Is K-pop the Secret to World Peace?? (K-pop, soft power, and politics)| K-pop Video Essay & Analysis

Welcome to the first installment in the kpop video essay series, "Academic K-pop Analysis"! In this series, I explain what academics are writing about K-pop in an accessible way. Today I consider the question, "is K-pop the secret to world peace?" and explain how political concepts like soft power, middle power, and cultural hegemony relate to South Korea's K-pop and Hallyu, or "the Korean Wave".

Please feel free to leave a comment asking questions, giving your own thoughts, or correcting me if you think I’ve made any mistakes! A lot of these (very complex) ideas have been simplified for brevity’s sake, but I hope I haven’t misrepresented any of these scholars.

Written, researched, edited, and voiced by myself.

#Kpop #SoftPower #Politics #VideoEssay #WorldPeace #IR #Analysis

[kathiohneplan]

omg thank you for the literature list, i am writing a paper on sk's soft power and diplomacy rn, this is super helpful <3

[samkim]

While this content is too academic to go viral, your effort and research is clear. I'm glad I was able to find this gem. BTW have you heard of professor Richards from Penn St? He has overwhelming expectations of Hallyu.

[naomiportlouis]

This is very helpful for my research essay on K-pop as a form of national culture and its projection over seas! Love these kinds of videos.

[hannar]

Finally made time to go through all your video’s!! Nice job, I’m excited to learn about all the other topics you’ve covered so far :)

[ignaciogordillotorres]

Love the video essay style and the time you put into these graphics! As someone who has little (no) knowledge of Korean culture or politics, this was super eye opening. Hype for the next installment!

[TheKpopProf]

Wow, this is really well done! I might actually just tell my students to watch this video in the future, instead of my own explanation.

[Christine-hgnp]

Thank you for doing this video! You bring up so many interesting points and make me want to look into this subject further. I am a new BTS and K-pop fan who finds this subject matter very interesting. And I somewhat seriously have wondered if BTS is the key to world peace because of all the fans they bring together from around the world.

[sfukuda]

This was an incredibly well produced video. I agree on quite a few points. As my academic background is in the natural sciences, please understand that these ideas are just my opinions.
The government should never be seen as directly pushing their cultural products. Ideally, a government can create systems that enhance and grow the "art stream". In the context of computers, IT, and apps, this would be the Silicon Valley model. In SK, the broadcast networks are subsidized or directly owned by the government. And music shows are a huge part of idol life. So, I'm cool with that. Direct intervention, I'm not a fan of.
For issues of cultural hegemony, we must address this overwhelming fact: the US dominates the cultural landscape, when it comes to advanced media (films, television, video games). K-pop has been able to carve out a niche, but does not have the dominance it could achieve if, say, the Western music industry were to suddenly collapse.
I must admit, I see the relationship between Hallyu and Western Culture as much more adversarial than most. I see much of the cultural products of the US advancing an Orientalist perspective, while the Hallyu wave pushes back against it. Evidence of this struggle are the snub by the Grammys to BTS, and the outrage in certain circles regarding the Oscar won by Parasite.
Of course, I could just be jumping at shadows. The reaction against Hallyu may be due to mere fear of change. I think this reaction to specifically Asian-dominated media ought to be examined, though.
Oh, and if you haven't thought of this already: soft power can become hard power. The export of cultural products, especially in physical form such as DVDs, photocards, and CD's, means money is flowing into the home country. With new technologies, there are even more ways to monetize the popularity of idol groups. Cultural exports are indeed exports, in other words.

[lookatmiz]

I'm reviewing a book about NSP and ASEAN-ROK's deepening relations. This was insightful and you presented the info in such an interesting, digestible and relevant way (perhaps way better than the Author of this one chapter im reading! Way too much academic verbose geez). I will definitely go back to this video to reorient my perspective. We need more of these educational videos. Thank you.

[zeusmultirotor]

would like to see a similar video analyzing the Sana/Emperor of Japan scandal

[platyboss]

Hey Kim, is there a way to talk to you about all of this? Im a student of political science from Germany and plan on writing my bachelor thesis exactly about this topic. Greetings