Catching up to Hallyu? The Japanese and Chinese Response to South Korean Soft Power

Discussions of the Korean Wave all too often assume that the export of Korean cultural products is a one-way flow with beneficial consequences and that it is uncontested and unstoppable, destined to fill cultural spaces in East Asia and the world. This paper argues that Hallyu is not occurring in a vacuum, for it exists in the context of national, economic, and increasingly cultural competition. The paper first examines how the South Korean government is actively seeking to enhance its soft power through Hallyu, especially through the development of creative industries and the export of cultural products. The paper also shows how Korea’s head start in fostering creative industries and developing soft power has prompted its neighboring countries, especially China and Japan, to broaden and accelerate their own cultural industrial policies to enhance their soft power. Thus, the phenomenon of Hallyu is as much a cause to take heed as it is to celebrate. Not only does this upsurge in cultural exports encourage the Korean government towards an even more instrumental use of the Korean Wave, but its ongoing success also shows Korea’s competitors how to structure and promote their own cultural industries. It is a blueprint just waiting to be recycled and duplicated and twisted into new shapes and forms.