Proposal of Focused Topic

To address my research question of “How has South Korea become a cultural world power in the past decade and how has it impacted the societies of East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the United States?” I make the following claim: South Korean popular culture gained international popularity in East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the United States in the past decade due to the effects of government regulations and the internet, which increased foreign tourism to South Korea and facilitated accommodations for global fans for greater access to the industry. First, I will need to compile my sources and provide an accurate definition of “Hallyu” or “Hallyu wave” (what the international spread and popularity of Korean popular culture is often referred to as and what I also will call it throughout my paper) and what components it is composed of. From there, I will then narrow the areas of the Hallyu wave to focus on things relating to movies, mainstream music and singers/bands, and dramas (T.V. shows).

South Korea’s culture and tourism industries benefited over the past decade as more tourists from East and Southeast Asia visit Korea. According to South Korea’s Ministry of Strategy and Finance, there has been increased government expenditures in culture and tourism in the years from 2000 to 2010. Celebrities are employed as cultural ambassadors to increase tourism to the country. The Korea Tourism Organization is currently using ten Korean celebrities to attract visitors for one of its events. The expansion in the number of departments in the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism since its establishment, especially in recent years, is also evidence of its growing importance. The general direction of South Korean government’s policy towards the development of cultural tourism has been laid out in a ten-year plan, which I will try to find. Also, more international students are going to Korea to study.

More exportation of South Korean popular cultural products indicates that there is a worldwide demand for these products. An easing of regulations in regards to the entertainment industry since the 1990s, as evident by government laws, allowed the national industry to open up more to the international field. According to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, in the 2000s, there has been a decline in the importation of broadcast programs and a growth in the exportation of broadcast programs. More international tours and fanmeetings are being held by celebrities to visit cities in East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the United States to establish contact with their international fans.

The increased usage of the internet as a communication and  information medium has facilitated the rise in international fans. A look at the 2009 publication of the International Telecommunication Union’s “The ICT Development Index” shows the proportion of households with internet has increased in the regions of interest to my paper from 2002 to 2007. I would to find out the number of users registered on international fan forums and find if there’s a way to track yearly progress. In this section, I will also conduct audience research and ask how the participant was introduced to Korean pop culture.

To track the rise of South Korean popular culture, I will analyze the political economy of the Korean entertainment industry by investigating the relationship between the state economy and government actions. For the examination of popular culture, I will use a form of analysis employed in American pop cultural studies known as audience analysis. Audience analysis understands the audience response to a product by three primary means: surveys/opinion polls, focus groups, and ethnographic participant observation. I will be conducting audience research to discover the impacts of the Korean wave.