YOU may have danced to Psy’s Gangnam Style in 2012 and lit things up like Dynamite as the Korean boy band BTS started topping the international music charts.
This soon moved to the love of reading subtitles on K-dramas and attempting to make seaweed soup for a loved one's birthday. All these are homegrown in South Korea, and the Korean wave has surely landed on our local shores.
Fans of K-culture were treated to a three-day festival this weekend at the Korean Cultural Festival in Pretoria to "Feel Korea".
READ: Mr Thela set to take over South Korea!
The festival brought some cultural experiences for the fans to immerse themselves in from K-pop to K-beauty, K-food to even a karaoke booth, and Netflix hosting special screenings of their most popular shows from Korea.
Jaeil Lee from the Korean Cultural Centre SA expressed that it was an interesting time to be a Korean as so many people actually recognised a lot of the culture.
Lee added that: “with the success of BTS and BlackPink – and also with the help of Netflix – I think Korean culture is getting another platform that can reach out more globally to other audiences in other parts of the world.”
The rise of K-pop can be witnessed on the Spotify charts with Korean bands making great headway in international playlists. This year saw BTS members carve a path for their solo careers and their success is evident in band member Jung Kook taking the fourth spot on the Spotify list of top global spots of 2023 with Seven - featuring Latto.
The song, which was released in July, boasts more than 294 million views on YouTube.
Netflix has also contributed to the "Korean Wave" or Hallyu with its content from South Korea. The demand and global rise in Korean consumers has also been proved by Netflix’s $2,5 billion (R47 billion) investment in the Asian country over the next four years to produce Korean TV series, movies, and unscripted shows – this is reported to be double their investment in the market since 2016.
More than 3 000 people are said to have visited the centre during the three-day festival.
Lee said this also “reminds us of our commitment to provide more space and opportunities for South Africans to authentically enjoy Korean culture as well as to provide a venue to bridge two countries between South Africa and South Korea through cultural exchanges.”
In case you missed the festival, the Korean Culture Centre is open throughout the year and offers exhibitions that immerse visitors in the culture.
“The Korean Culture Centre offers regular programs that include language courses, we have Taekwondo, and also Korean cooking class. And on top of this, we have this kind of festival. We organise concerts and exhibitions. A lot of programs are lined up for the next year so people can follow our social media and our visit our website” Lee said.
