South Korea’s K-pop takes off in the west

By Christian Oliver in Seoul

When pop sensation Girls’ Generation recently provided the grand finale to the Late Show with David Letterman, a top slot on US television, it signalled that South Korea’s entertainment industry had broken out of Asia and is now looking to make it big in the west.

Just days after making their first appearance on US network television with their hit single “The Boys”, the band of nine telegenic women this week returned to France – where tickets for a 2011 concert sold out in 15 minutes – to sing on prime time television.

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Korean films, soap operas and “K-Pop” music idols, many of which were modelled on Japan’s own sugary “J-Pop”, have taken Asia by storm over the past decade. But the hallyu – or “Korean wave” as the phenomenon is known in Asia – is now spreading to Europe and the US, and spurring South Korea’s export earnings.

Cultural exports – including films, comics and computer games – hit a record $4.2bn last year, up from $2.6bn in 2009, causing the share prices of leading entertainment studios to soar. Even Korea’s favourite cartoon character, the penguin Pororo, has appeared on television in 120 countries.

Cho Hyun-jin, a government representative who coined the phrase K-Pop for Korean bands in a previous incarnation as a journalist, said the spread of Korean music had surpassed his highest hopes.

“It was my old heroes like Led Zeppelin who famously played Madison Square Garden. Now to see Girls’ Generation there is amazing,” he said.

While Korea has been an export powerhouse for decades in electronics, ships and cars, manufacturing companies have rarely played up their Korean brand identity, fearing until recently they would be seen as inferior in quality to Japanese rivals.

Cultural exports are, however, giving the once reclusive country a global cachet for the first time, shaking off the war-torn images of the US comedy M*A*S*H.

Broadcasting exports such as television dramas hit $252m last year, up from $185m in 2009, according to government statistics. Music earned $177m, soaring from only $31m in 2009. Film exports earned $26m, up from $14m in 2009.

Until recently, hallyu was seen as an Asian phenomenon. A 2003 drama called “Jewel in the Palace” about a female doctor at a 16th-century royal court proved a huge hit from Taiwan to Iran, and has more recently come to eastern Europe.

Asia is still crucial and the most effective managers continue to target export markets there. Park Jin-young, the impresario who runs JYP Entertainment, created the band Miss A with two Korean and two Chinese singers, so they can record their hits in both Korean and Mandarin. Girls’ Generation sing in Korean, English and Japanese.

“The next phase is for the music industry to introduce western singers to globalise the boy and girl bands further,” said Han Koo-hyun, president of the Korean Wave Research Institute.

Koreans have been surprised by the enthusiasm for K-Pop in the west, where Korean culture receives scant attention in mainstream media. Korean newspapers splash photographs of packed French concert halls or British fans greeting Girls’ Generation with signs in Korean.

These European fans have largely discovered K-Pop through social networking sites, Facebook and YouTube.

Many commentators have also observed that K-Pop’s novelty to outsiders comes from the years of training – sometimes in tough quasi-boot camps – that stars endure to ensure their songs are accompanied by immaculate group choreography that is rare in other pop music.

While cultural exports are a source of national pride, Koreans are also calling for improved regulation of the industry. The suicide of Jang Ja-yeon, a soap starlet, in 2009, focused attention on hallyu’s dark underworld where some performers are locked into slave contracts and are told to sleep with managers to win roles.

Additional reporting by Kang Buseong and Jonathan Soble

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"K팝, 아시아를 넘어 서양에서 뜬다"< FT>

| 기사입력 2012-02-13 15:49

미국과 프랑스에서 활약한 '소녀시대' 사례 

(서울=연합뉴스) 김성진 기자 = 걸 그룹 '소녀시대'가 최근 미국 인기 토크쇼 '데이비드 레터맨쇼'에 출연한 것은, 한국의 엔터테인먼트 산업이 아시아를 박차고 나와 서양에서도 뜨는 징조로 볼 수 있다고 13일 파이낸셜타임스(FT) 인터넷판이 보도했다.

FT는 '한국의 K팝이 서양에서 비상하다'라는 제하 기사에서 소녀시대가 지난달 미국 지상파 TV를 통해 히트곡 '더 보이즈'를 선보인 지 며칠 만에 프랑스를 찾아 황금시간대 TV 프로그램에 출연했다면서 이같이 전했다.

신문에 따르면 한국 영화와 드라마, 일본의 감성적 'J팝'에 상당한 영향을 받은 'K팝' 아이돌 그룹은 지난 10년 동안 아시아를 강타했다. 한류는 이제 유럽과 미국으로 뻗어가고 있으며 한국의 수출도 끌어올리고 있다.

한국의 영화, 만화, 컴퓨터 게임 등 문화상품 수출은 지난해 미화 42억 달러(약 4조7천100억원)로, 2009년 26억 달러보다 비약적으로 증가했다. 한국산 인기 애니메이션 '뽀로로'는 전세계 120개국에서 TV로 방영됐다.

한국은 수십년 동안 전자, 조선, 자동차 부문의 수출 강국이었으나, 한국 제조업체들은 경쟁자인 일본 업체들보다 열등한 것으로 인식될까 봐 최근까지도 한국 브랜드라는 사실을 숨겨왔다.

그러나 한류로 대변되는 문화상품 수출 덕분에 한때 '은둔의 나라'였던 한국이 사상 처음으로 국제화한 특성을 갖게 됐다. 또 미국 TV시리즈 '매쉬(M-A-S-H)'에 나타났듯 전쟁의 상흔을 가진 나라라는 이미지도 떨쳐버렸다.

한국 정부 통계에 따르면 지난해 TV 드라마 같은 방송부문 수출은 2억5천200만 달러로, 2009년 1억8천500만달러보다 크게 늘었다. 같은 기간 음악부문도 3천100만 달러에서 1억7천700만 달러로 치솟고, 영화 수출도 1천400만 달러에서 2천600만 달러로 증가했다.

최근까지만 해도 한류는 아시아에 국한된 현상이었다.

그러나 2003년작 드라마 '대장금'은 대만에서 이란까지 크게 히트 쳤고 최근에는 동유럽까지 그 열기가 전파됐다.

아시아는 여전히 중요한 시장으로, 가장 유능한 매니저들은 계속 아시아를 표적으로 삼는다.

실제로 가수 겸 제작자 박진영(JYP 엔터테인먼트 대표)은 그룹 미스A를 2명의 한국인과 2명의 중국인 가수로 구성해 한국어와 중국어로 음반을 발매했다.

한구현 한류연구소장은 "다음 단계에서는 아이돌 그룹을 더 글로벌하게 만들기 위해 음반산업 쪽에서 서양 가수들을 끌어들일 것"이라고 말했다.

서양에서 K팝을 비롯한 한류는 최근까지 좀처럼 주류 언론에서 다뤄지지 않는 대신 페이스북이나 유튜브 같은 소셜네트워크 사이트를 통해 전파됐다.

많은 평론가는 K팝의 인기 비결과 관련, 때로는 신병훈련소에 버금갈 정도의 혹독한 합숙 훈련을 수년 동안 거쳐 다른 팝 뮤직에서 좀처럼 보기 어려운, 빈틈없는 그룹 안무와 가창 실력을 갖췄기 때문이라고 분석했다.

이 같은 문화상품의 해외 진출은 국가적 자부심을 제공하기도 하지만, 한국인들은 관련 산업에 대한 규제 완화를 촉구하고 있다.

그러나 2009년 고(故) 장자연씨 사건의 경우 일부 연예인들이 노예 계약에 묶여 있고 무대에 오르기 위해 매니저들과 동침까지 요구받는 등 한류의 어두운 면을 부각시키기도 했다고 신문은 덧붙였다.

sungjin@yna.co.kr