the Korean wave sweeps across France

Music, series, cinema and even food, South Korea fascinates more and more French people. This phenomenon has a name: “Hallyu” which translates to “the Korean wave”.

Who says “Hallyu”, says K-pop, Korean music and its billions of views on Youtube. Blackpink, the K-Pop girl group that everyone is talking about, is a good example of this. The four young women have a string of musical successes and contracts with luxury brands, particularly French ones.

Blackpink created the event in France with their concert full of choreography and glitter at the Stade de France, on July 15, in front of an excited crowd, made up of many teenagers and young adults. “It’s this exotic side that we’re not necessarily used to that appeals to a lot of young people and a lot of peopledeciphers a fan, At the moment, with new groups, there are a lot of struggles in terms of self-acceptance, freeing oneself from clichés and a little bit of all the things that lock certain people into prerequisites.” “There is a real connection between everyone, it’s incredible”, says a young spectator. For this other fan, it’s “like friends, like we’ve known each other for a long time, in the end I just cried”.

“It’s good that the groups, the communities of the groups, represent minorities, we see racialized people, we see LGBT people and it’s really very cool.”

A fan of the K-pop group Blackpink

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“Everyone is having fun, we come as we are, a bit like at McDonald’s”, smiles a young woman. In the first half of 2023, according to the Korean customs service, France climbed into the top 10 countries importing K-Pop albums.

Series made in Korea also break records

On Netflix, Korean dramas are now pillars of the platform’s catalog. Among the successful series, Squid Game, The Glory or Crash Landing on youdystopian stories, revenge stories, love stories, often addictive to the point that some come to want to learn the language.

At the Korean cultural center in Paris, Korean classes are literally taken over by students of all ages, from 18 to over 70. Nearly 400 people are on the waiting list each year. Hye-young Tcho, professor, confirms this enthusiasm: “It really increases every year. There are 25 students per class and 19 classes. Compared to only two classes in 1999.” To this teacher, we talk about K-pop, dramas, “but also football, Korean food”, she adds. If there was only one phrase to learn in Korean, according to her, it would be: “salanghaeyo”, “I love you”.

More and more French people say “I love you” to Korea

According to the French Embassy in Seoul, in 2023, nearly 93,000 French people entered South Korea, 23% more than in the pre-Covid period. And nearly 5,800 hold a long-stay visa. Among French people registered in the embassy register, 40% are under 25 years old.

Alexandra, almost 20 years old, is a university exchange student in Seoul for a year. She speaks Korean very well, is fascinated by this country and a fan of K-pop, unsurprisingly. Her experience of life in South Korea is generally positive, even if, she admits, everything is not perfect: “The foreigner is still quite alone in Korea, they will put you in a box, you will not be able to enter certain places, you will not have the same ease of accessing bank accounts, job. At university, when no one speaks to you, it’s a bit complicated to live with.” she says. But all is not dark in Korea, assures the young woman: “There are still a lot of sparks everywhere, K-pop is very present in Korea,” even if Alexandra confesses to not being a fan of the group Blackpink.

Hallyu, flagship of Korean “soft power”

For the director of the Korean cultural center in Paris, Il-Yeul Lee, “the Korean wave dates from 1997-1998”. “The promotion of our culture to foreigners was designed by the government, he explains, not only drama, but also K-pop, which the Korean government supported with subsidies.” From there to Korean culture being able to compete with American culture? “In the sense of popular culture, it may be possible”assures Il-Yeul Lee.