한구현 한류연구소장, 英 '파이낸셜타임스' 인터뷰에서 한류 전파

| 기사입력 2011-02-11 17:18 | 최종수정 2011-02-11 17:34

【서울=뉴시스】유희연 기자 = 동아시아에서 성공한 국내 드라마와 영화 음악들이 이제는 전 세계적으로 한류를 알리는 교두보 역할을 하고 있다. 일각에서는 이러한 한류 대중문화를 통한 한국의 경제적 이익이 무역과 정치를 넘어섰다는 평가다.

지난해 11월 세계 3대 일간지 중 하나인 파이낸셜타임스(FT, Financial Times)가 이례적으로 대표적인 한류 드라마인 ‘겨울연가’에 대해 소개하면서, “한류(韓流)는 처음 일본에 상륙했지만, 최근에는 비와 원더걸스 같은 가수 음악과 박찬욱 김기덕 감독의 영화들로 동남아까지 퍼졌으며 이를 넘어 중동에까지 그 영향을 미치고 있다”고 한류 열풍과 그 파급효과에 대해 집중 보도했다.

한류 열풍으로 인해서 우리나라는 주변국가인 중국이나 일본에 비해 열악한 관광인프라를 문화 산업이라는 새로운 키워드로 개발하고 있다. 이로 인한 경제적 이익 또한 대단하다.

한류연구소 한구현 소장은, “한류는 무역과 정치와 같은 다양한 분야에 긍정적인 영향을 주고 있다"며 “한류 전파로 한국이 얻은 경제적 이익은 2008년에만 4조 9000억 정도”라고 예상했다.

한국관광공사는 최근 우리나라를 찾는 외국인 관광객 수는 2009년 781만 명에서 지난 해 870만 명에 달한다고 밝혔다. 그 중, 대표적인 한류드라마 ‘겨울연가’의 촬영지인 남이섬을 찾은 외국인 관광객 수는 무려 24만 명이다.

외국인들이 우리나라를 찾는 이유는 한미간 비즈니스의 증가나 유네스코 세계 문화유산 등재 등의 영향도 있지만, 한식, 한국 드라마, 한국 영화, 한국 음악 등의 다양한 한류 문화가 세계적으로 알려지면서 관광산업이 발달하고 있다는 분석이다. 특히 드라마나 영화를 통해 보여지는 우리나라의 아름다운 영상은 한류 열풍을 일으키는 큰 장점이 된다.

한 소장은 또, “한류가 해외에서 인기 있는 이유 중 하나가 한국적인 특징이 없는 대신 아름다운 영상과 글로벌에서도 통하는 보편적인 감정과 이야기를 다루기 때문”이라며, “국내에서는 흥행에 실패할 수 있지만, 이러한 측면을 잘 활용하여 한류열풍이 지속적으로 세계로 뻗어나갈 수 있도록 지원을 아끼지 말아야 한다”고 강조했다.

강원도 관광청은 겨울연가의 아름다운 배경이 되었던 남이섬을 해외 영화 및 다른 TV 시리즈의 촬영지로 홍보, 이 기회를 활용한다는 방침이다.

이미 말레이시아에서는 최근 남이섬을 대상으로 더 콜링 오프 남이 아일랜드(The Calling of Nami Island) 라는 드라마를 제작해 방영 중에 있어 동남아 지역 관광객의 수는 점차 더 크게 증가할 전망이다.

yhy84@newsis.com
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TOurists flock to Nami Island on pilgrimage to pop culture

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Arts and culture

A television series is credited with triggering the 'Korean Wave' in Asia and the

middle East, says Robin Kwong
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Unlike the lazy flow of the Bukhangang river, the daily stream of tourists visiting Nami Island is bubbly and excited. What attracts more than 200,000 visitors a year to the 4km-long island is not just the fact that Nami Island is a theme park – it is a theme park based solely around a single ­television show.

That TV series is Winter Sonata, a wildly popular Korean drama that first aired in 2002. Winter Sonata, which was largely filmed on Nami Island, was one of the first Korean dramas to have enjoyed huge success overseas and so, on a typical weekday last month, Nami Island is filled with tourists from Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand.

The drama’s overseas success is often credited with triggering the spread of a wave of Korean popular culture internationally. This phenomenon, known as Hallyu, or the “Korean Wave”, began with TV dramas but later included music from singers such as Rain and the Wonder Girls, and movies from directors such as Park Chan-wook and Kim Ki-duk.

It is also a part of a bigger trend of popular cultures mixing across the language and country borders in Asia over the past decade. Besides Korean dramas, Japanese, Taiwanese and Hong Kong TV series have by turns taken the region by storm.

Winter Sonata’s plot revolves around Joon-sang, a talented architect who remembers nothing about his past, or his childhood love Yu-jin, because he was brainwashed by his mother following a traffic accident. Scenes of Joon-sang’s childhood and his subsequent return to the place where he grew up were filmed in snow-covered Nami during winter.

 

These days it is not just Koreans who make the pilgrimage to Nami to see the tree-lined paths where Joon-sang and Yu-jin rode a tandem bicycle together, or the picnic table where they first kissed.

Ng Hui Fang, who is visiting with her mother, says her family had planned this trip for a year because her mother really wanted to visit after watching Winter Sonata.

“Everyone came except my father, who doesn’t like Korean dramas,” she says.

“The Korean Wave is having a ­positive influence on a ­variety of fields such as international trade and politics,” says Han Koo-Hyun, director of the Korean Wave Research Center. Mr Han estimates that the spread of Hallyu created economic benefits in Korea to the tune of Won 4,900bn ($4.4bn) in 2008 alone.

While Hallyu initially touched down in Japan, in recent years it has spread to other south-east Asian countries, and even further afield to the Middle East. That effect is most clearly seen in Nami Island. Overall foreign tourist visits increased from 170,000 in 2008 to 240,000 last year. In particular, the number of Thai visitors rose 70 per cent over that period, to 58,000, while the number of Japanese visitors has remained stable at about 20,000.

About 80 per cent of package tours from south-east Asian countries to South Korea include Nami Island as part of the itinerary. “Gangwon province was already known for its ski resorts and winter sports, but Winter Sonata gave us the opportunity to offer a different type of tourism attraction,” said Wee Bang-hee, from the tourism marketing headquarters of the Gangwon provincial government.

The tourism office of Gangwon province, where Nami Island is located, is taking advantage of this by promoting Nami not only as the place where Winter Sonata was filmed but also a filming location for foreign movies and TV series. Since the ­initiative began this year three foreign film crews have already been to Nami Island.

Ms Wee said the island was now preparing for a surge of Malaysian tourists thanks to the airing in Malaysia this month of a television drama, The calling of Nami Island, which was recently filmed there.

A television station in Dubai also recently bought rights to Winter Sonata, indicating the spread of the drama’s popularity to the Middle East.

This, however, has created one problem. “If they are Muslim, it is difficult to travel to Korea because of the food,” she said. To resolve that, Nami Island is preparing to open a prayer room and a Muslim restaurant.

Yet perhaps one of the most ­unusual aspects of the spread of ­Hallyu is that it came as something of a surprise to most Koreans.

“Nobody expected [that Winter Sonata would be such a big hit] and then nobody expected it would spread to south-east Asia,” Ms Wee said.

Mr Han, of the Hallyu Research Institute, said part of the appeal of Hallyu abroad is that it lacks distinctive Korean features, and instead draws on beautiful visuals and universal emotions and stories. While this aspect of Korean pop culture has been criticised domestically, Mr Han believes this is an advantage.

“Actually, Winter Sonata was a failure in its popularity among Korean people [but] the Korean Wave is very receptive to other cultures,” he said.