Another policy recommendation is to focus on supporting small companies, rather than already developed large-scale companies. Small companies and start-ups are fundamental for cultural production, so the government should support space for innovation, help the cultural sector to naturally evolve and interact with other global players within the industry. For example, a study found that the likability of Korean products had the most significant influence on the national image of South Korea, followed by K-pop and K-drama – but interests in Korea’s traditional culture did not affect the country’s image. If you want to find out more on shirt look at the web-page. 44 Hence, the government can help guide private industries to shift the emphasis of resources from traditional culture to makeup products, clothes, popular music or shows. This was during the time when the government started to get involved in promoting the global circulation of hallyu in order to build a more favorable image for the nation. First, government support should be given to promote cultural soft power implicitly, rather than through the central state so as to circumvent criticism from foreign governments and populations.42 The state should not attempt to aggressively obtain soft power nor improve the industrial exportation of hallyu. The South Korean government’s attempt to strengthen its hard power might trigger negative reactions from its already stressed neighboring countries.

An East Asian Scholar, Nissim Otmazgin, suggests that the South Korean government can maximize benefits from hallyu, if they do not impose a filter on the products and activities of private industries or attempt to promote hallyu abroad.43 Thus, rather than the government engaging in developing hallyu, they should fund research firms to develop strategic guidelines that will help the private sector; it is important to research the field because only then can private firms operate efficiently based on a knowledge of hallyu rooted in consumer demand. As the public diplomacy iteration of hallyu was adopted, it became increasingly apparent that the South Korean government was trying to pass a nationalist agenda and explicitly promote hallyu abroad. 40 Inevitably, backlash against hallyu and anti-Korean sentiments (yukhallyu) in Japan began to develop. Following the lifting of import and export restrictions between South Korea and Japan in place since WWII, BoA’s debut Japanese album Listen to My Heart in 2002 was the first album by a Korean artist to debut at the top of the Japanese Oricon charts and become an RIAJ-certified ‘million-seller’ in Japan. For example, in 2015, an anti-Korean comic book entitled Kenkanryu or, Hating the Korean Wave, became the number one bestseller on Amazon Japan.41 The public diplomacy success of Korea’s popular culture in Japan was viewed negatively by Japan, seen as threatening to Japanese culture and the domestic cultural market.

The nation was criticized for its « cultural imperialism, » a criticism similar to the one faced by the United States. However, the government’s previous utilization of hallyu as a tool for public diplomacy has prompted accusations of « cultural imperialism » from foreign populations and governments. Marinescu, Valentina. The Global Impact of South Korean Popular Culture: Hallyu Unbound. East Asian Pop Culture: Analyzing the Korean Wave. Kuwahara, Yasue. The Korean Wave: Korean Popular Culture in Global Context. Hence, South Korea should work to bolster the non-governmental cultural organizations already established by South Korea’s Ministry of Culture. Thus, I argue that the government should focus on soft power by indirectly supporting South Korea’s popular culture, hallyu. Lastly, the South Korean government should initiate new research projects to procure information about the growth of cultural production industries. Also, the government should take an active role in cultivating cultural industries by training qualified workers. All in all, the emphasis should be on motivating the growth of various means of cultural production, through engaging small firms first and ensuring potential workers based in the domestic market are of high quality and willing to export their products and services to foreign countries.

Because of this, the Korean-American community is harshly criticizing the program, and fallout is spreading as some Korean expatriate groups demand a public apology. » Another major Korean newspaper, the Korea Herald, which claims to be « The Nation’s No. 1 English Newspaper, » published a series of thirty-five articles about the hallyu in different countries around the world. As per a report from Parrot Analytics, the K-drama series Crash Landing on You, is 1.2 times more in demand than an average TV series that is 89.8% more than all drama titles shown in India forcing broadcasters to make extra slots as women are at the forefront of consumer demand in Korean content category. Look for brands to continue to develop hyper-personalized offerings in order to differentiate themselves from competitors and cater to consumers more effectively. One such way to grant more power to the private sector is by exploring a non-economic framing for hallyu altogether. Another widely discussed event in fashion took place at London Fashion Week Men’s, when ethical brands presented men’s clothing made out of waste and recycled materials during one of the catwalks.