K-Pop and Koreanovelas fuel Korean tourism boom

June 27, 2012 | 3:59 pm

CHRIS in South Korea note: Tess Pajaron is part of the team behind Open Colleges. She has traveled to many different countries and loves to discover new and exciting places. She loves to explore and dreams to become a full-time blogger someday. She can be also seen on her social media profile at Google+. BRIGHTLY colored clothing matched with flashy accessories; countless betrayals, passionate love affairs and enough drama to last anyone a lifetime – South Korea has taken Southeast Asia and even parts of Europe and America by storm with its hyperactive K-Pop and predictable Koreanovelas.

Their international success has resulted in a huge rise in the number of tourists South Korea receives each year, and in 2011, the country had a record number of nine million visitors, topping the previous year by one million. This growth is expected to continue through 2012 and while South Korea does not yet rival other major Asian destinations like India or China, the “Korean Wave” or “Hallyu” as it is known, is certainly moving fast. The Korea Creative Content Agency has even predicted that its earnings from exported Korean content such as TV dramas and music would reach US$ 3.8 billion in the coming year. So what has made these somewhat peculiar aspects of Korean culture so attractive to teenagers and young adults all over the world? In order to understand this new hype, we’ll have to take a look at how South Korea’s TV culture and music scene has evolved over the years.

K-pop in its early days and its popularity today

K-pop is an abbreviation of Korean pop or Korean popular music. Within South Korea, the name generally means any genre of Korean music that is popular, however, outside the country; K-pop is used solely to describe the music made by popular teenage idols, boy bands and girl bands. The style of music varies between pop, dance, electronic, hip hop and R&B. But don’t be fooled by the English sounding band names or even song titles like “Chocolate Love” or “Hurricane Venus,” K-pop songs are entirely sung in Korean, although they will often have a few meaningless English words thrown in for emphasis. K-pop started out in 1992, when the boy band and dance group “Seo Tai-ji and Boys” emerged on the Korean music scene. The band became unbelievably popular, and their first single held a number one spot on the charts for 17 weeks, a record that has yet to be broken by any pop group. Their style was unique for that time, being a mixture of pop, dance, rock and heavy metal. By the time the band broke up in 1996, it had opened up a whole new music genre. The genre is very much alive today with bands like Girls Generation, Big Bang and 2Ne1 finding worldwide popularity through video sharing websites like YouTube. A 2011 protest in Paris showed just how popular K-pop has become in recent years. Tickets for an SM Town concert were sold out in just 15 minutes, leading mobs of disgruntled fans to take to the streets in front of the Louvre Museum, demanding a second concert. Many carried picket signs saying things like “We Want a Second SM Town Live in Paris.” And the trend has started spreading even beyond Europe and America, thanks to South Korea’s latest marketing strategies. This year in Columbia for example, Korean TV station Arirang TV ran a K-pop reality show together with a Columbian TV station. The show has become a huge success, and the winners, a group of teenagers who taught themselves K-pop songs by watching YouTube videos, were awarded a five-day trip to South Korea, where they were able to meet K-pop stars and experience Korean culture.

The rise of Koreanovelas

Koreanovelas, also known as K-drama or simply Korean soap operas, are another part of South Korean culture that has had surprisingly far-reaching effects. There are two main types of Koreanovelas, one type is a spinoff of western soap operas, (think Bold and the Beautiful and As the World Turns). These are mainly centered on relationships, overly complicated love-triangles, family dramas and money problems. Some seasons have been known to continue for over 100 episodes, making it hard to keep track of the story line’s many twists and turns. Another form of K-drama can be found in the historical drama series, which are dramatizations of Korean history. They are popular for the many martial arts and sword fighting scenes they contain, as well as the elaborate storylines, scriptwriting and costumes. Some of the most popular Koreanovelas include Stairway to Heaven, Lovers in Paris, Autumn in My Heart, My Girl, Full House and Jewel in the Palace. Many Koreanovelas are broadcast in countries outside of South Korea, including the Philippines, Japan, China, Vietnam and Thailand. The Korean Tourism Organization has begun offering special deals to filmmakers who want to shoot their movies in South Korea, in the hopes that this will further boost the rise in tourism. For the die-hard K-drama fans, the tourism board even offers guided tours to the locations where some of the most popular TV dramas and movies were filmed. The following are some of most popular Koreanovela film locations to visit in South Korea:

Lotte World from the TV series Stairway to Heaven

Visitors to Lotte World in Seoul will be able to see the carousel where the lead characters played as children and later went on a date as grownups. It’s just a regular amusement park, with outdoor attractions and an indoor theme park, but because of its onscreen appearance it has become extremely popular with both Koreans and international visitors.

Shin-do Island from Full House

The rather ordinary looking house, which was the pretend home to the main couple from Full House is now open to visitors in Shin-do Island. Visitors can take a bus to the island, although the actual house is generally only accessible by bicycle. Be prepared to pay if you want to see the home’s interior, which you may well be inclined to do after your 1.5 kilometer bike ride.

Oedo Island from Winter Sonata

Oedo Island is home to a beautiful botanical garden where the last scene from the TV series Winter Sonata was filmed. Even if you aren’t a fan of the series, the gardens in Hanrye National Park are still worth a visit for its gorgeous species of flowers and plants, magnificent Cypress trees and quaint architecture. The island can be reached by ferry from Gujora Port.