By Yoon Ja-young
The management of SM Entertainment, one of the biggest pop music agencies here, was amazed when they saw fans waiting in line for “SM Town Live 2010 World Tour in LA” last September. Among some 15,000 fans who gathered in Los Angeles for the concert featuring K-Pop singers including Girls’ Generation and Super Junior, Korean fans made up only 30 percent. Asians other than Koreans accounted for 20 percent, and half were non-Asians. Fans came from not only within the United States, but also from Europe and Latin America. Hallyu, or the Korean wave, seems to have turned into a truly global phenomenon.
The first wave of Hallyu started in Japan a decade ago with the Korean TV drama “Winter Sonata.” Its hero Bae Yong-joon won hearts of Japanese ladies, who gave him the affectionate nickname “Yonsama.” Bae and a number of handsome actors led the first wave of Hallyu, mostly in Japan and other Asian countries as non-Koreans came to enjoy Korean dramas.
The second wave of Hallyu reached beyond Asia, with singers like Rain, Boa and the Wonder Girls advancing into the United States.
The third wave of Hallyu has broadened the sphere. It has become a global phenomenon. Music videos of idol stars like Girls’ Generation, 2NE1, Big Bang and 2PM are popular around the world. Behind this new wave of Hallyu is YouTube.
When SM Entertainment released a teaser video of “Hoot” by its leading girl group Girls’ Generation, or better known as SNSD on the Web, via YouTube last October, it recorded one million views in just two days. This is impressive when considering that CNN’s official YouTube channel recorded only 17,000 views in two months after its launch and ESPN, the U.S. sports channel, attracted 2.4 million views in 8 months.
One will also find hundreds of cover videos uploaded by SNSD fans mimicking the girls’ dancing. “’Cover culture’ has become a cultural phenomenon in some Southeast Asian countries. Recently, videos mimicking Korean idols are increasing in Europe, Latin America and the United States as well,” said Jung Tae-soo, a researcher at Samsung Economic Research Institute.