K-POP AS A TOOL OF REPUBLIC OF KOREA’S PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

*199 spread throughout the world, starting from East Asia to South East Asia and even
Europe and America. Korean wave has considerably numerous followers all
around the world, according to some studies by scholars. Korean wave or Hallyu
varies from television drama, movies, music and dance (kpop), food (hanshik),
language (Hangeul), fashion, and even cosmetic products. Hallyu has become a
valuable soft power asset of South Korea. The term “Hallyu” derived from
mandarin word, “Hanliu”, which literally means Korean Wave. This term
suddenly arised because in 1997, the korean drama, What is Love About was
broadcasted in China in CCTV channel and the rating of the drama was the
second highest in the history of China entertainment industry. Based on this, the
chinese journalists started to refer to Korean wave as Hallyu
This paper will discuss about K-pop as one of the tools of Republic of Korea’s
public diplomacy. As stated in the Korea’s Diplomatic White Paper 2012, 2013
and 2014, that hallyu, including K-pop, is an important part of Korea’s public
diplomacy. Korean Wave has expanded with the popularity of Korean films and
the worldwide spread of K-Pop music. Based on its global popularity, K-pop has
proven to be positively welcome in many countries around the world. Aware of the
fact that k-pop has become a global phenomenon, the government of Korea has
made a good use of it in order to promote Korea to the foreigners. It is one of the
most important tools of Korea’s public diplomacy.
Keywords: Republic of Korea; Public Diplomacy; Korean Wave; Hallyu; K-pop.