Mapping Global Hallyu Infrastructure, Flows and Contra-flows

The Characteristics of the Anti-Hallyu

The study aims to reveal the characteristics of the anti-Hallyu through a combined methodology between quantitative geo-mapping (using data to power mapping application) and qualitative case studies of thirty countries. Anti-Hallyu refers to the negative sentiment towards Korean cultural content in receiving countries, which is often described as cultural imperialism with extreme capitalism, human rights issues in an idol training system of teenagers, even the younger, racism embedded in cultural products.

Such negative aspects of Hallyu's success have reemerged since the early/mid-2010s, when Hallyu 3.0 was recognized for the global appeal of K-culture content, with a greater emphasis on the K-pop industry. It addresses anti-Hallyu, "Hating the Korean Wave" of Japan, or "Resisting the Korean Wave" of China in the mid-2000s has persisted until today, and various reasons have motivated individuals or groups of anti-fans to take negative actions against Korean pop culture.

The anti-Hallyu sentiment requires a closer look at the motivations of individuals or groups to take negative actions towards Korean pop culture, the impact on Korean pop culture production and international cultural consumption, and whether there is a policy window for mitigating the negative effects of anti-Hallyu.

Based on the author's distinction between positive or negative soft power, the study is designed to give information on the intended or unintentional impacts of the country's overall soft power, as well as to provide a foreign policy window for mitigating the negative soft power of the country, which can be transformed into value clashes or propaganda, a flip side of the coin of the formation of soft power, reconciliation, or leadership as positive soft power.

Korean Wave And Public Policy: Examining State's Role In Transnational Cultural Phenomenon

This study investigates how and to what degree the Korean state's cultural policy has played a role in the inception and growth of hallyu over the past 25 years. This study ultimately aims to create a chronological timeline of the Korean government's cultural policy with regard to hallyu and map its global impacts, both in writing and visually, in consideration of major non-policy events and factors between 1999 and 2023.

This study is a mixed methods research that utilizes both qualitative and quantitative methods. Qualitative methods implemented are content analysis and informal interviews. Content analysis focuses on policy documents from the aforementioned time period, including the Korean Cultural Ministry's annual budgets and policy white papers as as well as major relevant legislations. Informal interviews were conducted with officials of publicly-funded cultural agencies in Korea who were knowledgeable of the history and development of hallyu. Quantitative methods concerned visual, geographical mapping of the cultural, economic, educational, and political impacts of hallyu in relation to the cultural policy inputs including budget and other support for various domestic and international projects.

This study finds that cultural policy has been undoubtedly a key factor that has contributed to the success of hallyu. Notably, the state has provided both direct and indirect support to help cultivate the domestic cultural industry, assist the dissemination of Korean cultural content overseas, and raise awareness of hallyu and its potential both economically and politically. The study highlights the Korean government as a unique architect-patron state (Chartrand and McCaughey, 1989) and having had an instrumentalist approach to culture (Vestheim, 1994). However, the study also acknowledges other factors such as digitalization, fandom, and cultural hybridization as also having considerably impacted the global popularity of hallyu.

Mapping K-pop Concerts: Spatially Situating K-pop Consumption

In this presentation, I seek to conceptualize K-pop concerts as critical sites where K-pop consumption becomes embedded in surrounding urban infrastructures and sociocultural contexts. I will first showcase a map based on a unique, self-collected dataset of K-pop concerts (single group concerts excluding fan signs, fan meetings, and fan concerts) that took place around the world between 1993 and 2023. For the sake of a focused presentation, I will discuss key patterns and insights that emerge from my case study of K-pop concerts in three major cities in Japan (Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya), the most popular destination for K-pop tours according to my data. I present how different factors including Japan’s robust entertainment infrastructure and the strategic/symbolic importance of the Japanese market for the K-pop industry contribute to the temporo-spatial distribution of K-pop concerts in the three cities across three decades. I conclude by illustrating the contributions of my project to Hallyu scholarship and pointing to future research steps.

Pao-Li Chang is currently the Associate Dean (Research and Industry Engagement) and an Associate Professor of Economics at Singapore Management University (SMU), and a Fellow of the Asian Bureau of Finance and Economic Research (ABFER). She graduated with a PhD in Economics from the University of Michigan. Pao-Li has published in renowned journals such as International Economic Review, Journal of International Economics, Journal of Development Economics, Management Science, Econometrics Journal, and Mathematical Social Sciences. She has served on the editorial board of: Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Economic Modelling, Taiwan Economic Review (National Taiwan University, Taiwan), Taipei Economic Inquiry (National Taipei University, Taiwan), Journal of Economic Integration, and Journal of International Trade & Economic Development.

Su-Fern Hoe is an arts researcher and educator based in Singapore. She is currently Assistant Professor and Lead Coordinator of the Arts and Culture Management Programme at Singapore Management University. She is also lecturer for the MA in Arts and Cultural Management with Leuphana University of Luneburg, external examiner for the Diploma in Arts Business Management at Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Singapore. She specialises in the engaged and ecological analysis of cultural policy, comprising three strands. The first focuses on the impact of cultural governance on the conditions of creative labour. The second is cultural value-based, and looks at how the arts shape urban and community development. The third is concerned with policy from below, particularly mutual aid, care and solidarity. She is actively involved in the arts ecology in Singapore, including serving as Chairman of the Board of Dance Nucleus, a non-profit intermediary for contemporary performance.

Weiyu Zhang is Professor at the Department of Communications and New Media, National University of Singapore. Her research focuses on civic engagement and Information and Communication Technologies, with an emphasis on Asia. She is the author of the book "The Internet and New Social Formation in China: Fandom Publics in the Making". She is Director of the Civic Tech Lab (www.civictechlab.org), and has led on multi-nation projects on youth engagement, online deliberation, and civic tech in Asia.