Korea Herald

KOREAN WAVE
THURSDAY
FEBRUARY 14, 2008
11
Le Bich Hanh (left) and
Hoang Kim Thanh discuss
the latest Korean fashions
The Korean Wave ‘will never die’ in Vietnam
Korea and Vietnam share cultural similarities that facilitate understanding
In the last few years, Korean
films, TV dramas and pop music have become immensely popular abroad, a phenomenon
known as the Korean Wave. This
is the eighth in a series of essays
by a select group of foreign scholars and journalists looking at
the spread of Korean pop culture
in Southeast Asian countries
and beyond. — Ed.
By Aviva West
Aviva West
●
Graduated from Canada’s
Ryerson University with a
bachelor’s degree in journalism
●
Editor at Vietnam’s national
English language daily, Viet
Nam News, for two years
●
Worked for Asia News
Network in Bangkok,
Thailand, for 10 months
●
Currently freelancing for
North American and
European publications in
Hanoi, Vietnam
●
E-mail:
a13west@gmail.com
On a cold and windy day in
January, the pleasant staff at
the Korean Cultural Center in
Hanoi, Vietnam, introduce curious visitors to Korea’s bestknown artists, performers and
traditions.
Located at bustling 49
Nguyen Du Street, the 1,000square-meter center includes a
three-story modern facility complete with garden. Inside are an
exhibition room, permanent displays on Korean culture, a theater, reading rooms and a
Korean-language classroom.
Established to introduce
Korean traditional and modern
culture to Vietnamese people
and to promote cultural and art
exchanges, the center has become ground zero for those with
a passion for all things Korean.
Amid photo displays of hanbok, Korean film stars and
world-renowned tourism spots,
visitors browse event listings,
learn about their favorite pop
stars and surf the center’s online library.
“I’ve been studying the
Korean language for almost four
years and once I graduate I’ll be
looking for a job in Seoul. I come
here to learn what I can and
practice my Korean,” says
Nguyen My Ha, a 23-year-old
accounting student at Hanoi’s
Economics University.
When asked what attracted
her to Korean culture, My Ha
says it all started when she fell
in love with Korean film star
Song Seung-hun in the KBS
miniseries “Autumn Fairy Tale”
when it first aired in Vietnam in
2002.
The beginnings
The Korean Wave began in
Vietnam with the export of
Korean TV dramas like “Jewel
in the Palace” and “Winter
Sonata.” Initially, Vietnamese
broadcasters chose Korean
shows because the productions
were high-quality but cheap to
purchase. As their exposure increased, they resonated with
audiences and their popularity
grew.
More importantly, however,
the shows had themes that
Vietnamese audiences could re-
adaptable, more practical,” says
Phuong.
Shared values
8
late to. Korean dramas’ topics of
family struggles, love, romance
and filial piety in an age of
changing technology and values
quickly struck home for
Vietnamese viewers. By 2000,
the Korean Wave was in full
swing in urban Vietnam.
“After I saw ‘Autumn Fairy
Tale,’ I decided to learn all I
could about Korea — the food,
the culture, the history. I found
it so interesting and compatible
with my culture and I’ve been
‘obsessed’ with it since!” laughs
My Ha.
Enduring passion
It’s been almost 10 years since
the first Korean Wave hit
Vietnamese shores and still the
fever rages on.
Khuat Lan Phuong, 23, and
Hoang Kim Thanh, 25, are your
typical modern Vietnamese
women. Both are employed with
a foreign company in Hanoi and
count themselves among a generation more interested in fashion and makeup than rehashing
history.
They both say they remember
the first time they saw a Korean
drama on TV.
“The men were so handsome,
the women were so beautiful
and their skin and make up was
always so perfect. I was also impressed with their hairstyles —
they all looked so unique,”
Thanh explains.
“I was hooked from the start,”
says Phuong.
She says, like many girls her
age, she was motivated by her interest in Korean TV dramas to
learn a few key words in the language. Not only that, her favorite
film stars’ habit of winding up
their love stories in restaurants
or kitchens sparked a curiosity
about Korean cuisine.
She was certainly not alone.
In the past five years, dozens of
Korean
restaurants
have
sprouted up in both Ho Chi
Minh City and Hanoi to feed an
ever-widening
interest
in
Korean cuisine.
In both Hanoi and Ho Chi
Minh City, aficionados can pick
from dozens of popular restaurants specializing in Korean
BBQ, noodles, seafood and rice
dishes.
“What makes Korean culture
so special to the Vietnamese is
that it’s similar to ours. It’s not
too crazy or out-there. It’s more
Indeed, Korean and Vietnamese cultures do share a number of similarities that aid integration and understanding.
In a bid to highlight these
similarities,
the
Korean
Cultural Center held a four-day
Korean Culinary Arts Festival
in November 2007 to celebrate
its one-year anniversary. The
Korean Embassy and the center
invited three stars from the TV
series “Daechanggeum” to attend the opening ceremony in
Hanoi, and visitors had a
chance to make kimchi, taste
Korean cuisine and receive a
free Korean cooking lesson. In
addition, Korean films were
screened for kids and teenagers.
With most participants between the ages of 12 a/nd 25, it
was clear who was driving the
current rage for Korean popular
culture.
“As long as there are
teenagers, K-pop will always be
in style,” says Thanh with a
smile.
Thanh says she has a friend
According to Vietnamese director Tat Binh, many of the
projects were successful, including the film “Bride from Hanoi”
by SBS, which was popular in
both countries. In addition, the
FNC Media Group and CJ
Media from Korea worked with
a Vietnamese partner to produce a TV series called “Mui
Ngo Gai (The Scent of
Coriander)”.
Ever since the two countries
signed an Agreement on
Cultural Cooperation in 1994,
cultural exchange programs
such as cultural exhibitions,
film festivals, artistic performances and language exchanges have been routinely organized and promoted by both
governments.
Drawing closer
Further fuelling interest in
Korea has been the significant
strengthening of trade and political ties.
In a landmark visit in
November 2007, Vietnam’s chief
politico — Communist Party
General Secretary Nong Duc
Manh — traveled to Seoul to
meet with President Roh Moo-
‘What makes Korean culture so special
to the Vietnamese is that it’s similar to ours.
It’s not too crazy or out there.
It’s more adaptable, more practical.’
whose mother flew from Hanoi
to Ho Chi Minh City to see pop
star Rain in concert in 2007.
The March 10 concert saw
15,000 screaming fans welcome
the performer they call Bi Rain,
in was what billed as the most
extravagant concert ever staged
in the communist country. More
than 1,000 bodyguards and security personnel were on duty at
the city’s Military Zone 7
Stadium to shield the performer
from his thousands of delirious
fans.
Despite the fact that tickets
sold for as much as $160, about
half of what most city residents
make a month, the show sold
out in record time and thousands were left disappointed.
“Just the fact that he came
here to perform, that makes us
happy,” says Thanh.
Artistic partnerships
In an effort to strengthen cultural ties, in recent years a
number of major movie and TV
co-productions were inked between large-scale Vietnamese
and Korean studios.
Hyun and leaders from Korean
business groups. During his
trip, Manh pledged to do more
to help Korean firms do longterm business in Vietnam, his
trip coinciding with the 15th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries.
In 1992, bilateral trade
turnover between Vietnam and
Korea was a mere $490 million.
In 2006, it was $4.85 billion, and
is expected to hit $10 billion in
five to seven years.
In direct investment, major
Korean projects — including
Posco’s $6 billion steel complex,
Lotte Group’s $2 billion property project, Samsung’s $1 billion
mobile phone handset manufacturing factory, Gomax’s $570
million race track and STX’s
$500 million ship-building yard
— are expected to maintain
Korea’s position as the single
leading foreign investor in
Vietnam.
Meanwhile, with the rise of
Korean culture in Vietnam, the
market has seen growing demand for Korean products, led
primarily by fashion retailing.
Consequently, a number of new
Korean fashion shops have appeared for the first time in Ho
Chi Minh City in high-end malls
like the Diamond Plaza, including Bana Bana, Kaco, Olivia
Lauren, Zaksin, Jessi and
Floshiem, all of which are considered luxury brands by
Vietnamese consumers.
“Vietnam has been a preferred destination for foreign investment among Korean enterprises since 2001,” according to
Im Hong-jae, Korea’s ambassador to Vietnam.
In addition, thousands of
Vietnamese technology workers
are currently employed in Korea
under long-term contracts after
Vietnam’s Ministry of Labor,
War Invalids and Social Affairs
and the Korea Industrial
Technology Foundation signed a
memorandum of understanding
in 2004.
Also occupying a significant
chunk of the overseas Vietnamese population are large numbers of young women who immigrated to Korea to marry
Korean men. According to the
International Organization for
Migration, one in six men in
Korea’s farming and fishing villages is currently married to a
Vietnamese woman, further cementing the cultural bond between the two nations.
Work remains
However, according to Tran
Hoang Nam, an expert working
for Vietnam’s Ministry of
Culture and Information’s
Department of International
Cooperation, despite all the cooperation in both economics and
culture, he has concerns that
Vietnamese interest in the
Korean Wave could begin to
subside.
First, he notes, it was exceedingly difficult for Korean concert
organizers to secure permission
for major events in both Hanoi
and Ho Chi Minh City —
Vietnam’s two main urban centers. Moreover, few actual cultural programs and exchanges
had been organized despite the
establishment of the Korea
Cultural Center and the signing
of related accords.
Nam also expressed concern
that performances of traditional
Korean music and dance would
fail to draw large crowds, particularly as the target audiences
for Korean culture shows were
youth and young adults.
He added that a number of
major prospective performances
failed to move out of the planning stages due to difficulties in
understanding between the two
sides. In addition, plans to build
a Korea Foundation for Asian
Culture Exchange office and
Asia
Cultural
Exchange
Foundation Cultural Exchange
Center in Ho Chi Minh City
were both axed by the Vietnamese government.
Sign of the times
Regardless of the obstacles,
Vietnamese people, with their
steadily rising incomes and
ever-deepening desire for foreign goods, aren’t likely to get
sick of the Korean Wave anytime soon.
Over the past 20 years,
Vietnam has successfully made
the shift from a central command-based economy to one
with significant market elements. During that period, the
economy has experienced rapid
growth.
In 1986, the Sixth Party
Congress of the Communist
Party of Vietnam formally abandoned Marxist economic planning and began introducing
market elements as part of a
broad economic reform package
called Doi Moi (Renovation).
Since 2001, Vietnamese authorities have reaffirmed their commitment to economic liberalization, and moved to implement
the structural reforms needed to
modernize the economy towards
competitive, export-driven industries. As a result, the economy grew at an average annual
rate of 8 percent between 2005
and 2007. In addition, the country’s memberships in the
ASEAN Free Trade Area and
World Trade Organization have
led to even more rapid changes.
Among the most obvious of
these changes is the rapidly increasing wealth of the country’s
urban residents. It is these
young, urban, middle class people who are doing whatever
they can to soak up information
from other nations and cultures.
Thanks to its policy of sharing
its cultural riches with other
Asian nations, Korea is prime
among them.
Today, on the streets of Hanoi
and Ho Chi Minh City, it is easy
to spot girls wearing the clothes,
makeup and hairstyles popularized by Korean actresses. In the
early 1990s, few girls could afford to carry handbags or buy
makeup. Today, however, they’ll
do whatever it takes to keep up
with the styles of their favorite
stars. Even if it means learning
a new language.
Phuong laughs when she’s
asked one last question. Does
she think Korean actors and
singers will ever fall out of fashion?
She pauses.
“The Korean Wave will never
die,” she replies in all seriousness.