창조경제의 주역 중동 신한류

Neo-Hallyu in the Middle East, the major part of the Korean Creative Economy

In recent years, there has been an influx of Korean popular culture throughout the world, including Southeast Asia, the Americas, Europe and the Middle East. "Korean Wave" ("Hallyu" in Korean) known as Korean popular culture in the Middle East has been started from television dramas, movies and K-POP. "Hallyu" (Korean Wave) ranges to the diverse industry such as game, fashion, Korean language (Hangul) and Tourism. The main focus of this paper is to examine "Neo-Hallyu" as the major part of the Korean Creative Economy. The study aims to explore the potential industry of Neo-Hllyu in the Middle East which could be economic powerhouse for the Korean Creative Economy. The study first examines the history of Hallyu and its development in the Middle East. The cultural background of Hallyu success is analyzed by content analysis and the contributing factors for the success of Hallyu are discussed. The results reveals that there are interesting cultural similarities and differences between Arab cultural environments and Korean popular culture which develops Hallyu and dedicates helping Hallyu business. The rapid growth of the info-communication infrastructure such as Internet have been taking important role for the development of Hallyu in the Middle East. Hallyu has a great impact on Korean export economy and at the same time it contributes to continuous improvement of Korea national image. Hallyu is not only Korean pop culture but now taking a main role to create great added value for Korean Creative Economy. The medical tourism is the fast-growing industry in Asia despite the global economic recession. With the world spread of Hallyu, the diversification of Hallyu strategies is needed at this point and the medical tourism will be the emerging industry of Neo-Hallyu in the Middle East.