Korean soft power: K-Pop in support of Korean diplomacy
This musical trend is totally unknown in France and yet, through the internet, it gathers an active and passionate community. Discover this intercultural light on K-pop as a Korean soft-power.
In this month of June 2011, it is the stupefaction for the travelers and the whole of the personnel at the airport of Roissy-Charles de Gaule. On the 8th, in the middle of the afternoon, the arrivals hall was stormed by seven hundred K-pop fans. This musical trend is totally unknown in France and yet, through the internet, it is gathering an active and passionate community. Two dates of exceptional concerts are planned within three days at the Zenith.
It's the first time that the community will finally attend the show of their favorite bands; F(x), Shinee etc .... This is an appointment not to be missed for this community which includes all generations and both sexes. That day, the Korean journalists on the spot are pleased to spot among the crowd, Michelle, a 65 years old woman, headbanded with the national flag. She is there too, just as passionate as the younger ones. All are galvanized. The three hours of waiting to see their idols come out will not exhaust the energy of these afficionados. We chant slogans, we sing in Korean. After this sudden storm in the hall of the airport, the community of the K-pop fans fall back in the shade.
K-Pop and politics
It is necessary to wait until 2016 to find such an explosion of energy. A new concert was organized at the same time as the second official visit to France of President Park Geun-hye. A third of the audience came from all over Europe. If the festival programmed several groups including Shinee at the end of the program (the most famous), it is the arrival on stage of BTS in the middle of the program that makes the room stand up. We sing in Korean, we dance. President Park also attended the concert. At the official stand and also for the big Korean pundits who sneaked among the fans, it is the astonishment.
Two years later, during the visit of President Moon Jae-in in France in October 2018, BTS1, which has since become an international reference, will put its world tour on hold to travel by private jet from Berlin to give a concert organized by the Korean government and chaired by President Moon. The four hundred guests are hand-picked but the fans will not be forgotten. Among the artists present that night, it is still BTS who will serve as a detonator to the ardor of the fans.
Many K-pop groups have had impressive success around the world. But BTS has its own path, reflecting the new forms of distribution networks and music consumption. Owned by a small label, the group founded in 2013 merges hip-pop with K-pop. The music is simple, the choruses in English and the choreography extremely worked. The label has few means to ensure its promotion; internet is therefore the chosen path. Very quickly the group is noticed and flies of success in success. It gathers records pushing Time in 2017 to include them in its list of the 25 most influential personalities on the Internet. Success that is only confirmed when it is the North American market that is inflamed for its boys clean on them, defending universal values (intervention at the UN, partnership with UNESCO) and youth. This small label, which has grown with BTS, was valued at 4 billion dollars when it went public.
Legitimize the country on the international scene
In a few years, due to its success, BTS has become a major diplomatic tool for South Korea. Shrimp2 stuck between the American, Chinese, Russian and Japanese whales, the country is struggling to find its place on the international scene. If the 1988 Olympic Games were a recognition of its exemplary development, today soft-power is an essential element of the country's international policy. The best known is the Hallyu (the wave). This term describes the surge of Korean pop culture; mainly drama (TV series that can be found today even on Netflix) and K-pop. Marketing object par excellence, the Korean government is rather lagging behind and not really the leader of these commercial successes. Nevertheless, in other sectors, it is a strong initiator through governmental agencies: cinema, literature, comics (manhwa), food (the presence of Korean products in supermarkets is not that insignificant) and actions with UNESCO for the recognition of its history and culture.
Even the management of the COVID crisis, cited as exemplary, has given rise to a white paper3, a well-furnished Wikipedia page on the subject4 and concrete aid to the country suffering the full force of the pandemic.
A major diplomatic tool
A soft power that bears fruit since over the years South Korea has become a reference in many sectors for the visible part. For the less visible part, the country has also built up a solid network of support, from politicians to simple K-pop fans, on which it can rely to defend its interests.
1 BTS originally stands for Bangtan Sonyeondan. As the group went international, it was later preferred to Bangtan Boys. Since 2017, the meaning given is Beyond the Scene.
2 Analogy with a Korean proverb "When whales fight, shrimps have broken backs".
About the author
After having been HR Manager and then Management Consultant, Arnaud now collaborates with two South Korean companies, one based in Paris and the other in Seoul, working in the field of training.
With a bi-cultural profile, he shows a strong interest for Confucian countries and more particularly for the Korean peninsula. As a consultant in intercultural management specialized on Korea, he intervenes in companies and business schools on issues related to this country or its neighbors.
In his next book, to be published by Lemieux éditeur, he offers an uncompromising analysis of Korean society based on real-life situations.