By Kim Tong-hyung
It’s critical for Korea to exploit the increasing popularity of its pop culture, which will likely boost worldwide sales of consumer electronics and other major export items, according to an Export-Import Bank of Korea (Korea Eximbank) economist.
For every $100 increase in pop-culture exports, outbound sales of other Korean consumer are rising by more than $410, Kim Yoon-ji said in a study announced at the bank’s “hallyu” (Korean wave) exports conference Wednesday. The calculation was based on data on Korean exports to 92 nations between 2001 and 2011.
The simple math came short of providing solid evidence of a correlation between the popularity of cultural products and other items as it was unclear how the sales of the former influences the latter. It’s also hard to say that listeners of Korean music and buyers of Korean televisions, mobile phones and televisions are swayed by product origin.
Nonetheless, Kim believes there is a link, particularly within technology products, a market where success depends on passing the coolness test as much as pop music.
``The increasing popularity of Korean films and television dramas appears to be improving the acceptance and image of Korean products, especially in consumer electronics and mobile devices,’’ Kim said.
``For every $100 increase in pop-culture exports, the exports of consumer electronics products and mobile phones rose by an average of $395. By volume, a 1 percent increase in the exports of cultural products coincided with a 0.07 percent increase in processed food, 0.051 percent increase in clothes and 0.032 percent increase in technology products.’’
Korea Eximbank has been operating a variety of financial programs to assist businesses in the culture and entertainment industry, particularly movie studios and pop production houses.
``The successful internationalization of Korean culture and entertainment products has increased global interest in Korean society and culture. The younger and dynamic image it gives the country also appears to be helping the exports of our bread-and-butter items,’’ Korea Eximbank CEO Kim Yong-hwan said.
``We have been early out of the gate in financing hallyu related firms and we will continue to lead the way. We have been supporting movie and animation studios by offering favorable financing for their printing and advertisement costs and distribution fees. We are providing pop production houses individualized financial services and also connecting them with business partners overseas as they continue to expand their markets.’’