‘Korean Wave’ — The Popular Culture, Comes as Both Cultural and Economic Imperialism in the East Asia

Abstract

Korean popular culture such as movies, TV dramas, and pop music is overwhelmingly powerful and TV dramas are one of the most remarkable popular cultures of these. They are not only popular in terms of the fanaticalness of audiences and fans, but also bring considerable profit to the national income. Cultural imperialism to be a new form of economic imperialism. The Korean wave brings a different level of Korean fever in certain East Asian countries, such as China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, and the Philippines. This paper aims to analyse the changing position of audiences and consumers. It discusses the role of the media, especially, television, which is not only to provide entertainment to its audiences, but is also to change the audiences’ consumption.