'K-pop does little for economy'

Arabic fans shout during the performance of K-pop boy band INFINITE at the Sheikh Rashid Hall, World Trade Center in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates on Dec. 6. / Korea Times file

Study shows K-pop is less attractive in rich countries

By Park Si-soo

The rise of Korean pop music or K-pop has created an odd branding practice of using "K-" as a prefix for almost every other word.

There are "K-movies" and "K-food" in many promotion campaigns for Korean film and cuisine. With more attention, it's not so difficult to find other K-promotional phrases. Korea's biggest TV station KBS recently rebranded the country's traditional music as "K-sori" (sound), kicking off a campaign to globalize it. The Ministry of Justice is seeking to export what it calls "K-law" to developing nations. And then there is "K-fashion," "K-beer," "K-cartoons," "K-medicine," "K-science" and "K-finance," to list just a few.

The excessive use of "K-" reflects the belief that K-pop's impact is so far-reaching that any form of correlation would facilitate the advent of domestic products and services overseas.

Scholars, business experts and music critics discuss the Korean Wave during a seminar at the COEX convention center in Seoul, Dec. 10. Participants claimed traditional culture is more useful than K-pop to promote the national image.
/ Courtesy of the Korea Foundation for International Culture Exchange

But a renowned business professor recently challenged the assumption, arguing that K-pop's economic ripple effect is weaker than expected.

"Don't expect that K-pop will increase exports of Korean products and services," said business professor Han Choong-min from Hanyang University during a seminar on the Korean Wave or "hallyu." The seminar was hosted by the Korea Foundation for International Culture Exchange (KOFICE), a research arm of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

"Many people believe K-pop is popular around the world, but that's a sheer illusion created by nationalistic reports from the local media. Those who go crazy about K-pop are mostly young female students in less developed countries in Southeast Asia. Their buying power is so weak that it's hard to expect that their affection toward K-pop will lead to an extra consumption of other Korean products or services."

K-pop boy band INFINITE performs in Dubai on Dec. 6, the final leg of its first world tour venturing to 14 countries and 21 cities for 31 live concerts.
/ Korea Times file

The professor also said K-pop has played a "limited" role in boosting the country's national image, cautioning the government not to depend on K-pop stars in promotional campaigns for the country.

When it comes to promoting the national image, he added, traditional culture has proven to be much more useful than contemporary cultural content.

Based on a survey of 1,000 unspecified opinion leaders and big spenders on cultural products in Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand, he said, "It's true that K-pop has made more people (in the countries) feel Korean culture is attractive. But it doesn't mean Korean culture is now strong enough to compete with that of Japan and China in the market."

The survey showed that Korean culture is most preferred in Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia, thanks largely to K-pop and trendy TV dramas. The Chinese culture takes the lead in most aspects in Malaysia, while it was too close to call a winner in Singapore.

"We need to pay attention to the result in Singapore, which is an international city state with big spending power," Han said. "Winning attention in Singapore means a higher possibility of success in the United States and other advanced countries in Europe. We need to come up with ways to deflect China and Japan in the city state."

In fact, Singapore is regarded as an ideal test bed for many companies seeking successful overseas expansion.

"If the U.S. is the ‘melting pot' of the world, Singapore is the ‘melting pot' of Asia," said senior analyst Baek Woon-mook of Daewoo Securities. "Singapore is small but has a mixture of starkly different lifestyles and eating habits among others, which means a successful performer in the Singapore market has proven appeal for customers in many other countries."

K-culture in Middle East

Professor Seo Jung-min of Hankuk University of Foreign Studies' Graduate School of International Area Studies said the Middle East is a huge market and people in the region are growing attentive to Korean culture. But he noted that it's all but impossible to succeed there without tailor-made strategies for the region, citing unique Islamic beliefs and a conservative code of conduct.

"The Islamic world has long been isolated from others in terms of cultural exchange," Seo said. "But it's gradually opening its doors to the rest of the world, which means a new market is being created."

K-pop boy band INFINITE had its first concert in Dubai early this month, which drew nearly 2,000 hijab-wearing fans there. KBS launched an Arabic channel last year, distributing a variety of dramas, shows and other entertainment programs through an Arab Emirate-based media company. MBC TV's historical drama series "Jewel in the Palace," or "Dae Jang Geum" in Korean, was a smash hit several years ago in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Dubai and Turkey.

"The number of news articles on K-pop, drama and other cultural contents has sharply increased in recent years," he said, citing his analysis of some 700 news stories published by seven major Arabic media outlets between 2000 and August 2013. "A sharp increase started from 2011. Nearly half of the stories were about Korean pop music and TV dramas." The professor said behind the success of K-drama was a cultural similarity between Korea and the Middle East.

"By tradition, the two are equally characterized as male-centered, patriarchal and authoritarian societies," he said. "Although such elements continue to disappear in real life here, many Korean dramas still make a story of them. I think that's behind Arabic viewers' feeling of intimacy with Korean drama and their increased consumption of our cultural content."

In September, the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning unveiled a set of ambitious plans to increase exports of cultural content to the Middle East, Latin America and other emerging markets. The ministry will launch global promotion campaigns with a 220 billion won budget to reach the goal of exporting cultural content worth $10 billion annually by 2017 from the current $4.8 billion.