The Cult Of K-Culture

How and when did the world become obsessed with emotionally-charged Korean pop culture, its cinema,dramas and music?

- Matthew C. Crawford

“WHAT ARE YOU WATCHING?” I asked the front-desk clerk of my motel in Kigali as I walked through the lobby. The image on the screen of the laptop — a South Korean classroom full of high-school students — would have been unremarkable in Seoul. Only in this case, Seoul was 10,000km away.

“I like this one, but my favourite Korean drama is City Hunter,” the Rwandan clerk remarked.

I knew that the Korean cultural craze known as the Korean Wave (or Hallyu) had permeated Asia and lapped against the shores of Europe, South America, and the Middle East. But now, seeing it in East Africa, it was dawning on me that Korean soap operas, pop music, and movies have now reached every corner of the world.

Pop culture experts agree that Hallyu’s first big splash was a soap opera that travelled across the Korea Strait to Japan and beyond. This was Winter Sonata (2002). It had many of the elements and plot devices that hook fans of Korean dramas (as they’re called locally): an unfulfilled love that stands the test of time, an accident that results in amnesia, and a chance reunion many years later.

Almost 15 years onward, Winter Sonata’s shooting location, Namiseom, a small river island north-east of Seoul, remains a pilgrimage destination for fans from Indonesia, Malaysia, and other South-east Asian countries.

A more recent sensation is Descendants of the Sun, which was broadcast in over 30 countries while achieving record-breaking viewership at home. Female viewers in Korea, China, and elsewhere are distraught over news that actor Song Joong-ki, who played a Special Forces captain in the soap opera, may not reappear in season two next year.

But why have Korean soap operas, from Winter Sonata to