The international success of Psy’s "Gangnam Style" has brought renewed attention to Hallyu, or the Korean wave, and the growing influence of Korea’s soft power. The global media has recognized that the benefits of its success may trickle down to other areas of Korean culture, even affecting the country’s manufacturing industry.
The "Gangnam Style" music video has amassed over one billion hits on YouTube since going viral around the world since last summer. It is unprecedented for K-pop, and this led many media outlets to reevaluate the power of Hallyu. In a recent Internet column titled "Gangnam Stylishly debunks US myth," Financial Times writer Christopher Caldwell said the world may start to prefer Korea’s culture to America’s.
The column said what is most surprising of the success of "Gangnam Style" is that despite American pop culture’s worldwide dominance, "Gangnam Style is not American and not even sung in English."
The column pointed out that American dominance in global pop culture is in fact attributed to its intangible advantages such as the worldwide use of English as a lingua franca.
"What the U.S. has is not a national genius but wealth, prestige and glamour," the column said. "Culture follows wealth, prestige and glamour. As the U.S. share of these declines, the world’s viewers may come to prefer Sleepless in Seoul to Sleepless in Seattle."
Another Financial Times column titled "Seoul power – the Gangnam effect" said K-pop fans were more disposed to try other Korean products. It recommended that businesses pursue endorsement deals with K-pop artists such as 2NE1, Girls’ Generation, SHINee, and Super Junior to take advantage of K-pop’s influence on Asian consumers.
The French newspaper Le Figaro reported in an article titled "La vague coreenne s’abat sur le monde" ("The Korean wave swept the world") that "Gangnam Style" became the spearhead of the new cultural soft power – wielding global influence through cultural and diplomatic power rather than military might.
The article said Korea, a country previously known for exporting electronics and cars, became a net exporter of cultural products for the first time in 2012.
Lim,Jae-Eun
Korea.net