Page 36 - issue 29 En

ELITE ISSUE 29, MARCH 2021

The rise of hallyu

Maram Mofreh Mohamed

SECOND LEVEL- ECONOMICS

In 2020, the world witnessed the South Korean How did the Hallyu wave actually begin? The
director Bong Joon-ho along with the crew of the popularity of the Korean culture started to
movie "Parasite" claim the Academy award for best increase starting from the mid-nineties of the
motion picture, which is the most prestigious award last century. Surely, there are multiple factors
provided by the academy, as well as three other that aided in widely increasing its fame.
awards, thus achieving an unprecedented success as Firstly, the foreign travel ban which was
the first non-English movie to achieve this award. In enforced on the South Korean citizens during
the year 2019, South Korean boy band "BTS" the eighties was lifted early in the nineties,
headlines the iconic Wembley Stadium, which lies in which thus allowed many of the Korean youth
the heart of London, for two consecutive nights selling to discover the world around them as well as
out more than a hundred thousand tickets. What can learn and gain experience in both the different
be foreseen from this, is the vast spreading of the great business and artistic fields. Consequently, they
passion of millions of people from different countries brought these valuable experiences to their
around the world for the Korean culture, a mother country which filled the Korean labour
phenomenon which can also be clearly viewed in our markets with talented youth who possessed
everyday lives, this is known as Hallyu.
fresh ideas. Moreover, the South Korean
government removed the censorship on
Hallyu is a Chinese term that literally translates to creative works which prohibited the discussion
"Korean Wave", this term refers to the continuous of various topics as well as prevented artists
growth of the global fame of the Korean culture and from reaching creative freedom. Henceforth,
soft powers starting from the nineties in various the removal of such censorship fundamentally
domains such as music, movies, cuisine, dramas and
even beauty and skincare. This spreading which first paved the way for the surge of multiple
workers that connected people with the
started in neighboring countries such as China and
Japan, but quickly spread to reach most Asian Korean arts and essentially lay the foundation
countries, Latin America as well as the Middle East, for the Hallyu wave.
and still its popularity is further increasing till it
reached what we have witnessed recently.

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