to grow at an equal pace alongside the main

industry,

being

investments

into

fuelled

by

the

media

business sector.

Consequently, however such rapid change doesn’t Figure 7

occur

without

implications,

in

particular in context to music.

How it developed:

Although the hybrid nature of k-pop can be traced back to as early as 1885 (Holden and Scrase 2008, 144146) its current form began to take shape in the 1990’s. The musical culture up until this point was largely Trot and folk, this is responsible for isolation of the youth within Korea as it failed to address social issues. Up until the 90’s that lack of youth culture and representation in society lead to a highly academically

driven youth culture. This isolation of the youth gave way for a new genre of music in South Korea along with a more prominent youth culture development. This development of youth culture through music and media was thirty years behind that of the west who experienced this boom in the 1960’s. The emergence of a strong American pop culture during this period made it inevitable that k-pop would take 1

Hallyu: Development and spread movement in Korean media Four Asian Tigers: Four strongest East Asian economies maintain exceptionally high levels of growth per annum Figure 1: Korean Wave Index (Min-Soo 2012, 1) Figure 7 : Global Views of K-Pop videos on YouTube in 2011 (Min-Soo 2012, 1) 2

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lead from movements in the west. The arrivals of Western Culture in Korea can’t however be isolated to the 1990’s its real beginnings were i n the 1940-60’s (Yoon-mi Kim 2011, 50-54). Following the liberation

of the Korean peninsula in 1945 and the division of the borders American and western culture started to filter into Korea on a small scale (Hongbowon 2004, 113-15). st

Since the 1990s, the term “K-pop” has become popularised and catapulted it into the form it is at in 21

century society. It was perhaps the economic success of the 1993 film Jurassic Park that led the Korean Ministry of Culture to set up the Cultural Industry Bureau that triggered such rapid growth. It was noted by the President Kim Yongsam that the total revenue for one American film topped that of the sales of 1.5 million Korean cars in that same year (Shim 2011, 8). This led the government wanting to place more interest in expanding their media sector and re-balance their media/cultural trades and eradicate their imbalance of cultural trade (Onishi 2005). The government then invested substantial amounts of financial aid and resources into opening up 300 new cultural industry departments in institutions throughout the country; however, they were highly concentrated in major cities (Onishi 2005). Following this reformation of Korean media sector in 1998 Korean film boomed and the most commercially successful film to that date, Shiri, grossed over $11 million (Macintyre 2001). This showed that the policies introduced in the 1994 reformation were beginning to take full swing.

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Figure 2

This newly established sector sort to set up policies to increase the distribution of domestically produced media. The first of these being the terrestrial television quota know as the ‘Broadcasting Law of 1990’   (Sungeun 2008, 210) which made all media outlets distribute a set ratio of 8:2 of terrestrial content a day. (Sungeun 2008, 8) (Figure 2). The growth of South Korea’s export value following the Figure 3

introduction of these rules can be seen in Figure 3. Censorship laws were relaxed which then allowed more explicit content to be aired (Sungeun 2008, 10-12). The last significant policy introduced was the independent production quota (Sungeun 2008, 211-18). This set out to encourage the expansion of smaller terrestrial media companies and producers. These policies not only largely benefited the Korean media outlet system in but also specifically allowed rapid advancement of k-pop. These changes along with the growing influence of America’s pop music Figure 2: Figure 3. Quotas for Domestic Programs (Broadcasting, Quotas for domestic prgrammes 2005, 217) Figure 3: Fluctuations in South Korea’s Import and Export Values of Television Programs (Broadcasting, Fluctuations in South Korea’s Import and Export Values of Television 2 005, 206)

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produced the first modern k-pop group, Seo Taiji and Boys (J.Lechner 2011, 392) (Rothman 2013), the establishment of several major music distributors such as JYP Entertainment, FNC Entertainment and 4

perhaps the most significant S.M Entertainment (Times 15) and finally the first cultural technology  boy band H.O.T .

Characteristics of K-Pop:

Organisation is perhaps the most significant characteristic of “k-pop” and is done through the use of cultural technology (Min-uck 2011) and slave contracts. Lee Soo Man CEO of SM Entertainment is the founding father of this approach. Unlike agencies in western countries where they focus on one specific area of media, most South Korean agencies group together several media genres into one company. Its aim is to pre-pack and create media that can then easily be circulated and is appealing to all people (Kpop 2011). The first is training or “pre-packing” (Choi 2011). This is the process of scouting out candidates who can

be signed to the company as a cultural exporter. This is done through an auditioning process. Following this, those who are successful then go on to train for between 2-7 years. During this time they learn foreign languages, mainly English, Japanese and Mandarin and w ork on refining their existing talents such as rapping, singing, dancing, acting and modelling and also learn new skills. Even to the extent that it is claimed that even the minuet details such as how to smile, walk and sit have been taught. This creates artists and performers that can easily be moved from one medium to another without having to retrain. The company usually heavily controls this period. Trainees are assigned minders who maintain their schedules and monitor activities outside of their training regimes monitor trainees. A cultural implication of this system is the effect it has on teen fans. This system of creating artists, which are “all rounders” which can appeal to whichever group of individuals, they are put in front of. This

creates a sense of understanding, yet at the same time can also a foster of alienation. This creates a very evidently manufactured behaviour patterns and a culture in which individuality is seen as something that is unprofessional. This system also allows for another key aspect of the operating system to take place; sub-grouping, collaborations and cross over projects. This involves taking idols and putting them into another field or sub-unit to create a new sub-group. Actors often crossover into modelling and acting, for example, award winning actor Seo In Guk moved into producing music for his company in 2009.Infinite, a synth-pop group breaks and sub-categorises itself so that it can tackle several areas on the media market. Member Kim Myungsoo has entered acting, other members Jang Dongwoo and Lee Howon entered a hip-hop sub-unit (Nate 2012) in order to create a genre of music that could be exported outwards towards young people who may feel marginalised by the vast amount of pop music in the mainstream. Other examples include the formation of sub-units that specialise in producing music and dramas in Mandarin (Choi 2011). This aids the expansion of the company into new fields and territories. This specifically leads to the second and third stages in cultural technology; collaboration and joint ventures (Choi 2011). This stage includes collaborating with other companies both domestically and internationally to further their exports and influence. This can be done through the holding of virtual concerts in countries where it has been identified that the Hallyu wave is in effect. The joint ventures stage involves the use of external producers, designers, directors, producers and choreographers in the 4

 Cultural Technology (reference page 4 paragraph 1)

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creation of Korean fashion, film, television and music. The aim of this is to create media that may then be promoted in foreign countries due to the links to those imported media workers. An example of this is the use of producers such a Diplo and American rap artist Missy Elliott by Korean rapper G-Dragon (Kwon Jiyong), (Dragon 2013) ,  this was done in order to gain more media attention for the use of such well known and established producers and artists (Life 2013, 3). The main social implication surrounding this is the idea that it allows the infiltration of external cultures th

to a greater extent than that of the 20 century through US occupation, which is seen by Korea’s older generation as an attack on culture and a further abandonment of culture (Schetzer 2008). It can also be identified as a rejection of the existing traditional media production structures in the name of creating bigger profits and expanding their new brand of Korean culture to other countries. Furthermore it demonstrates the moving away from Confucian economic values, which are what essentially put South Korea in a position it was in the 1990’s. The new means of gaining wealth through cultural technology and slave contracts goes against one of the 5 Confucian economic principles, which is the immoral collecting of unjust profits (Waley 1989). Another key characteristic of k-pop is the use of “slave contracts”. Slave contracts essentially tie trainees and artists into long-term legal agreements that are extremely restrictive (Williamson 2011). They are exclusive and hand over the rights of your work to the company. They tie in long promotion periods, endorsement contracts and organise the artists training, dieting and contact with family and friends (Korea Fair Trade Commission Clamps Down 2008). Typically artists gain very little financial reward for their work. However, in more recent years following boy band DBSK sorting to have their contracts nullified. This was due to their restrictive nature and the lack of financial rewards they were receiving (Hyo-won 2009). Many companies have edited contracts to increase financial gains for artists; however they do still remain fairly restrictive of contracted workers activities (Korea Fair Trade Commission Clamps Down 2008) since the 2009 DBSK incident. The implications of this are largely surrounding the growth of acceptance of this type of contracting. This largely overlooks the idea that entrance into cultural technology is the main way to enter the “k-pop” market in South Korea. The signing of these contracts of fatalistic and only gives ultimatums and not options. It has created the overlooking of exploitation of contract signers. Lastly, an also largely significant characteristic is the representation of beauty within the k-pop market. This can be seen as a result of the pre-packaging but is also linked heavily back to the infiltration of th

western culture and media into South Korea throughout the 20   century. Within South Korea there is largely seen to be one set standard of beauty, which glamorises a teardrop shaped face, straight-bridged nose, fair skin and big eyes (Stone 2013), (Jo Elfving-Hwang 2010, 5-6). The selection process of candidates to be signed by labels has amplified this. This sense of idealism can be attributed to the idolising of the Caucasian aesthetic through western hegemony (Jo Elfving-Hwang 2010, 5-6) and willingness to conform to those of the west who reigned largely more influential and dominant th

internationally during the 20  century. This “ideal type” is represented in every single aspect of Korean popular culture. In a 2009 survey of

South Korean women 1 in 5 admitted to undergoing some kind of cosmetic procedure (Stone 2013). In the past decade in the district of Gangnam 500 clinics (Why the Beauty Belt in Seoul? 2012) have opened. Televised advertisements for procedures airing on networks is far from uncommon and contribute to the growing conformity to western aesthetic. It is undeniable that both the easy accessibility to cosmetic surgery combined with the bombardment of the medias “ideal type” correlates with the spike in youth

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suicide rates (aged 10-24) in the 2000-2010 decade, increasing by 57% from 6.4% to 9.4% (Youth suicides in S. Korea up 57 pct in a decade 2013). K-pop and the economic implications and influence 5

Along with the rapid growth of “k-pop” in South Korea there has been a huge effect on the economy. It

is evident that South Korea has not only benefited from the GDP implications of its newly founded exportation of k-pop but has also benefited from diversification of its economic makeup. It is no longer largely based completely on production and trade of goods, which largely suits some type of universal standard. It is shown in a study done by Oxford Economics (Economics, The economic contribution

of

the

film

and

television

industries in South Korea 2008) that in 2011 films and television in South Korea contributed $6.77 billion (Economics, The economic contribution

of

the

film

and

television 6

industries in South Korea 2008, 3) to the South Korean economy and sustained Figure 4 around 68,000 jobs (Economics, The economic contribution of the film and television industries in South Korea 2008, 2). On a whole, the k-pop market both television, film and music exports contributed $15.65 billion to the South Korean economy in 2011, 299,000 jobs and gave $4.94 billion in tax revenues to the South Korean government (Economics, The economic contribution of the film and television industries in South Korea 2008, 5). (Figure 4) K-pop music alone during the period of a decade received a growth incomparable to any other industry within South Korea and defied international trends within the music industry with an average growth rate of 23% per annum between 2005 and 2008 compared to an international average decline in music markets of around 23% (Messerlin 2013 , 13). The growth rate of the music market alone was 6 times that of the national growth of the GDP, more significantly, the rate of growth of exportation of k-pop merchandise on average increased by 36.5% between 2005 and 2011. Between 2008 and 2011 some companies experienced 100%+ increases on k-pop international exportation of goods (Messerlin 2013 , 13). K-pop has made great advances from financial sponsorship from banks and big businesses’  (Jeong-Ju 2013), the most significant to date was a $917 million credit scheme set up by the Export-Import Bank of Korea (Jeong-Ju 2013). Much like many booms in certain areas of the economy, industry experts and economists predict that this growth is largely unsustainable and will level out or stagnate (JUN 2014)like many western popular culture fads (Ree 2011). Companies have addressed this with diversifying and opening up to the international stage. This links back to the “cultural technology” process explained within the “Characteristics of K-Pop” (Phillips 2014, 4-5).

Figure 4: Overview of the economic contribution of the South Korean film and television industries (Economics, The economic contribution of the film and television industries in South Korea 2008, 4)

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Other than profits from the distribution of K-Pop there has been an increase in tourism, which is also contributing greatly to the South Korean economy. There was an estimated $68 billion from contribution to the economy from tourism in 2013, which is 5.8% of the South Korean GDP 7

(Council 2014). WTTC  research estimates that the tourism economy

Figure 8

in South Korea is set to increase by 4.7% per annum over the next decade, which is 1.4% more than the expected whole economy growth (Council 2014). This is also far higher than the average world tourism economy growth of 3.8% per annum (UNWTO 2013). Additionally the number of tourists entering South Korea between 2003 and 2013 increased by an average of 8% per 8

annum (Organisation 2014). The KTO  estimated that around 10.1% of tourists entering South Korea in 9 10 2010 (figure 8) were Hallyu tourists  and in 2012 this was up by 12.6% with a predicted 22.7% of tourists being Hallyu tourists. The 2011 peak in Hallyu correlates with the 13.4% increase in tourism between 2011 and 2012 with tourist numbers rising from 9,794,796 to 11,140,028 (Organisation 2014). On a social level the implications of this is mass spread of foreign culture within South Korea. Aside from media representation of foreign culture South Korea has been largely isolated from foreigners and difference of culture. Additionally the tourism sector provides 1.6 million jobs or 6.8% of Korean employment (Council 2014), which is set to increase along with the tourism growth. Furthermore, Korean media companies and labels are investing money into the tourism industry in order to increase the Hallyu tourism sector. Most recently this can be seen with SM Entertainments investment and business contract with Korea Railroad Corporation (K-Pop 2014). Liberalisation:

It is evident that throughout the past decade there has been a rapid liberalisation process due to the import of more liberal western cultures to influence and shape the new industry that is k-pop (Oh-Seok 2012). Traditionally South Korea is socially conservative however, through TV, music videos and fashion the image being portrayed is that of a more liberal country (J.Lechner 2011, 392). The media is moving towards a far more liberal idealism than the law, policy and attitudes of the South Korean public are. This creates a clear divide between what is acceptable in media and what is publi cly acceptable (House 2009). In South Korea media is still censored for indecency, this is the same in many other countries internationally such as the UK’s “water shed” (Ofcom 2012) however, it is to a far more extreme extent with the banning of any content deemed sexually explicit, controversial or provocative. Aside from censorship within the traditional media it has become increasingly restrictive on the Internet. Around 86,000 Korean web pages were deleted and blocked by the Korea Communications Standards Commission in 2013 alone (S.C.S 2014, 1).  The tightening of censorship perhaps correlates with the election of Park Geunhye member of the Saenuri party, traditionally a socially conservative party (Britannic 2012) associated with the deeming of homosexuality being “abnormal” (I. G. Comission 2013) and believing that modesty regarding sexuality prevents moral crises. Some speculate President Geunhye is pushing towards a more conservative and modest South Korea and is through policy to bring back to the same level of conservatism as her father President Park Chunghee had managed to maintain, prior to his assassination (Patrick Frater 2013). Since her presidency it is apparent that the Ministry of

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 WTTC - World Travel & Tourism council  KTO - Korean Tourism Organisation 9  Hallyu tourists – tourists who travel to Korea to experience and meet celebrities involved in the hallyu wave 10  Figure 8 – Percentage of Hallyu Tourists between 2007 and 2010 (Lee 2013) 8

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Gender Equality and Family who are in charge of censorship have tightened their restrictions with the banning and censorship of some fashion magazine outlets, music videos and film scripts (Voice 2013). The most prominent case of this was the banning of international icon Psy’s Gentleman music video. This 11

video depicted “public property damage” (KBS 2013). KBS  the largest broadcasting network in South Korea reinstated that any content that stimulates sexual desire, glamorises crime such as rape or drugs and sexuality are deemed as offensive to the youth by the Government Youth Commission, therefore distribution should be limited (France-Presse 2010). Furthermore there has been tightening of policy when over exposure laws were introduced; anybody in public deemed to be over exposed or dressed indecently, will be fined 50,000 KRW (Cha 2013). It is argued that these laws act as a cultural defence system, to prevent too strong a social influence of western culture on South Korean residents. However, it is important to note that although the policies and social attitudes have remained fairly conservative 12

South Korea’s policies shifted to segyehwa . (MANTICORE-GRIFFIN 2011)

Bigger social issues such as LGBT rights have failed to be successfully tackled contrary to the rapid expansion on discussion of social issues through film and music. This is quite the opposite of that of western media, which creates discussion on such issues. Issues have been raised through some films such as “A Kings Man”, but even the success of this film can largely be put down to its historical background. Most attempts to tackle issues regarding LGBT people or rights have received backlash from the public. A recent example being the 2012 release of solo artists K Will music video “Please Don’t…” which depicts the

story of a closeted man who hid his love for his friend. Unlike in many other countries where negative reaction to issues such as homosexuality tend to come from the older generation or religious groups, in this case the backlash 13 came from netizen’s (Hauben 1997, 1-5), (Buzz 2012). Opinions poll show that contrary to the rapid growth of western influence through k-pop, ideas on homosexuality and LGBT rights only 39% of people surveyed in the Gallup poll believed homosexuality should be accepted into society (Project 2013, 1,3) (Figure 5). Figure 5 Figure 6

This data shows that South Korea statistically on a global scale is the country with most unchanged views on homosexuality (Figure 6). This is particularly unusual as although Christianity is prominent in South Korea now following the influence from missionaries in the 1950’s, there are no religious movements that condemn sexuality

historically, which usually is the reason behind prejudice against homosexuality in many countries Asian countries and Western countries. Many South Korean actors, models and designers who have come out have lost much of their career such as roles and endorsements. Most prominently is the protest suicide of Yun Hyon-Seok (Hyo-Suk 2013). To this date only 1 idol, Kim Jonghyun (member of SHINee, one of the

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KBS – Korean Broad Casting Service

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Segyehwa: a political term usually translated as “globalization”  (MANTICORE-GRIFFIN 2011) Figure 5: Results of survey carried out by Pew Research to identify opinions on “should society accept

homosexuality?" (Project 2013) 13 Netizen- individuals who respond to in this case k-pop and media, these tend to be people of a younger generation

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most popular boy bands resulting from the growth of k-pop) (Benjamin 2013) (Newsen 2009)has ever openly spoken in defence of the rights of LGBT people in South Korea. The expansion of k-pop has allowed the expression of sexuality to a certain degree and pushed towards social and political liberalism, but this raises the question of why the media has not been able to use the same means to push for discussion on sexual social issues. Similarly, other restrictions on censorship and modesty loosened during the growth of the Hallyu wave. In most other countries where there have been similar rapid media expansion and development, social reforms and attitudes have changed to give people more freedom. This links specifically to the standards of living in LGBT communities. As the evidence shows, living conditions remain the same for LGBT people, as they were pre-Hallyu wave. They still have no anti-discrimination laws protecting them (N. H. Comission 2002) in employment, access to goods and services or protection against hate speech and family law (Borowiec 2014). These are issues that in the west have been opened up through media; predominantly through television and film but this has fallen flat in South Korea. Soft Power:

Due to the rapid expansion and exportation of k-pop in the last decade it is clear that some degree soft power has played a great role. The expansion and spread of media culture within South Korea has allowed Korea to take centre stage and use these means to spread more about their traditional culture to other parts of the world, predominantly to the youth (MANTICORE-GRIFFIN 2011). Alongside this, the fact South Korea is a Tiger economy has made exportation of culture easier. Companies such as LG, Hyundai (K-Pop, SM Entertainment partners with Hyundai to release 'PYL Younique Album' 2012) and Samsung have become internationally renowned technology companies which are notorious for using idols from groups such as Super Junior, Infinite, SNSD and EXO (Samsung 2012) to endorse their products in a bid to gain attention from the youth. Its place in the top 10 cultural exporters internationally (Penh 2010) largely indicates the successes of their cultural technology system. Although it is very unlikely that k-pop exports will match that of the rapidly expanding technology front (Penh 2010), it is a combination of the growth of the economy on the world stage and the exportation of technology that will allow more foreign people to look into this Hallyu and essentially allow the infiltration of the culture into foreign countries. This can unmistakably be seen through the airing of special endorsement versions of Korean music videos being played in technology stores in western countries which show case both “Korean Culture” and

Korean technology products. Pop sensation PSY provided a brilliant opportunity to push Korean culture. The Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism opened up Korean culture centres on the west coast of America. It aided the acceptance and awareness of a foreign type of media that competed against that of the west’s. As a result of the growth in k-pop export companies of South Korea have avoided the word association to the country by marketing themselves as global companies. This was mainly due to fear of scepticism of the political issues regarding North Korea (Burton 2012) and the stigma attached to East Asian manufacturing. However in recent years many South Korean export companies are reclaiming their national origin, restoring national pride and even using k-pop to help expand. Unlike the influence and spread of western culture which was typically through military or political presence within countries and the slipping in of culture through hegemony; South Korean media companies are clearly addressing that they are fully intent of expanding k-pop outside of East Asia are adapting their means of cultural technology and production to do just that (Constant 2011). The Hallyu wave currently is forming a bridge between the western cultures and that of South Korea, which will then, possibly, form the basis for the complete globalisation of Korean culture through media exports (Jae-Yun 2013).

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Extremes of Fan Culture and reactions to K-pop:

A pressing social issue that has occurred around k-pop and in particular the music market is the start of the “Sasaeng” fan culture (Lansky 2012). It largely outlines a fan that spends a majority of their time 14 following the activities of their “bias group”  by stalking and use of questionable methods to gain closer 15 proximity to their “bias” or “bias group”. This is not unique to South Korea and k -pop however it is a culture that has only become a feature in South Korean culture after the sudden growth of k-pop in the last decade. It has caused the thriving of a new type of taxi driver “Sasaeng driver” who charge upwards

of $30 an hour compared to the Seoul average rate of $11.50 (Numbeo 2012) an hour to transport the Sasaeng around and follow the idol. This is a highly lucrative market as these fans often are willing to spend up to $400 (News 2011) to be chauffeured around for a day. Issues that have arose around the Sasaeng fans include breaking into apartment complexes, Sasaeng taxi’s causing car accidents (Chau 2011), tracking of idols using planted camera’s, audio recorders and GPS devices. Contrary to this is the rise of an anti-fan. Unlike Sasaeng fans who use stalking as a means of achieving closeness to their idol, the anti-fan is a group of individuals who invest time into rallying against the idol/idol group. Perhaps the most serious case of involving anti-fans within k-pop was the 2006 incident of DBSK member being poisoned with super glue by a member of an anti-fan group (K-POP 2011). Since the rise of the Sasaeng fan the opening of a support centre to “ -Its role is to offer a counselling service to relieve them from any psychological stress and provide them with an education service and legal support” 

(Jemma Ji, Korea Creative Content Agency) (Khairat 2012). There was also the adding of a clause to the Minor Offences Act, which allows protection to the privacy of idols. The main difficulty that came about when attempting to create policy to protect the rights of people in the position of idols was attempting to prevent elitism in the legal systems as well as catering and protecting the rights of the minority group subjected to harassment (Khairat 2012). Conclusion:

In conclusion to my research it is evident that the rapid development of k-pop within South Korea has not happened without causing several or at minimum, influencing several economic and social changes. Although some of these issues, such as the increase of suicide within the youth and increased push towards cosmetic surgery are only a correlation, it can be largely argued that the development of “kmedia culture” has influenced it to some extent. My overall idea on the influence of k-pop is that unlike many other countries that have taken influence from the west to found an industry they’ve found it difficult to essentially sift out the things they don’t want and instead simply replicated the systems in

place. However South Korea has successfully managed to select the influential parts from western media whilst still holding on and maintaining their own values and adding in their own aspects to it, creating a type of media that is in many respects similar to that of the west’s but is also significantly different and

operates in a different manner. Perhaps the biggest issue facing South Korea regarding the implications of the rise of k-pop is how they use k-pop to promote and bring to light the social issues that they have so far glossed over, however this is only attainable should South Korea, as evidence shows, become more liberal within the next few generations; only then will discussion of social issues regarding sexuality and modesty become more common. The focus from this point should be in the w ay that South Korean media companies use the soft power that is k-pop to not only promote aesthetic and Korean media products but to promote and bring 14

Bias group: the individuals favorite group Bias: the individuals favorite idol within a group

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about discussion on social issues in a similar way that western media has. Although, it is evident through the slow changing public opinion and the conservative policy that is in place that this may be a long process. Furthermore, South Korea is failing to address the negative effects of k-pop such as the idea of South Korea’s failure to export traditional culture and history. Instead what people external to South Korea see

at face value is a glossy, efficient industry with strong production values. It is at this point that it is essential to the industry that they place a bigger interest in producing a truer more informed view of South Korea. Additionally, it would be beneficial if the media placed more importance of “idealism” and “typing” so that the psychological effects of such high media exposure in a rapidly growing technological

state are addressed or at least reduced especially amongst the youth. It seems although the Government Youth Commission places great interest in the prevention of spreading explicit and violent content to the youth through the media there is a complete overlooking of policy to protect the psychological interests of the youth that may occur due to high exposure to a man made “idealistic” image of reality and the person.

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