Name: Why Is K-Pop the Political Weapon of Korea?
Uploaded: 2025-03-05T00:44:45.000Z
Duration: 19 min 18 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

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We tend to think that the world is organized around a small group of enormous superpowers that pull the strings of everything.

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The United States, China, the United Kingdom and maybe until recently Russia.

But what if I told you that there are much smaller, seemingly insignificant countries that suddenly achieve gigantic influence on a global scale?

What if we were to talk about countries that are neither the richest in the world, nor do they necessarily have nuclear weapons, large armies or even a large population, but have nevertheless managed to carve out a niche for themselves on the international geopolitical chessboard?

Well, VisualPolitik viewers, in this video we are going to give you several examples of countries that, despite being relatively small, are breaking all the molds.

But first, it would not be out of place to shine a light on the ultimate key to its renewed influence.

We are talking about what is known as soft power.

And take note, this could be much more important than you might imagine.

You could say that this type of strategy, or power, consists of being able to impact, influence and persuade people around the world to achieve certain objectives.

In order to do this, elements such as culture, values, innovation, sports, diplomacy and even philanthropy are used.

It is the opposite concept of hard power, which is exercised through coercion, the use of force or threats or economic blackmail, a type of power in which, not surprisingly, the great powers have many advantages.

In other words, in summary, while hard power depends on force, soft power depends on persuasion and attraction.

Let's see, as far as influence and military presence go, we have already talked about them in a lot of videos.

However, what we have rarely is how any country can expand its relevance and international influence by resorting to persuasion.

This can also be a real lifeline for the country's companies and products.

Many countries are already developing this line of work.

So, without further ado, shall we find out which countries are able to compete head-to-head with the major powers?

Well, VisualPolitik viewers, we are going to look at every aspect of this new approach.

We are going to illustrate it with concrete examples.

THE EMERGENCE OF K-POWER One of the countries that has most increased its international influence and improved its external image in recent times is, can you guess?

Here on VisualPolitik we have already talked about this country in several videos.

We've talked about political, economic, military and even social issues.

But what we've never is how this country has become one of the most popular countries in the world.

I'm sure you've heard about K-pop or Korean series that have taken Netflix by storm, such as Squid Game.

But long before all that, before Gangnam Style became the most watched video on YouTube, before groups like BTS and Blackpink conquered the world and before the movie Parasite won four Oscars, the so-called Korean Wave had already conquered the Asian continent.

Maybe even some of you, as a result of all of this, have been encouraged to try Korean food, a cuisine that is also becoming more and more popular.

It may not seem like much to us, but isn't it surprising that a country like this is having such a global impact?

Have you ever thought, for example, about the cars that systematically appear in Korean TV series?

But they are almost always either Hyundai, Genesis or Kia.

We could almost talk about a mega ad for one of this country's most important industries.

And of course, we're not just talking about cars.

But that's just one aspect of this huge global exhibition.

It's a kind of exposure that, in the case of South Korea, has not come out of nowhere.

We could go so far as to say that it has been part of a state's strategy for several decades now.

You see, many experts believe that government support was key in the Hallyu, the Korean wave of cultural content that emerged in the 1990s.

For example, in 1998, then-president Kim Dae-sung announced the first plan to support the Hallyu industry.

The aim was to boost the cultural industry to make it a great showcase for the country.

In just three years, the public budget allocated to the cultural industry tripled.

The success was so resounding that the next government, that of Roh Moo-hyun, continued to increase investment in the cultural industry.

In fact, several laws were also established, as well as government agencies, aimed exclusively at promoting this cultural content both inside and outside the country.

Let's see, yes, I know what you're thinking.

If it were as easy as putting money on the table, many countries could do the same, right?

In fact, the truth is that, in this case, the key to success of the Korean wave was not really the economic contribution of the government, but above all that the process was totally directed and managed by private companies.

And production companies focused on making profits.

That is to say that, in this case, the government played a similar role to that of the State of Israel in the promotion of technology companies, as we recently told you on Visual Economic.

That is, it put up the money to support the industry but gave it all the control.

That is, they had to make as much money as possible.

And so, little by little, the state was nurturing a sector that could bring them a lot of international visibility.

Culture has surfaced as an indispensable element of a nation's competitiveness and economic resource that produces added value.

To keep in pace with this changing global environment, Korea has adopted cultural diplomacy as a new pillar of the country's diplomatic makeup. 2010 Diplomatic White Paper of Korea.

And believe me when I tell you that they take it quite seriously.

For example, the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs conducts research on the impact of Hallyu in each country and, based on the results, promotes fan activities and cultural events.

Another example is that the government is sponsoring 20-30% of a huge $1 billion investment fund aimed at growing and exporting Korean pop culture.

As you can see, this has not come about by chance.

Well, one of the objectives of this strong commitment has been to improve South Korea's international image.

A country that, since its foundation in 1948, went through a devastating war and a succession of military dictatorships until the 1990s.

Dictatorships that obviously consistently violated human rights and contributed to the country's rather negative image abroad.

For a long time, South Korea was seen as a kind of mega-factory run by sat-raps and huge family business conglomerates that were supported by corrupt politicians.

As you can imagine, that was not the best calling card.

So, when democracy arrived in the country known as the Land of Morning Calm, politicians not only had to get down to work to clean up the institutions, but they also had to work hard to improve the country's image at home and abroad.

And there you have it, no sooner said than done.

There are a couple of facts that can help us understand the enormous success they have had.

For example, according to the World Tourism Organization, between 1995 and 2019, which is the latest pre-pandemic data, the number of tourists received by South Korea grew by 367%, from about 3.75 million to almost 18 million.

Thus, tourism is becoming a huge and entirely new source of income.

Another fact that demonstrates the influence that this cultural commitment has had is the number of people who suddenly decide to study their language.

We can look, for example, at the number of students who sign up for official exams every year.

And take note, the number of topic applicants has increased by almost 14,000% between 1997 and 2019.

In 2019 there were some 400,000 applicants, almost four times more than those who signed up, for example, for the official DELE, Spanish exams.

And let's not forget that Korean is a minority language globally, with just over 80 million native speakers, making those figures a real milestone.

And as a comparison, it should be noted that Spain spends 170 million euros every year on the Cervantes Institute.

Basically on its head office, branches and public employees.

An institution whose essential function is to promote Spanish around the world.

With the data in hand, South Korea's commitment to private enterprise and competitive content has clearly been much more successful.

Especially if we also take into account that the Spanish language has the second highest number of native speakers and is much, much more influential in the world.

The fact is that all this impact obviously translates into a huge extra source of revenue for the South Korean economy.

It is also a way to promote South Korea's political image to the rest of the world, which, in addition to increasing trade, diplomatic and political exchanges, could be particularly important in the event of a conflict, with North Korea, for example.

It is clear that the things we know and value matter much more to us.

It is a strategy that countries like Israel are now also following.

Have you noticed that there is more and more Israeli content on streaming platforms?

Well, take note, because its implications are more important than we might think.