The Koreaboo As a Media Tourist: Soft Power of the Korean Government and Western Hallyu Fans Compared As a Result of Globalization and Digitalization
The Koreaboo as a media tourist: Soft power of the Korean government and Western Hallyu fans compared as a result of globalization and digitalization Erasmus University Rotterdam Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication Master Tourism, Culture and Society Student: Guntar Sinuraya 508696gs@eur.nl Supervisor: Annaclaudia Martini Date: 10/06/21 Word Count: 18.375 Abstract In recent years, the popularity of Hallyu, the Korean Wave, has been on the rise in Western countries. Hallyu is a phenomenon that is sparked by Korean popular culture. It has been spreading to other countries than South Korea since the 1990s, mainly in the rest of Asia at first, but now also in Western countries, especially after Korean content began to be distributed on social media. Hallyu is, to a large extent, stimulated by the South Korean government as the government provided Hallyu-related industries like media, tourism, and technology with favorable circumstances for them to flourish, and the government did that through policymaking. In Hallyu there have been controversies regarding sexual misconduct with, and high pressure on, idols resulting in suicides. It has been argued that these controversies are the result of Confucian ideology that is present in Korean society. It has also been argued that the Korean government has been implementing policies regarding Hallyu too nonchalantly, commodifying Korean culture, and that the government has not been focusing on what sociocultural effects this behavior can have, especially considering the soft power the Korean government could have because of Hallyu and the Confucian ideology that could be mediated via Hallyu. Therefore, this thesis studies the tourist experience of Western Hallyu fans, also mentioned as Koreaboos, not in a derogatory sense, to find out what their experiences reveal about Korean soft power and brand nationalism.
[Show full text]