Few cultural movements have captured global audiences across so many genres or so widely as hallyu (pronounced HAL-yoo).
The phenomenon, which goes beyond K-pop and face masks, is a pathway to understanding South Korea and the changing rhythms and flows of culture today.
History of hallyu
Hallyu (한류), or the ‘Korean wave’, describes the global popularity of South Korea’s creative industries including music, television, cinema, fashion and beauty.
Beginning in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the wave first spread across Asia through television dramas and pop music before rapidly expanding worldwide through digital and social media platforms, streaming services and global fandom communities.
While hallyu is characterised by its rapid reinvention – new songs debut on global charts every week, streaming catalogues of K-dramas grow every day, and trends are constantly being reimagined – its development was decades in the making.
The political, economic and cultural conditions that gave rise to the creative confidence of hallyu were the culmination of South Korea’s long and troubled journey through the 20th century – from oppressive colonial rule, division and the devastation of war to authoritarian control and rapid industrialisation, and finally, democratisation and economic transformation.
