Korean Sources on the Korean Wave

(Update: Now that I’ve read it, I won’t discuss Robert Koehler’s post here like I planned, because even without the 52 comments to it there isn’t too much I can add that Robert didn’t cover already. But thanks for the comment surin2sayan, and Korean horror movies have never really appealed to me either. But in the process of writing my latest post for ZR5, I did find two called Whispering Corridors (여고괴담) and Memento Mori (여고괴담 두번째 이야기) that sound very good, and which I’ll definitely watch when I get back from my vacation. If you’re interested, you can find more information about them here)

Great minds do indeed think alike!

I’ve been blogging on Korean women in bikinis issues for five months now, but I only mentioned the Korean Wave for the first time two weeks ago because a book on the Japanese Wave I bought rekindled an interest in it. But ever since, I’ve been simply deluged with references to it on the internet and newspaper articles such as this, and then even came across a podcast by the Korea Society that took a rare look at its impact in the US. But notably absent in my posts on it so far have been Korean perspectives, so I’m very happy to say that I’ve just found Robert Koehler’s translations of two articles from the Chosun Ilbo to compensate.

Unfortunately, I’m a bit swamped tonight, so I highly recommend you read the translations and Robert’s comments yourself for now, and I’ll give his post a proper look and discuss it tomorrow as soon as I can. But in the meantime, given the exaggeration and hype with which I mentioned that the Korea Wave has been reported on by the Korean media in the past, I’ve got to say it’s refreshing to see a Korean newspaper give what appears to be such a frank account of the reasons for why the Korean Wave was so short-lived, but that of evil Japan’s has been sustained, with none of the nationalistic BS that normally accompanies articles comparing Korea to Japan.

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