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1 http://www.isop.ucla.edu/eas/newsfile/koryouth/981016-ft1.htm[ | ]

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</style> Korean Youth: South Korean Pop Music on a Roll</title> </head>

<img src="../ea-seal.jpg" width="96" height="89" alt="ea-seal.jpg (2802 bytes)"> UCLA Center for East Asian Studies

<a name="East Asian Studies News File">East Asian Studies News File</a>

Korean Youth and Popular Culture

April 10, 2000

Nikkei Weekly || <a href="http://www.isop.ucla.edu/eas/newsfile/koryouth/koryouth-index.htm">Korean Youth Culture</a> || <a href="http://www.isop.ucla.edu/eas/newsfile/index.htm">News File Index</a>

South Korean pop music on a roll Growing popularity spurred by hit movie, Net, cultural exchanges

Young people have been tuning in to more South Korean music because of a recent hit movie, the spread of the Internet and an increase in bilateral cultural exchanges.

Interest in pop music was ignited late last year with the South Korean hit film "Shuri." When sets containing a compact disc of the soundtrack and movie tickets were put on sale by Tower Records Inc. in Tokyo's Shibuya district, they were bought up in a hurry.

Skyrocketing sales

The Internet and an increase in cultural exchanges between the two countries have also fueled music sales.

"Many customers place orders after they have looked over the Web sites of South Korean artists," says Ichiro Shimizu, representative director of Sound Space, a leading importer and wholesaler of South Korean CDs. The company in Tokyo has seen its import volume rapidly increase and monthly sales skyrocket to 4,000 to 5,000 units, up 50% from a year earlier. Sound Space plans to tie up with a South Korean record company to distribute music in cyberspace.

Shibuya's Tower Records has also seen sales soar. South Korean pop now comprises about 25% of the 4,000 CDs in the Asian pop racks, and sales are up some 30% year on year, says company employee Yuko Takenaka.

Music by female groups such as FIN.K.L and SES featuring powerful beats is also selling well, especially among teen-agers and young adults in their 20s.

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2 http://www.hankooki.com/14_6/200004/t20000411212759465129.htm[ | ]

<html> KoreaTimes : Korean Pop Arts Poised to Sweep Asia</title></head> <style type="text/css"> </style> </head> <body bgcolor=white>

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Korean Pop Arts Poised to Sweep Asia

2000 04/11(화) 21:27 <!-search 20000411212759:kt:46:::: ->

 The year 1999 and the months up to now have been encouraging for the local entertainment industry. A series of films and pop idols, after their conquests at home, have made successful landings on markets abroad, particularly in neighboring Asian countries.

 Following the new found popularity of Korean-made films and music in Japan and Taiwan, they are also winning the hearts of people in Southeast Asian countries like Vietnam and Singapore.

 The overseas success is consequently breathing new vigor into the local entertainment industry which had struggled amid the recent economic recession.

 Indeed, Korean films and music have never flourished on markets abroad as they do now. Earlier this year, a local paper reported  that the stylistic film Tell Me Something, a psycho thriller  tracing gruesome serial killings, topped the box office in Hong Kong,  beating strong Hollywood competitors such as Sleepy Hollow and Hurricane Carter.

 Its director Chang Yoon-hyon, who is a leader among a new generation of film makers, is keeping abreast with his colleague Kang Jae-kyu who made last year's box office phenomenon, Swiri.

 Since its debut in Japan last January, the action-melodrama featuring a love story between a North Korean spy and a South Korean secret agent has been shown at over 127 cinemas across Japan and has attracted more than a million  viewers.

 The film also occupied the top spot at box offices in Hong Kong for three consecutive weeks.

 Taiwan is another emerging Asian market for Korean pop culture, thanks to several hit Korean TV series, movies and aggressive marketing. Korean TV dramas such as What Is Love? have been aired with immense popularity in that a number of Taiwanese program producers have mimicked the Korean style.

 In Southeast Asian countries like Vietnam, Korean dramas and TV stars are hot, as shown by the fact that Korean actor Chang Dong-kwon is enjoying a  sensational popularity.

 In the pop music arena, several teen and twenty-something stars have made similarly successful inroads into these countries. Among the front runners is the male singing and dancing duo Clone whose album sold more than 100,000 copies in Taiwan within a month of its release there in 1998, shooting them into the stardom on the island country.

 And their triumphant march continued to mainland China as they held a concert at a mammoth stadium in Beijing last December, as part of the commemorative event marking the 50th anniversary of the People's Republic of China. When asked about their popularity among Chinese, their promoter of said that their strong dance beat and fiery stage presence is refreshing to Chinese who are familiar with more or less slower styled, ballad music.

 In the meantime, teen idols, who have already put the domestic music scene under control, have made an audacious move to lure the hearts of youths in neighboring countries.

 Last month, the boy quintet H.O.T. gave a landmark concert in China where 99 percent of the tickets for the show were sold in advance. Their female rival trio SES also held a series of concerts in Japan last month to promote their second album released in that country.

 Why the sudden popularity of Korean films and music in Asian countries?  Experts are diverse in their opinions. But many suggest the emergence of young consumer groups in those countries as a main factor, apart from their sensibility to Korean music and films that strikes a common chord with their cultures.The younger generation are less inhibited by orthodox thinking and are thus more adventurous in their consumption behaviors, said Shim Yong-sop, a film critic. They are more willing to purchase foreign products, and more easily feel their sensibility.

 Some believe the recent economic crisis is another reason spurring  exports of cultural products. The worst financial turmoil has encouraged local producers to turn out more commercially oriented production. In other words, their financial need has driven them to emphasize more on the entertaining aspect of their production, said Park Yon-woo, an industry  observer.

 Aggressive marketing has also played a part. As in the case of automobile  exports, Korean producers are learning that a carefully planned and boldly  executed marketing drive promotes sales of their films and music abroad as  well. The movie Swiri owes part of its success to the clamorous promotion  activities under the catch phrase of Korean Style Blockbuster  challenging  its Hollywood counterparts.

 However, many critics worry over the increasing commercialism in culture and entertainment, arguing about the media reports on the recent success in  Asian countries. For example, the latest fuss about Korean pop singers are  mainly due to ethnic Koreans living in those countries, and it is a long way  before Korean production takes a hold there.

 Even considering this aspect, most agree the future is more optimistic than before. The current popularity has given the local industry great confidence, said Park. And most importantly, those productions well received overseas have usually passed the test at home before going abroad. This means that if we make something enjoyable to ourselves, it will move the hearts of others as well.

<a href = mailto:gyoung72@mailcity.com>gyoung72@mailcity.com</a>

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