The Korean Wave in a Post-Pandemic World: BTS, Cosmax and Squid Game

This book presents an analysis of how the economic Korean Miracle spread into the cultural “Korean Wave” (Hallyu). First only in Asian countries and then around the world, the rising popularity of the Korean Wave continued within the pandemic―despite or even because of policies of digital lockdowns. Partially, this has been by design as Korea for decades has had a very strong fast development drive in telecommunications and that aided the growth of its cultural wave. Partially however, this became exclusively by default how the Korean Wave had to spread increasingly in a digital manner after 2020 globally, in response to many countries’ rules regarding the COVID-19 pandemic in their attempts to enforce a decline in face-to-face content consumption. In retrospect, this has meant only more digital growth and innovation for the Korean Wave in past years compared to other cultures' entertainment complexes that suffered more. Korea's earlier digital readiness combined with later lockdownconditions and pushed the Korean Wave further ahead.

 

Despite the ending of COVID-19 lockdowns in many countries, a greater digital aftermath will continue in the cultural industry and in the economy in general. This is due to changes created in cultural preferences, in organizational investments, and in communication technologies due to those lockdowns. Thus, the authors examine how the Korean Wave coped actively with a pronounced digital shift by default in all aspects of media including production, distribution, and consumption. In turn, they examine how the greater digital shift in the world’s culture and economy influenced the Korean Wave’s entertainment performances, TV dramas, and cosmetics―among other areas. The authors analyze general trends in the Korean Wave’s economics, culture, and technology along with specific strong cases of the K-pop boy group BTS, the cosmetics manufacturer Cosmax, and the television series Squid Game. Since the Korean Wavecontinues to grow in popularity within a more exclusive digital socialization, future implications of such a competitive digital world economy and multi-polar digital world culture are discussed for all countries as well.

 

Dr. Geon-Cheol Shin is Professor of the School of Management and Executive Director of the Management Research Institute at Kyung Hee University in Seoul, Korea. He currently serves as Country Director of Korea for the Academy of International Business. He has served as President of both the Korean Academy of International Business and the Association of APEC Studies. He has authored a dozen books, among which include Global Business, Marketing Principles in the Era of Market 4.o, and Event Marketing. He has published over 100 articles in journals such as Korean Management Review, Korean Journal of International Business, Industrial Marketing Management, International Marketing Review, Journal of Product Innovation Management, International Business Review, Journal of Brand Management, Journal of Global Marketing, Journal of Global Academy of Marketing Science, International Journal of Technology Management, Service Business, Tourism Economics, Journal of Financial Risk Management, Multidisciplinary Scientific Journal, International Journal of Business Information Systems, Global Economic Review, and the European Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management. His research interests are in the areas of competitive strategies in international markets and in global strategic management, particularly on dynamic competitive strategies in the global entertainment and cosmetics industries. He serves on the editorial board of the Asia Pacific Business Review and is Guest Editor of its special issue entitled “Post-pandemic business opportunities in East Asia: risk management, organizational survival and providing goods and services for the new normal”.

Dr. Mark D. Whitaker (U. of Wisconsin-Madison, 2008) is American Sociology Professor and Author at Stony Brook University’s Department of Technology and Society, at the State University of New York, Korea (SUNY Korea). His research is in comparative historical human, environmental, and technical interactions. He isinterested in how changes of digital media regimes change cultural forms and patterns of economic development worldwide. He is involved in curricular development on how quickly Information Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D), particularly in mobile phone networks, has changed the dynamics of the world’s development―a trend that is very strong in South Korea. He has lived and worked in South Korea since 2007, studying the Korean culture and its digital economy. Supportive grants for his research have come from both the U.S. National Research Foundation (2010) and the Korean National Research Foundation (2014; 2020–2023)―the latter honors being rare for a foreign national in Korea. In 2019, he was invited to present at the United Nations Secretariat in New York on ICT4D and at the Asia Development Bank in Manila, Philippines.