Korean Wave

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The Korean Wave or Hallyu (Korean: 한류; Hanja: 韓流; RR: Hallyu; lit. Flow/Wave of Korea; listen^ⓘ) is a cultural phenomenon in which the global popularity of South Korean popular culture has dramatically risen since the 1990s. Worldwide interest in Korean culture has been led primarily by the spread of K-pop, K-dramas and films, with keystone successes including K-pop group BTS, television series Squid Game (2021), and Oscar-winning film Parasite (2019).^[1] The Korean Wave has been recognized as a form of soft power and as an important economic asset for South Korea, generating revenue through both exports and tourism.^[2]

Following the 1997 Asian financial crisis and the end of military censorship over the South Korean entertainment industry, South Korea emerged as a major exporter of popular culture. The Korean Wave was first driven by the spread of K-dramas and Korean cinema into East Asia and parts of Southeast Asia, following the rise of satellite media in the late 1990s. Chinese journalists first coined the term "Korean Wave" (Chinese: 韓流; pinyin: hánliú; lit. 'Korean wave') in 1999, referring to the success of Korean popular culture in China. During the 2000s, Hallyu evolved into a global phenomenon, expanding rapidly into South Asia, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe. By 2008, the value of cultural exports from South Korea surpassed the value of cultural imports for the first time.^[3] This expansion was fueled by the advent of social media and the Internet, which played key roles in allowing the Korean entertainment industry reach overseas audiences, as well as the endorsement of the phenomenon by the South Korean government.