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The Korean pop culture has become one of pop cultures most beloved among Asian fans during the last 10 years. Asia is no longer dominated by American popular culture, and the fans are now able to choose what they consider more “Asian.” Many have recently come to prefer Korean pop culture, which they consider to be cool and trendy, as well as something that contains Asian values and sentiments.

Increasingly throughout Asia have chosen to watch Korean movies, music Korean People follow the Korean soap operas, and even travel to Korea to visit sites they have seen in their favorite Korean dramas. The sudden rise in popularity and spread of Korean pop culture across Asia is new, unprecedented, and fascinating. This cultural flows in Asia today is called the “Korean Wave.”

The Korean wave has become popular in the discourse in Asian countries and beyond. Many academics and journalists have written about in academic journals, newspaper columns and magazine articles, highlighting the reasons for the emergence of Korean popular culture as a force throughout Asia and speculating its potential influence on the future of the region. Obviously, as a similar product to consumers’ own cultural products, the Korean Wave provides Asians with the assurance that even in a world of increasingly globalized Asian identity remains strong. In Korea, as scholarly and popular articles have discussed the influence of the Korean Wave in Korean society, argued the superiority of Korean culture as compared to other Asian cultures, and noted positive reactions to Asian companies Korean popular culture in newspapers, television documentaries, and elsewhere.

The Korean Wave is a subject of debate and doubt from many angles. Many observers believe he can not sustain its popularity and insist that the producers and artists will not be able to meet demand for innovative products necessary to continue to attract an Asian public. Indeed, some argue that its popularity is already melted and no more Asian fans as much interest. Some decry the quality of Korean popular culture, which, they spread only as a replacement affordable products for the Japanese pop culture after the sudden economic collapse of 1990.

Although there have been discussions pessimistic about the Korean Wave in Asian countries, the presence of Korean popular culture has become increasingly evident in Taiwan and among Asians living abroad. During several visits to Taiwan between 1999 and 2006, I saw dramatic changes in people’s attitudes toward Korean popular culture and the increasing presence of Korean popular culture in Taiwan.

In addition, as a Korean living in Europe, I often notice the growing consumption of Korean popular culture among Asians abroad. There are active exchanges of Korean popular culture, such as sharing DVDs Korean TV series and purchase many DVDs Korean abroad whenever Asians returning to their countries of origin. In this essay, I discuss how the Korean Wave has started and why it spread in contemporary Asian society.

This document is mainly based on the research I did in Taipei, Taiwan and Vienna, Austria since 2001. My analysis is based on opinions expressed by Asians in Taiwan and abroad, including Chinese, Taiwanese, Japanese, Vietnamese, and the Philippines, through interviews and research on new pages Web and academic journals.

Sung Sang-yeon is a lecturer at Philological and Cultural Studies, Department of Musicology at the University of vienna, Austria. She obtained a Ph.D. in ethnomusicology at Indian University in 2008