파이팅! 파이팅!

Korean Entertainment Expands Cultural

→ By Cayte Akamu (‘25) FEATURE

Korean entertainment has been growing in popularity in the U.S. Korean pop music (K-pop) had its big break in 2012 when Psy’s mega hit “Gangnam Style” won fans across North America. Since then, K-pop has accumulated a huge fanbase: Since 2014, K-pop music has been streamed for more than 134 billion minutes on Spotify. With their artistic talents, personalities, and stylized looks, many K-pop groups and soloists have risen to popularity worldwide, including NCT 127, Eric Nam, Keshi, ATEEZ, Straykids, and TWICE. Korean TV dramas, too, have been growing in popularity since the 70’s.

According to the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA), an agency of the Korean government that “oversees and coordinates the promotion of the Korean content industry,” there are more than 18 million viewers of Korean TV dramas in the United States.

At Hawaii Baptist Academy, there is a growing fanbase for Korean entertainment, especially for K-pop. “My parents are Korean, so I grew up around it,” said freshman Olivia Kim. Junior Jaden Tran added, “I was at my cousin’s house over the summer. I didn’t like [K-pop] before, so they were trying to convert me into liking it, and eventually they got me.” When people have friends and family who love Korean entertainment, it’s easy for them to become fans as well. “My friend was a fan of BTS,” said sophomore Ree Fukumoto, “and she would play their songs around me, which piqued my interest. Ever since then, I’ve supported BTS and other groups too, like Girls Generation and TXT. ” Fukumoto has been a K-pop fan since 2017. Music recommendations can also come from more unexpected sources: Junior Jadynn Wong shared that it was her hairstylist that introduced her to Korean entertainment when she was in sixth grade.

HBA’s middle and high school Admissions Director Patricia Li, who is Korean, offered an explanation for why Korean pop culture has been able to reach a worldwide audience. “The only natural resources Korea has are its people. So that’s why education is super important. Korea was very, very poor in the 50s because of the Korean War, and the president back then required everyone to work around 12 hours a day in the factories to get everything done. They accrued a lot of wealth by doing that. And now we’re reaching the point where there’s huge global companies like Samsung and Hyundai, but though maybe Korea can’t compete economically, we can win a cultural war. So the Korean government decided to sponsor a lot of K-pop groups, K-dramas, and movies, and that’s why they became so big. Like when you go to Times Square in New York, they have huge billboards featuring Korean culture with pictures of food and K-pop stars,” she said.

Currently, Korean boy band BTS or 방 (“Bangtan Sonyeonda” meaning Bulletproof Boy Scouts) is arguably the most popular K-pop band in America. This seven-member band has sold out multiple stadiums in minutes, including the Rose Bowl in California, Seoul Olympic Stadium in Korean, and Wembley Stadium in London. Senior Samantha Cerda said, “I think K-pop is so popular because it’s something different, and BTS definitely pushed it to the U.S. But they also made their songs English so that Americans can follow along, and slowly now as they’re starting to release more Korean songs, it’s