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The Korean Wave, also known as Hallyu, refers to the impulsive spread of South Korean popular culture overseas. Overall, there have been three generations of the Korean Wave although disagreements exist about the time periods: the first generation of the Korean Wave, Hallyu 1.0, 1997 - mid-2000s; the second generation of the Korean Wave, Hallyu 2.0, mid-2000 - mid-2010s; the third generation of the Korean Wave, Hallyu 3.0, mid-2010s - present. Although the third generation of the Korean Wave, Hallyu 3.0, shares many characteristics of Hallyu 1.0 and 2.0, the allure of the Korean Wave contents in the recent period is not the same as previous Hallyu features. Thus, in this study, I investigate the uniqueness of the third generation of the Korean Wave compared to the previous ones and analyze how these recent Korean media products and popular culture made South Korea a leader of global cultural flow.
KeyWords: Korean Wave, Hallyu, Third Generation, K-Pop, Cultural Products
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I. Introduction
The Korean Wave, also known as Hallyu, refers to the impulsive spread of South Korean popular culture overseas. It involves a wide range of Korean media products such as K-pop music, films, TV dramas, computer products, and online games as well as fashion, beauty products, food, and lifestyle (Kim 2013). The popularity of Korean cultural products began in Asia, which has long been under the influence of Western and Japanese cultural products. Yet, Korean cultural products competed and won their place. Recently, the Korean Wave has enjoyed major global circulation of Korean popular culture, which has never happened before. Thus, a French newspaper stated that Korea has made itself known to the world with its own cultural products (Le Monde 2011). Choi (2018, 41) further asserts that Hallyu is not just the spreading popularity of Korean cultural products, but it is "the high tide of Korean culture in non-Korean territories."
The Korean Wave drastically improved the national image of South Korea (Korea from now on). Previously, the image of Korea was closely connected to the Korean War, the division of the country, poverty, and labor-intensive low-end products (Tudor 2013). However, thanks to the Korean Wave, the poor national image of Korea has been replaced with a trendy, affluent...