Pop Culture

Park Chung Hee and Korean Authoritarianism (1961-1979)

Q: Who was Park Chung Hee?
A: Park Chung Hee was a former Japanese-trained military officer and South Korea’s president from 1961 to 1979. He rose to power through a military coup and is known for transforming South Korea into a rapidly industrializing economy. Park’s leadership focused on authoritarian control, emphasizing economic development and national defense. Despite economic successes, his regime was characterized by heavy political repression​

Q: What was the 1961 military coup?
A: On May 16, 1961, Park Chung Hee led a military coup against the government of South Korea. With the help of tanks and armed forces, he seized control of the presidential palace in Seoul. The coup was largely bloodless, and Park quickly consolidated power, justifying his actions by pointing to widespread political corruption under the civilian government​

Q: What were the two pillars of Park’s administration?
A: Park’s administration rested on two main pillars: economic development and national defense. He pursued state-led industrialization, working closely with large business conglomerates (chaebols), and made national defense a priority due to the constant threat from North Korea. His focus on rapid economic growth turned South Korea into a major exporting country​

Q: What happened in the 1965 treaty with Japan?
A: In 1965, Park normalized relations between South Korea and Japan through a treaty that provided $300 million in compensation for Japan’s colonization of Korea. Much of the money was used to fuel South Korea’s economic development, funding large-scale industrial projects like the construction of POSCO Steel. However, the treaty faced significant opposition from Koreans, who felt the funds did not adequately address the suffering caused by Japanese imperialism​

Q: How did Park respond to political opposition in the 1970s?
A: In 1972, facing growing political unrest, Park Chung Hee declared martial law, suspended the existing constitution, and introduced the Yushin Constitution, which gave him dictatorial powers. This allowed him to extend his presidency indefinitely. His regime became increasingly authoritarian, utilizing the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA) to suppress opposition, heavily censor the press, and crush dissent

Q: How did Park's regime end?
A: Park Chung Hee’s 18-year authoritarian rule ended in assassination. On October 26, 1979, he was shot and killed by Kim Jae Kyu, the director of the KCIA and a close confidant. The assassination took place during a private dinner. Kim’s motives remain debated, but some believe he was trying to prevent a violent crackdown on growing public protests​

Hallyu and the Global Korean Wave

Q: What is Hallyu?
A: Hallyu, or the "Korean Wave," refers to the global spread of South Korean culture, particularly its popular culture, including K-pop music, TV dramas, films, and video games. Initially popular in East Asia, Hallyu has since become a worldwide phenomenon, influencing entertainment, fashion, and even tourism. It showcases South Korea's cultural influence on a global scale, often driven by social media​

Q: What role do fans play in Hallyu?
A: Fans, particularly from outside of Korea, play a crucial role in shaping Hallyu. They are not just passive consumers; they actively engage with and promote Korean culture, acting as cultural designers, translators, and distributors. These fans create fan clubs, manage online communities, and often serve as unofficial ambassadors of Korean culture, spreading it through social media and other platforms​

Q: How has Hallyu impacted other industries?
A: Hallyu's influence extends beyond the entertainment industry. It has significantly boosted South Korea's tourism, cosmetics, fashion, and food industries. Korean beauty products (K-beauty) and Korean cuisine (K-food) have become globally popular. This cultural expansion has also increased interest in learning the Korean language and studying abroad in South Korea​

Q: What is the difference between Hallyu and Hallyu-hwa?
A: While Hallyu refers to the global phenomenon of Korean pop culture spreading internationally, Hallyu-hwa (한류화) refers to the intentional and structured expansion of Hallyu as a national policy. The South Korean government, in partnership with large corporations and media industries, promotes Korean culture as part of its soft power strategy, using it as a tool for economic and diplomatic gain​

Q: How has the South Korean government used Hallyu for political and economic purposes?
A: Hallyu is seen by the South Korean government as a powerful tool for boosting the country’s global image and prestige. It is used as part of a broader campaign to increase “symbolic capital,” enhance soft power, and support economic growth through exports of Korean cultural products and services. Government-led initiatives, such as opening Korean restaurants abroad or promoting Korean tourism, have reinforced this strategy​

The Korean Democracy Movement

Q: What triggered the 1980 Gwangju Uprising?
A: The Gwangju Uprising in May 1980 was triggered by student protests against General Chun Doo-hwan's military coup, which followed the assassination of Park Chung Hee in 1979. In Gwangju, South Jeolla Province, citizens joined students in protests demanding the end of martial law. The government sent in special forces to violently suppress the uprising, leading to hundreds of civilian deaths, although exact numbers remain disputed​

Q: What was the result of the June 1987 protests in South Korea?
A: The June 1987 protests were a turning point in South Korea’s democratization. Sparked by outrage over government corruption and the death of student activist Lee Han Yeol, millions of South Koreans took to the streets demanding direct presidential elections. In response to the mass protests, Chun Doo-hwan agreed to amend the constitution, allowing for the direct election of the president, leading to the eventual election of Roh Tae Woo​

Q: Who were the key figures in the 1987 presidential election?
A: The key figures were Kim Young Sam, Kim Dae Jung, and Roh Tae Woo. Both Kim Young Sam and Kim Dae Jung were long-time opposition leaders. However, their split allowed Roh Tae Woo, Chun Doo-hwan's successor, to win with just 36.6% of the vote in South Korea's first democratic presidential election​

Q: What were the three pillars of the student democracy movement?
A: The student democracy movement was characterized by three main ideological pillars: 1) a superficial interest in Marxism, 2) a pro-North Korea stance, and 3) strong anti-Americanism. These views often clashed with mainstream public opinion, but the movement played a significant role in the fight against authoritarian rule​

Q: What major event happened in June 1987 involving Lee Han Yeol?
A: On June 9, 1987, during an anti-government protest at Yonsei University, Lee Han Yeol, an economics student, was struck in the head by a tear gas canister fired by riot police. His death became a symbol of the brutal repression of the Chun regime and sparked further massive protests, culminating in the June Democratic Uprising, which led to democratic reforms​

Hallyu and Competing Interests

Competing Interests:

  • Who decides what is Hallyu?

  • Can domestic expectations co-exist with those of international fans?

  • Are nationalist interests and expectations compatible with international ones?

  • How should foreign fans react to Korean fan’s nationalist demands and expectations when interests conflict or compete?

  • Korean celebrities are also pledged to global capital. Their value is highest when they appeal to as broad an audience as possible and alienate no one with their politics. An apolitical neutrality on regionally controversial issues, however, is an untenable position when antagonistic geopolitical interests are concerned and nationalist passions flare.”

Domestic vs International

As Korean stars gain international recognition they are tied to transcultural markets (appearing in foreign ads) and therefore must meet that culture’s expectations.

Hallyu Stars as Capital

  • Transnational capital

  • Domestic observers

  • Foreign audiences

Hallyu fetishism

  • “imagined capacity for independent agency dependent on forgetting of aspects of its social origins and articulations” (Oppenheim and Hindman 2016, 198). As they write, “Perhaps the Korean Wave metaphor is worth taking more seriously. Waves have tides, and the ocean does not generate them itself”

  • “local engagements with Hallyu and its celebrities must be situated against the policies of Korean and other national governments, rivalries and contingencies of international politics, and transcultural prowess of Hallyu entrepreneurs.’

Post-colonial Hallyu

Thinking of Hallyu celebrities as subaltern underscores how, in Asia, Hallyu is often deployed to reconfigure the regional role of the former colonizer, Japan, while also implicating the Korean Wave in Korean contradictory desires for resolving the traumas of the colonial past, asserting regional hegemony, and forging regional solidarities. Furthermore, the concept foregrounds that Korean celebrities – like other non-white, non-American entertainers – have been largely shut out from the global culture industry, whose inclusions and exclusions have been defined by the US cultural hegemony.

Hallyu as shared regional identity

Anthropologist Cho Hae-Joang articulates such an ambition for Hallyu by framing it as a beginning of a postcolonial Asia realized through the surges of the “Taiwanese Wave,” “Chinese Wave,” “Vietnamese Wave,” “Malay- sian Wave,” and other regional waves to come. She sees it as an opportunity “to find an interest in my/our neighbors and to reflect upon both them and myself who have been ‘othered’ for so long in modern history” (Cho 2005, 179).

Celebrity as Commodity

  • The Korean celebrity industry exemplifies the extremes of the industrial manufacture and micro- management of celebrity.

  • The “mass production of idols through rigorous training in performance, exercise, diet, restrictions on behavior, and often cosmetic surgery.

Creating Personas

  • Idols are “assigned” a persona designed to differentiate them from other performers in the group (or in other groups).

  • These personas include hair style or coloring, slightly varied signature dress, and often a foreign name like “Brian,” or “Tiffany”

Celebrities as Commodities

  • Celebrities are the commodity being offered by agencies.

  • Each celebrity has a 몸값 (body price) determined by their popularity at the moment.

  • Celebrities are the primary commercial asst that drives hallyu (not their work)

  • Due to the relatively small size of the Korean domestic market, celebrities must be “exported” to the larger foreign markets.

Commodification

  • Being able to represent many brands is the ultimate evidence of stardom, and celebrities at the top of their careers represent dozens of brands – to the prideful delight of their fans.

  • This is similar to the intra-genra incest that Choi Joo Bong spoke of: celebrities moving fluidly between medium-music, film, television, advertising

Transnational Reach

Consumers of the Korean Wave are an attractive target also because marketers believe that in Asian locales, Hallyu fans are local trendsetters who define what is “cool” for the mainstream market. Indeed, for the 2010s, South Korea has arguably eclipsed Japan as the “it” place for “Asian cool,” an ephemeral notion that stands for the height of consumerism distinguished by associations with a trendy subculture. Within and outside South Korea, Hallyu celebrities came to be associated with beauty, fashion, and the latest trends – the sophisticated urban lifestyle awash in luxury brands and consumerist pleasures.

Nationalist Use of Hallyu

Rather than cosmopolitan symbols of beauty, celebrities often become nationalized as representatives of nation-states.

The Myth of Pan-Asianism

  • “The increased exchange value of Hallyu stars abroad enhanced their use value at home, and the “neoliberal” perspective on Hallyu folded into narcissist “cultural-nationalist” reactions inflected with postcolonial demands for recognition.”

  • “ Many an article interpreted Hallyu as the evidence of superiority of things Korean, whereas cultural reach blurred with cultural domination and regional hegemony. “

  • Regional antagonisms are boiling just under the surface.

National Appropriation of Hallyu Stars

  • From the domestic perspective, Hallyu stars are not individuals with agency

  • neoliberal and cultural-nationalist discourses cast them not as individuals pursuing professional careers and private gains, but as national symbols enhancing national wealth and prestige.

Appropriation

  • This logic has been applied to all Koreans of international repute, especially sports stars. It even extends to those of half-Korean ancestry.

  • This reveals an irony: the mixed blood individuals are not welcome in korea, but are readily appropriated if they attain international recognition

  • The case of Hines Ward

  • The narrative is that their success derives from their korean-ness

  • When American-Korean golfer Michelle Wie was trying to break into the Korean advertising market her father stated that she is “100% Korean.”

  • The cross-border appeal of hallyu celebrities as well is tied to their “Korean-ness’

  • The commercial value of hallyu stars=the commercial value of Korean culture

  • Crucially, de-Americanization and de-Westernization are not equivalent to Koreanization, contra Korean cultural-nationalist discourses. When Hallyu fans seek Korea, they usually seek the Korea of fashion, shopping, and plastic surgery – the Korea of effortless affluence, consumerist pleasures, and gentle romance set in an Asian urban landscape, the Korea of opulent Kangnam so resonantly satirized by Psy.

Loyalty and Patriotism

  • Stars must demonstrate loyalty and patriotism, and avoid controversies.

  • The case of Steven Yoo (유성준)

  • The case of aoa

Domestic Deployment

  • Ethnic narcissism

  • Restoring pride hurt by colonialism

  • National political advancement

Competing Nationalisms

  • The conundrum of hallyu stars in japan: balancing competing expectations

  • In order top become pan-Asian, transnational, and a-political, hallyu stars must appear neutral. However, this neutrality is not accepted or permitted in s. korea.