By Park Jin-hai
Hopes for revival of hallyu or the Korean wave are growing as Beijing is moving to lift its ban on Korean cultural imports, including K-pop and K-dramas.
After Korea and China agreed to end disputes regarding the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, industry experts predict a thaw in frozen ties between Korean and Chinese entertainment businesses.
The ban, a retaliatory measure to Seoul's decision to deploy a U.S. missile defense system, has been imposed since July last year.
K-pop girl group Mamamoo's performance at a Chinese festival was broadcast live on Wednesday, while a Chinese TV station ran a special broadcast about the upcoming 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics on the same day.
Reflecting this positive mood, local drama production companies are planning their projects with China in the near future, which had been the biggest consumer of Korean entertainment products prior to the ban.
"There are contacts from China's online video services. They are asking about drama lineups for next year. I see the Chinese market will be open to K-culture again," said Hwang Ki-young, head of the drama production division at iHQ, a local talent agency, which produced the romantic comedy "While You Were Sleeping."
"I heard that China's major online platforms bought two Korean dramas, but are waiting until the ban is lifted," said Park Sang-joo, director of Corea Drama Production Association.
Despite China's ban on Korean celebrities appearing on TV, the popularity of Korean stars seems far from waning. The celebrity couple Song Joong-ki and Song Hye-kyo's private wedding was broadcast live on Chinese social media platforms, hitting 200 million views on Weibo and Baidu. China's largest online video-sharing platforms Youku and Sohu Video covered a formal dinner held in Seoul to celebrate the end of shooting for actor Park Hae-jin's TV series "Man to Man" in March. In June, G-Dragon's solo album Ji Yong" set the record of selling over 760,000 copies on the day his album was released on QQ Music, the biggest music site in China.
But others say it is too early to paint a rosy picture.
"It is true that I can now see an amicable mood from officials of Chinese production companies. But they say Korea is in some sense jumping to conclusions and the strained relationship between the two countries has not recovered yet. I also believe the ban will last over a year and will not disappear all of a sudden," Park said.
Hwang says if hallyu content reenters the Chinese entertainment market, it will be very different from before because China has strengthened the competitiveness of its cultural contents. Also, Japanese content has filled the void during the period.
"Up until the ban, the price for Korean cultural content has been on a steep rise. But since the market environment there has changed, we need to wait and see," he said. "Since China has always moved to protect its own content and limited the spread of Korean content, even if the market reopens, it will not be as widely open as before. It could take measures like reducing import quota for Korean entertainment content."
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