세계 3대 일간지 영국 파이낸셜 타임스(FT)에서 한류에 대한 특집기사를 실었다.

FT는 지난 12월 14일 ‘연예기획사가 K-Pop과 동반상승한다’란 한류 특집기사에서 한국대중문화의 세계적 확산과 연예기획사 주가와의 상관관계를 분석했다.

FT는 한국 팝 스타들이 유튜브와 같은 새로운 미디어 매체를 통해 해외 시장에 빠르게 진출하고 있고 SNS를 통한 한류 확산에 큰 의미를 부여했다.

FT는 한류가 2000년대 초 겨울연가와 같은 인기드라마에서 시작했지만 K-Pop 인기의 세계적 확산 등 한류의 범위와 대상들이 더 광범위해지고 있다고 했다.

이에 대해 한류연구소 한구현 소장은 “한류는 하룻밤 사이에 이뤄진 것이 아니다. 한류가 인기 있는 것은 무엇보다 재미있고 독특하면서도 전 세계 대중들에게 친숙한 문화이기 때문”이라고 분석하면서 “그래서 한류는 더욱 광범위하게 확산될 것”이라고 전망했다.

지난해 11월 11일자 10면 G20 특집기사에서 FT는 이례적으로 대표적인 한류 드라마인 ‘겨울연가’에 대해 소개했다. 당시 FT는 "한류(韓流)는 처음 일본에 상륙했고 최근에는 비와 원더걸스 같은 가수의 음악과 박찬욱 김기덕 감독의 영화들로 동남아까지 퍼졌으며 이를 넘어 중동에까지 그 영향을 미치고 있다"고 한류 열풍과 그 파급효과에 대해 집중 보도했었다.

이 기사에서 한구현 소장은 “한류는 한국의 무역과 국제관계와 같은 다양한 분야에 긍정적인 영향을 주고 있다”며 “한류 전파로 한국이 얻은 경제적 이익은 2008년에만 4조9,000억 정도”라고 예상했다. 또 “한류가 해외에서 인기 있는 중요한 이유 중 하나가 국내에서 한국적 정체성이 없다고 스스로를 비판하는 점이 오히려 국제무대에서 강점으로 발휘하고 있다”고 분석, 즉 한국색을 배제하는 대신 보편타당한 가치 위에 한국 특유의 아름다운 비주얼, 보편적인 감성과 스토리를 넣어 융화시킨 결과물이 한류라고 봤다.

이어 “국내에서는 흥행에 실패할 수 있지만, 이런 측면을 잘 활용해 한류열풍이 지속적으로 세계로 뻗어나갈 수 있도록 지원을 아끼지 말아야 한다”고 강조했다.

김종효 기자 phenomdark@

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Talent agencies ride a wave of K-Pop

December 14, 2011 7:03 am by Song Jung-a

K-Pop (Korean pop) is on a roll. And so are the South Korean talent agencies that nurture pop stars adored by millions of fans across Asia.

The growing popularity of Korean idol groups such as Big Bang and Girls’ Generation have given Korea new-found kudos across the region, boosting stock prices of local entertainment companies and the country’s tourism revenues.

YG Entertainment, the label responsible for some of the biggest acts in Korean pop, made a successful debut on the domestic stock market last month. Its shares more than doubled in their first day of trading on November 23 after individual investors ordered 561 times more stock than was available in the company’s initial public offering. The talent agency, which manages a boy band named Big Bang and a girl group called 2NE1, has climbed nearly 130 per cent so far from its IPO price of Won34,000 ($29) to enjoy a market capitalisation of Won387.4bn.

YG Entertainment is not alone. Its peers such as S.M. Entertainment and JYP Entertainment have all become the country’s stock market stars, with their stock price tripling this year amid K-Pop’s increasing popularity not just in Asia but also in some parts of Europe and America.

Korean pop stars are making fast inroads into foreign markets as YouTube  and other social networking services help them promote K-pop all over the world. Music videos of S.M. Entertainment’s flagship bands such as Girls’ Generation and Super Junior have generated tens of millions of views globally on Google’s YouTube.

In Paris, hundreds of fans rallied in front of the Louvre on May 1, demanding S.M. hold another concert of its artists after about 7,000 tickets for a June concert sold out in just 15 minutes. Music acts of S.M. Entertainment also had a successful concert in Madison Square Garden in New York in October.

The phenomenon, known as Hallyu or Korean wave, which started with popular Korean dramas such as Winter Sonata in early 2000s, is becoming wider with the emergence of a new hip generation of South Korean musicians. These talent agencies recruit youngsters at their teens and groom them through years of rigorous training until they reach stardom. With catchy songs and highly-choreographed dance, these pop acts are now trying to break into western markets.

“The so-called Hallyu was not made overnight. I think it will become wider as Korean pop culture is fun and unique but not entirely foreign to overseas audiences,” says Han Koo-hyun, director of the Korean Wave Research Center.

Seoul has emerged as Asia’s new capital of pop culture on the back of Hallyu. The country is now associated with pop music and TV dramas as much as with cars, chips and mobile phones. Government officials hope that Hallyu would breathe a fresh life into the Korean economy, although its economic growth is still driven mainly by big chaebol groups such as Samsung and Hyundai.

As an economic phenomenon, Hallyu has been a boon to South Korea’s slowing economy as it is not just spreading culture out from Korea, it is also drawing people in. The number of people who visited South Korea specifically to attend events such as album launches, concerts and awards ceremonies doubled to 34,000 last year. Still more came to visit the set of a famous soap opera or movie. According to South Korea’s Trade and Investment Agency, income from cultural exports like pop music and TV shows has been increasing by about 10 per cent a year since 2008, when it was worth almost $2bn.

But can K-pop be a reliable investment? Investors are not yet sure about whether these K-pop groups are bankable, with some raising the possibility of bubbles forming in the red-hot industry.

Despite their increasing global appeal, K-Pop acts such as Wonder Girls and BoA have so far failed to reach the US mainstream market. And any mishaps related to individual pop stars could hurt stock prices of entertainment firms as seen in the case of YG Entertainment’s IPO. The company had to cut its IPO size by 10 per cent at the last minute because, it said, of its lead singer’s marijuana consumption.

Kim Shi-woo, an analyst at Korea Investment & Securities, says K-pop bands have proved profitable in Japan but not yet in other foreign markets. “They have a certain fan base in some parts of the western world but have yet to break into the mainstream markets there. That will take time,” he says. “The firms’ current stock prices reflect their potential, which could be seen as bubble, but I don’t think that bubble would pop easily any time soon.”