Hallyu and Korean America 207
Chapter 10 Hallyu and Korean America: Transnational Connections through Cultural Consumption in New York City
Jinwon Kim
On July 3, 2016, thousands of diverse K-pop fans gathered outside the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, a half-hour drive from Manhattan, to wait for the annual K-pop concert, KCON (short for K-Concert), to start at 6 pm. It was the second and final day of the 2016 New York KCON—the second in New York, but the fifth in North America—and the lineup included hot pop musicians Mamamoo, Seventeen, Ailee, BTS, Day 6, BTOB, Eric Nam, Crush, and Dynamic Duo. In March of that year, us-based fans had been excited to learn that two KCON events were scheduled, one on each coast. Unlike in Asia, where hallyu (or Korean wave, referring to the popularity of Korean popular culture, such as music, film, TV shows, and video games) is more prevalent, KCON is one of the few opportunities for K-Pop fans in the United States to see Korean idols per- form live. According to CJ E&M, the corporate producers of KCON, the event sold out within a week, despite ticket prices ranging from $50 to $800, and it was estimated that about 42,000 visited and participated in the concert and/or the convention over its two days. The first day of KCON included workshops and panels. Just outside the Prudential Center, fans were enjoying a K-pop dance competition, sampled Korean food, such as Shin ramen noodles, dumplings, and Melona (ice cream), and collected small complementary gifts from food corporations. DramaFever (a video streaming website) and Bibigo (a Korean food brand owned by CJ) attracted participants by offering games, food samples, and small giveaways. Some fans poked around commercial booths for Korean beauty companies, including Leaders and Tony Moly, that lured potential consumers by advertis- ing their products with hallyu celebrity models. Likewise, several government agencies, such as the Korean Tourism Organization and the Korea Health Industry Development Institute, also met with potential tourists, in hopes that
© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2018 | doi 10.1163/9789004335332_011 208 Jinwon Kim the latter’s enthusiasm for K-pop would lead to more revenue for the nation through culinary and medical tourism.1 On the other side of the convention, conference-style workshops on Korean beauty, food, and even racism in hallyu were offered. For example, one panel that day, titled “Let’s Talk about Cross Cultural Clashes in hallyu” attracted a large number of attendees. The panel featured Eddi from A.Zine Magazine; Charlene Abdullah also known as Charly (Cheer), a blogger and YouTuber; Alexis Hodoyan-Gastelum from KultScene, a K-pop magazine, and Adrienne Stanley who writes for the websites Kpopstarz and KDramastars. The panel was moderated by Ashley Griffin, known as Multifacetedacg, a writer, blogger, vlogger, and YouTube personality. Several dozen fans, particularly non-Asian people of color, gathered and discussed cultural appropriation, detailing their dilemmas and frustrations regarding hallyu. Racial insensitivity is a particular problem in comedy shows, and one of the participants mentioned that some Koreans “put [on] black masks,” which is a racist practice drawn from nine- teenth-century minstrel shows in the United States. Cultural insensitivity and racism among Koreans and in the Korean media hurt fans who are not East Asian or of white European heritage, especially those who are of African heri- tage, Southeast Asians, and South Asians with darker skin. These fans wanted to try to learn how to address this matter, while still retaining their enthusiasm for Korean pop culture. For Korean American fans, KCON is an opportunity to develop a transnational identity and emotionally connect with their so-called motherland through popular culture, while for those who do not claim Korean heritage, KCON is a space to bring fans together and bridge differences between Korean and other cultures.2 CJ E&M brands and markets its events under the umbrella of a hallyu festi- val or a fan convention, “highlighting the rise in popularity of Korean beauty products, Korean food and the world of e-sports,”3 as shown in their motto “All things hallyu.” The dominant South Korean media narrative praised KCON as a great success, calling it “K-Culture, sweeping LA,”4 and “KCON NY, becoming
1 Jihyeon Yu, “Gwan-gwang gongsa, miguk ‘TKCON 2016 NY’ seo hanguk gwan-gwang hongbo,” Asia News Agency, June 26, 2016,