Hallyu, widespread popularity of Korean pop culture in East Asia, is an unprecedented experience for the nationals.
Koreans, traditionally under the heavy cultural influence of China and, relatively recently, Japan and the United States, seems to feel both wonder and jitters, just like a lifetime supporting actor who for the first time takes up an unfamiliar lead role.
Changbi Publishing's symposium, titled "Korea's Cultural Power Spreading in East Asia", is an attempt to illuminate the hallyu phenomenon. The symposium was held to mark the 40th anniversary of Socially-Active, a quarterly magazine. Japan's Ritsumeikan University co-hosted the symposium.
Held on Friday and Saturday in Kyoto, Japan, the international symposium delved into the wide spectrum of hallyu's implications, bearing the potential to develop into another form of cultural imperialism or pave the way for a multicultural community in Northeast, or East Asia.
Lee Wook-yon, professor of Chinese literature at Sogang University, noted that the "Korean wave" has most, of all, enhanced Korea's gloomy image, customarily associated with the division and the former military regimes, in East Asia.
According to Lee, Korea's "hybridized" cultural peculiarity has appealed to Asians. "Korea has deftly filtered Western cultural factors to fit the Asian sentiment as well as adapted the Eastern culture to something Western and contemporary. Thereby, Korean culture could be viewed as keeping an exquisite balance between the traditional and contemporary, and the East and West".
However, he suggests Korean pop culture seek coexistence with other Asian cultures. "If the Korean wave distorts or encroaches on the vitality of other Asian cultures, it would be nothing short of an East Asian version of cultural imperialism". Then, the cultural phenomena would be a mechanism that would hinder peace and coexistence in the region, he stressed.
Lee suggests Koreans should not brag of their cultural rise but approach the trend from more a comprehensive perspective for the region's future. In that context, he contends Koreans understand what has driven Asian nations to actively import Korea's cultural products. For example, the Chinese culture professor points out that the popularity of Korean culture rose in the mainland, particularly since the late 1990s, when the Chinese began to turn to their traditions as a reaction to a wave of capitalization. In other words, Korean dramas and movies that maintain Asian values such as Confucianism could appeal to the Chinese who then swung back to their traditions from their liberal experiments. According to him, the Chinese stomach Korean culture in their own context just as they did Japanese culture before the late 1990s.
The professor also notes the Korean wave could be viewed as a cornerstone in the buildup to the region's cultural community. "I would dare to predict that the East Asians will fast form the East Asian cultural community with Korean, Japanese and Chinese waves competing and mixing", he said. "The Korean wave has contributed much to the process as it becomes already irreversible for the Asian cultures to take after or refer to each other".
Kazuo Ogura, Japanese scholar on Korean philosophy, also views hallyu in the context of inter-strait relations, stressing the Korean wave reflects Japan's frustration. According to him, there has been a so-called "Look to Korea" syndrome in Japan since the 1990s, people keep saying we are "learning from Korea" on restructuring, political reform, civic groups, patriotism, Confucian family values, globalization and so on.
"In a word, the right, the left, and the new liberals are all shouting that Japan needs to learn from Korea", he said. The scholar analyzed the trend as "postmodern" Japan's envious attitude to "pre-modern" or "modern" Korea. "The Japanese feel attracted by Korean actors, because they are modern actors. Japan's postmodern actors are neither rational nor have a responsibility to shoulder. In other words, they (Japanese) have degenerated", he said.
According to the scholar, the Korean wave is not just a fashion but mirrors Japan's reflection on itself, as if to say "Japan has no hope now. We need to learn from Korea".
He interestingly points out the Korean wave is the third of its kind from the peninsula to the archipelago, with the first being the transfer of Chinese characters, Confucianism and other civilizations in ancient times and the second being the spread of Chu Hsi's teaching in the 16th century. By saying that, the Japanese scholar seems to believe the third Korean wave could be a wind of change to a stagnant Japanese culture.
In other respects, he also asks Koreans to learn from Japan in its modernization. "Korea's modernization has yet to be completed. It is evident that Japan gives many hints to Korea in its modernization".
Natsuo Hayashi (The spelling has yet to be confirmed), international relations professor of Toyama University, also points to the possible synergetic effect between the two cultures. Taking the example of the Korean film "Old Boy" that gets motifs from a Japanese namesake comic, the two cultures had better be viewed not as confrontational but cooperative, Natsuo said.
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