Several points could be noted when one refers to the 2015 ‘Overseas Hallyu Survey’ result released by the Korea Foundation for International Cultural Exchange. First of all, most of the overseas respondents showed a pessimistic attitude toward the...
Several points could be noted when one refers to the 2015 ‘Overseas Hallyu Survey’ result released by the Korea Foundation for International Cultural Exchange. First of all, most of the overseas respondents showed a pessimistic attitude toward the sustainability of Hallyu. Second, the Korean media bears responsibility to a certain extent in the anti-Hallyu phenomenon. To make matters worse, the media suffers from low credibility in today’s Korean society. Last but not least, the notion as to whether consumers come across trans-national elements through Hallyu is contestable. This is because in the survey none of the questions asked were regarding elements outside of Korea. Following these observations, this study hopes to demonstrate two aspects of Hallyu. First is the limitations of Korean media in reporting news about Hallyu incidents. Second is the question as to whether a pan East Asian identity can be formed through the production and consumption process, i.e. the cultural traffic of Hallyu. To achieve the said purpose this study will look into two case studies, namely Tzuyu Taiwanese flag controversy and Tiffany Rising Sun flag controversy. Korean media and netizen discourses, along with Chinese and Taiwanese netizen discourses regarding these two events will be studied and compared. The media, internet and social context surrounding these events will also be examined.
Following the analysis of the responses in Korea, China and Taiwan, two findings can be established as a result. First, various complicated discourses have been produced in both cases. Through the differences among these discourses we know that in covering Hallyu incidents Korean media suffers from the following unique limitations. 1) Excessive nationalism; 2) Sensationalism to increase hits; 3) Nation-centrism; 4) Conflicting commercialism; 5) Self-censorship and media control. More importantly this study poses question to the possibility of a pan East Asian identity through the production and consumption of Hallyu as an East Asian popular culture. This is because Koreans, Chinese and Taiwanese similarly filtered and interpreted these two events through politics. In other words, through Hallyu what we understand is only Korean culture, and therefore Hallyu does not represent the East Asian or Asian culture. To reemphasize the importance of this study, through the analysis of the discourses and contexts in both controversies, two aspects of Hallyu have been discovered. First is the problematic attitude of Korean media in reporting Hallyu news, and second is the limitation to the idea of East Asian identity formation through Hallyu. Hence the author hopes that this study will provide fresh implications to the research in future for solutions to the issues of Hallyu sustainability and anti-Hallyu phenomenon.