Actress and MC Park Jeong-sook, star of "hallyu" or the Korean wave thanks to her performance in the hit soap opera "Jewel in the Palace" ("Dae Jang Geum"), added a scholarly touch to her resume with her completion of a thesis on hallyu at Columbia University this month.
In her master's dissertation "Hallyu, Organic Power in Asia", Park defined it as a new power, which has organically developed in Asia with its increasingly popular Korean TV dramas and K-pop.
One of the most important characteristics of the phenomenon is that hallyu grew from the bottom up not the other way round.
"Though I based my thesis on constructivism and soft power for a theoretical framework, there is one thing different between soft power and hallyu", she told The Korea Times Tuesday. "Soft power is intended to generate something like cooperation but hallyu just naturally starts as more and more people like it and its power snowballs".
Actually, Korean soap operas including "Jewel" are now spreading beyond Asia to businesses in European countries, which have signed various types of memoranda of understanding and contracts with Korean production companies.
She explained the changed international environment such as the end of Cold War and the development of information technology helped hallyu grow very fast.
From an academic viewpoint, she said traditional international theories like realism and liberalism are giving way to constructivism, which predicts that cross-border sharing of similar cultural content will lead to the development of a common identity among various peoples of a region.
Park was sure that the 21st century would see increasing cultural exchange, saying that the New York Philharmonic concert held in Pyongyang Tuesday was a good example of how cultural events can positively affect international relations.
"From the New York Philharmonic concert in Pyongyang, we can see a `cultural' gesture was used in a bid to promote international relations", Park said.
She added Seoul's relations with Tokyo and Hanoi had greatly improved because of the cultural influence of hallyu. People in Japan and Vietnam, who used to look at Korea without affection, began to study it after watching Korean dramas.
Even North Koreans reportedly enjoy watching South Korean soap operas secretly, making the isolated people wake up to the real truth, she said.
Against this backdrop, she suggested the government should not try to force cultural policy on artists and the public given that real cultural strength is not a top-down phenomenon, but rather grows naturally.
"In short, unless cultural aspects develop power organically, I mean, in a natural way, the culture loses its power", she said.
Park also said Koreans need to expand the idea of hallyu to a regional identity as she thinks it is the right way for it to prosper in the future.
"Asia is facing a new phase, and it is time to create a regional identity with the great opportunity of hallyu", she said. "If we just try to show Korean culture under the name of hallyu, it will not grow further. With our experiences and networks, we need to help other cultures develop in Asia and that's how Korea can become a cultural hub in Asia".
Park graduated from Columbia University with a masters in international affairs on Feb. 13 and will teach cultural exchange and communication at the Institute of International Education of Kyung Hee University in Seoul as a visiting professor, starting next month.
A goodwill ambassador of Seoul City, Park didn't fail to mention that the city opened the Global Center last month to offer a one-stop service for foreign residents.
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