Korean Wave in Europe: Focusing on Its Policies and the Current Situation

Abstract

In recent years, the Korean Wave (or 'hallyu') has been sweeping the entire world including Europe. Since the early 2010s, the number of hallyu fans in Europe is rapidly increasing. Such global attention and popularity of the Korean Wave is based on the hallyu policies the Korean government has implemented for several decades. Since the policy was initially implemented under the Kim Young-Sam government, it has been evolved during the succeeding governments― Kim Dae-Jung, Roh Moo-Hyun, Lee Myung-Bak, Park Geun-Hye and Moon Jae-In governments―by restructuring culture-related institutions and implementing the promotion strategies of K-Culture. The export of hallyu contents to Europe has achieved remarkable growth especially in the sector of K-Pop and film for the past couple of years. Europeans' perception of Korean contemporary culture and hallyu is generally very positive as well. It is important for both parties to discuss and take any necessary institutional steps to the existing EU-Korea Protocol on Cultural Cooperation in order to facilitate bilateral cultural cooperation further.