33 Keys to Decoding the Korean Wave, Hallyu

#Prologue: Dynamic Korea, Sparkling Koreans

 

Gukpoong (Korean Craze) or Gukppong (Jingoism)?

 

*한류를 이해하는 33가지 코드 # 프롤로그: 국풍인가, 국뽕인가 <한국어 버전, Korean version>

http://www.nyculturebeat.com/index.php?mid=Focus&document_srl=4072639

 

BTS’s 2020 New Year’s Times Square performance (clockwise from left), director Bong Joon-ho, who won the Academy Award for Best Director in February 2020, soprano Hei-Kyung Hong and tenor Wookyung Kim in “La Traviata,” in the first performance with two Asian leads in the history of the Metropolitan Opera in 2007 (Photo : Marty Sohl). Hee Seo and Kimin Kim performing at American Ballet Theatre’s “La Bayadere” in 2015.

 

 

“New York is a utopia for artists, where half of those who pass one’s shoulders , and a place like a ring  made of wire mesh in the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship, mixed martial arts competition). However, there are referees who judge professionals. For me, New York was an impossible route to avoid. It was like a melting furnace that kept me constantly working and boiling. Ironically it was New York that made me find my reasons. Today, every city in the world has its own identity, but no city is as dynamic as New York. It is a beautiful city with remarkable identity.

-Atta Kim (Photographer, 2011, at an interview with Sukie Park for The Korea Daily)-

 

In early 1996, at the age of thirty-three, I left Seoul and started a new chapter in New York, with only reckless passion. In Seoul, I was familiar with “The Salad Bowl of Multi cultures” through films by Woody Allen and Jim Jarmusch. But once I put my foot in New York, I was at a loss. New York was stranger than paradise. Back then I was happy whenever I saw Hyundai cars on the road or found “Taekwondo” signs on the quiet street. But in everyday life, I was confronted with language barriers, cultural barriers, and of course racism. My heart filled with passion was cooling down day by day.

 

Probably most of the Korean immigrants had gone through “hwa-byung,” anger syndrome in Korean, at the beginning of new American life. Maybe it’s still residing with us and comes out like a mole. Although New York City is “the utopia of culture,” it was also a dangerous place where we immigrants could feel like you are in the labyrinth of dystopia.  

 

A couple of years went by, yet I was stumbling in between two cultures. Where do I belong? Korean or America? Out of anguish, I started scribbling about my in-between identity, by comparing two cultures. How the patriarchal Confucian culture made us hurdle in the Olympic game of Koreans’ lives? With very cynical views Life in Seoul, Life in New York, the tale of two cities, my essay ended up with more than 100 topics. It was a portrait of a young woman with feelings of inferiority, dissatisfaction, and anger. I put them together and titled it as “Damn Confucius.” Pretty provocative? Fortunately, I didn't have a chance to publish it.    

 

 

Times Square, New York City

 

Time flew by like a flash. Koreans say, “In 10 years, even rivers and mountains will change.” And in the last 20 years, the country of “ppalli ppalli” culture (fast culture) Korea has come a long way at the speed of light. Meanwhile, having settled down in The Cultural Treasure Island of New York, I was lucky to taste the wide spectrum of cultural events which this marvelous city has provided, inhaling the city’s endorphins and vitamins while covering the culture and many talented people. In particular, Koreans were demonstrating talents in almost every field of culture, and I was happy to interview those amazing Koreans.   

 

Then, who first used the term "Hallyu, Korean Wave''? According to Hong Yooseon and Lim Daegeun's co-authored paper "A Study on the Derivation of Hallyu as a Term," (2018): First, as the term Hallyu was applied to the phenomenon of Korea’s economic crisis in 1997 influencing Taiwan's economy. The term "Hallyu" (Cold Wave, 寒流) appeared on December 12, 1997 in an article published in the China Times (中國時報) in Taiwan. Second, the term Hallyu (Korean Wave, 韓流) in Korean pop culture was devised as a marketing slogan by the Rock Records company (滾石唱片) in Taiwan.  Yao Fengqun (姚鳳群) of the Rock Records company synthesized the Korean word Han of Hankuk (韓國) and the word for tidal current (lyu of Joryu, 潮流). The term Hallyu as applied to the Korean pop culture phenomenon appeared in an article in December 17, 1998, in the United Evening News (聯合晩報) in Taiwan.  After the huge success of the first K-Pop band H.O.T. in the Chinese-speaking world, other Korean pop music groups and Korean dramas became wildly popular, and Hallyu also spread outside Asia. 

 

Today, Koreans are shaking the globe. From K-Pop, film, drama, art, theater, opera, ballet, jazz, literature as well as food, golf and K-beauty to name a few. For the last twenty years, Koreans have been surfing on the torrents called “Korean Wave/Hallyu.” The Korean superstars are sparkling in the galaxy of culture. Now alphabet “K” symbolizes “Things Korean” “Cool Korea.”

 

Once upon a time, Korea was called “The Land of the Morning Calm” and “The Hermit Nation.” Now Korea is one of the most dynamic countries in the world and Koreans are sparkling on the planet. This 21st century phenomena of K-Wave is surreal to witness. Who had imagined that Koreans would dominate in world culture? Why are Koreans so gifted? Who are Koreans? Why is the world fascinated by K-culture?

 

 

Triumph at the Academy, Emmy and Cannes 

 

Director Bong Joon-ho receives the International Feature Film Trophy from actress Penelope Cruz at the Academy Awards ceremony on February 9, 2020.

 

On February 9, 2020, Korean director Bong Joon-ho and his acclaimed film “Parasite” swept the Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best International Feature Film, rewriting the history of Korean cinema as well as of the Academy. Bong changed the 92-year history of the Academy, which had fallen into white male-centered ethnocentrism or narcissism. In addition, Bong, who said he would turn down a Marvel Comic based movie featuring a superhero, became a living superhero in Hollywood himself. The awards ceremony finale was decorated by two Korean female producers, Kwak Sin-ae and Lee Mi-kyung (Mickey Lee). “Parasite” is the third film to receive the Academy Best Picture Award along with Palme d’Or at Cannes Film Festival, the two other films are “The Lost Weekend” (1945) by Billy Wilder and “Marty” (1955) by Delbert Mann. “Parasite,” a masterpiece with artistic achievement, and a highly entertaining blockbuster with a powerful social message, has now become a legend.

 

Meanwhile, at the Sundance Film Festival held in Park City, Utah just two weeks before the Oscars, “Minari,” directed by Korean American Lee Isaac Chung, won the US Dramatic Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award. Koreans swept the top prize at the Hollywood and Indie film festivals in the U.S. The following year, “Minari” was nominated for six Academy Awards including Best Picture, Screenplay, Director, Best Actor (Steven Yeun), Supporting Actress (Youn Yuh-jung), and Music Award. Youn, who played Soon-ja, the feisty and witty grandmother grabbed her first Oscar trophy and made history as the first Korean actor who wins at the Academy. So, two years in a row, Korean films shake the Oscar ceremony, which is the fest for the Hollywood insiders.  

 

Then three weeks later, the 70th Berlin International Film Festival awarded the Silver Bear for Best Director to Hong Sang-soo for “The Woman Who Ran.” Next year, Hong won his second Silver Bear for Best Screenplay for “Introduction,” and in 2022, he won his third Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize for “The Novelist's Film.” Three years in a row, Hong took three Silver Bears.  Meanwhile, the Film Society of Lincoln Center, which hosts the New York Film Festival, held a retrospective exhibition of director Hong Sang-soo in April and May 2022.  Hong holds the record for the most screened directors in the 59-year history of the New York Film Festival, with 17 films so far. In 2017, Kim Min-hee, the star of Hong’s “On the Beach at Night Alone,” had won the Silver Bear for Best Actress and the late Kim Ki-duk won the Silver Bear for Best Director Award for “Samaria” in 2004.

 

 

 

And then Korean drama "Squid Game" directedby Hwang Dong-hyuk, became a global sensation. It first aired on September 17, 2021, and in 17 days, 111 million people around the world watched it, making Netflix's biggest blockbuster. “Squid Game” made Emmy Award history, becoming the first-ever non-English language series to be nominated for Best Drama Series and 14 nods.  Finally it won a total of six Emmys for Best Director (Hwang Dong-hyuk), Best Actor (Lee Jung-jae), Best Guest Actress (Lee Yoo-mi), Best Production Design (Chae Kyung-sun), Best Visual Effects, and Best Stunt Performance. 

 

Lee Jung-jae also won Actors Guild Awards (SAG) Best Actor in a TV Drama Series and Jung Ho-yeon grabbed the Best Actress. It is the first time that an actor from a non-English-speaking drama ('*Parasite' is in the movie category) has won the SAG Award. Also  Oh Young-soo, at the age of 77, took the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor. 

 

In May 2022, Korean films made waves again. Director Park Chan-wook and Song Kang-ho won Awards at the 75th Cannes Film Festival. It's Park's third glory for the mystery thriller 'Decision to Leave' at Cannes after winning the Grand Prix in 2004 (Oldboy) and Prix du Jury in 2009 (Thirst). Song Kang-ho became the first Korean male actor to win the Best Actor award for his movie 'Broker', directed by Hirogazu Kore-eda.

 

 

The First Asian is...

 

Sandra Oh became the first Asian to win Best Actress at the 2019 Golden Globe Awards.

 

It was the Canadian-American actress who made Golden Globe Award history. Sandra Oh (Korean name Oh Miju) became the first actress of Asian descent to win Best Actress-Television Series Drama for her role in “Killing Eve” in 2019. Sandra Oh shouted in Korean “Mom and Dad, I love you!” in her acceptance speech, and the TV camera caught the Korean parents smiling in the audience. Oh took her first Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress-Series, Miniseries or Television Film for “Grey’s Anatomy” in 2005.  

 

Sandra Oh was selected as one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2019 along with BTS. Screenwriter and producer Shonda Rhimes said of Sandra Oh:

“One of the greatest gifts of my creative life has been the opportunity to write words to be spoken by Sandra Oh. The reason is simple: Sandra Oh is a virtuoso. She treats dialogue like notes of music—every word must be played, every syllable correctly toned. She’s always been an extraordinary actor. Her body of work makes that clear.... And that is a gift to every artist of color who follows in her footsteps.”

 

Another pioneer in American TV for Korean actors was the stand-up comedienne Margaret Cho (Cho Moran). Cho opened the door to Sandra Oh , Daniel Dae Kim (Kim Dae-hyun) and Yunjin Kim of “Lost”.  In 1994, when American TV had no Asian lead actors , Margaret Cho was cast for the lead role in ABC-TV’s sitcom “All-American Girl.” It was a revolutionary TV project. But were the Americans ready to see Asian family in their living room? The Asian community hoped so.

 

Critics fired arrows of criticism at her appearance and character. Due to her rapid weight loss and its side effects, the sitcom was canceled after one season, and Cho went through a deep depression. However, she woke up from the slump and became the queen of American stand-up comedy. In 1999 Cho made a resurgence with the national tour of autobiographical comedy show “I’m the One that I Want.” Since then, she has also worked as an actress, author, singer-songwriter and fashion designer. Margaret Cho became a role model and opened the door to the next generation of Asian stand-up comedians. But behind her triumphs, there were bitter moments as well.

 

 

Psy, Gangnam Style

 

After the Korean boy band H.O.T. hit the Asian audience in the late 1990s, the K-Pop (Korean Pop) phenomena was followed by 2NE1, Wonder Girls, Girls’ Generation, 2PM, SHINee, f(x), Fin.K.L., S.E.S., Baby Vox, TVXQ, Big Bang, etc., and they formed the first wave of K-pop.

 

In 2012, Psy rocked the world with “Gangnam Style” and rose to global stardom. “Gangnam Style” recorded more than 100 million views in 52 days after the official music video was posted on YouTube in July 2012 and ranked first in the number of views on YouTube for 4 years and 8 months. K-Pop’s first global superstar, Psy, started the year of 2013 by performing at the New Year’s Eve event at Times Square in New York City.

 

 

BTS (June 2021), the first Asian group to decorate the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, and BLACKPINK (July 2022), the first Asian female group to cover Rolling Stone magazine.

 

The boy band often compared to the Beatles, BTS opened 2020 performing at the same stage where Psy sang and danced, in Times Square. As of October 2021, the magnificent seven has had 6 songs ranked at the top of the Billboard pop music charts, 5th in pop history following The Beatles (20), Supremes (12), Bee Gees (9), and Rolling Stones (8). In addition, BTS was nominated for a duo/group performance for three consecutive years at the Grammy Awards, establishing them as a global superstar.

 

And K-pop girl group BLACKPINK (Jennie, Lisa, Jisoo and Rose) made history as the first all-female Asian band ever to make the cover of Rolling Stone Magazine since it started 54 years ago. It was only the 3rd female group after Spice Girls in 1997 and Destiny’s Child in 2001.   

 

The MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs), one of the four major music awards in the US along with the Grammy Awards, Billboard Music Awards, and American Music Awards, have newly established the 2019 K-Pop Video Award. BTS won the award for three consecutive years ("Boy with Luv"/ "On"/ "Butter"), and in 2022, the girl group Black Pink's Lisa won the Best K-Pop Award for her debut single "Lalisa".

 

 

And the Winner is...

 

Pianist Seong-Jin Cho at Carnegie Hall debut recital in 2017. 

 

from left SILVER MEDALIST Anna Geniushene (Russia, 31), GOLD MEDALIST Yunchan Lim(South Korea, 18),BRONZE MEDALIST Dmytro Choni (Ukraine, 28) of the Sixteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.  Photo: The Cliburn

 

 

Berlin-based composer Unsuk Chin won the prestigious Grawemeyer Award for her Violin Concerto in 2004, and the New York Philharmonic's Marie-Josée Kravis Prize for New Music in 2018. The following year Chin showed off her female power when she premiered her live concerto “Shu” in New York, conducted by Susanna Malkki. Chin premiered her Violin Concerto No. 2 “Shards of Silence” with Leonidas Kavakos and the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in March 2022.

 

Koreans are dominant as musicians in the New York Philharmonic orchestra, such as  Assistant Concertmaster Michelle Kim, Hae-Young Ham, Lisa GiHae Kim, Su Hyun Park, Lisa Eunsoo Kim, Soohyun Kwon, Hannah Choi, Dasol Jeong, Hyunju Lee, Kyung Ji Min, Jin Suk Yu (all violins), Patrick Jee (cello) and Yoobin Son (flute). David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center is the home of the NY Phil.

 

Meanwhile at the Metropolitan Opera House in Lincoln Center, you can’t miss Korean opera singers in the new season line up. Since soprano Hei-Kyung Hong debuted in 1984, sopranos Youngok Shin, Sumi Jo, Kathleen Kim, So Young Park, Hera Hyesang Park, tenor Yonghoon Lee, Wookyung Kim, Alfred Kim, Yosep Kang, Andrea Shin, baritone Hyung Yun, David Won, Kihwan Sim, bass Kwangchul Youn, Jong-min Park, and Andrew Gangstad (Korean adoptee) and bass baritone Jeongcheol Cha have performed on the stage in the Met’s 3,800 seat Opera House.

 

 

Tenor Yonghoon Lee(second from left in the front row) and the cast at a curtain call after the Met Opera “Nabucco” performance in 2011. Photo: Sukie Park/ NYCultureBeat

 

In January 2007, Korean singers Hei-Kyung Hong and Wookyung Kim appeared as the first Asian female and male leading duo in the Metropolitan Opera’s 127 year history. Even in the Met Opera chorus, Koreans such as Seunghye Lee, Catherine MiEun Choi, Christian Jeong, Juhwan Lee and Yohan Yi are the absolute majority among Asians.

 

Meanwhile, in 2021, Korean conductor Eun Sun Kim was appointed as the music director of the San Francisco Opera, which made her the first female music director for an American major opera company. Music director Eun Sun Kim made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in November of 2021 conducting Puccini’s “La Boheme.” The New York Times praised, “the star of the evening was the conductor, Eun Sun Kim, in her Met debut.”

 

Her name is Grace, Grace Kelly. Singer-saxophonist-songwriter-composer and band leader Grace Kelly was a jazz prodigy who released her debut album at the age of twelve. Since then, Kelly has recorded 13 albums, and has appeared in concerts from the Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island to the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival in New York City, as well as being in the band with Jon Batiste on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” on CBS-TV.  

 

The Metropolitan Opera House is also a home for the American Ballet Theatre, where two Koreans, Hee Seo and Joo Won Ahn, are the only Asians among the fifteen principal dancers. In 2012, Hee Seo became the first Asian principal dancer at the ABT’s history and Ahn was promoted as principal dancer in 2020. Seo Performed with Kimin Kim, the first Asian principal dancer at Mariinsky Ballet in Russia, in “La Bayadère”in 2015 and she danced with Ahn in “Don Quixote” for ABT gala opening night at the Met Opera House in June 2022.  

 

 

Young Jean Lee  Photo: Guzman/ Straight White Men  Photo: Joan Marcus

 

Let’s turn our eyes to Broadway, a.k.a. “The Great White Way.” Unlike Hollywood, on Broadway, where major theater owners are in power, playwrights are the kings. But there was a new queen in town in 2018. Young Jean Lee, Korean American playwright became the first Asian American female playwright to debut with a play titled “Straight White Men” at the Helen Hayes Theater.

 

Not many Korean actors were shown on Broadway. One note-worthy actress was a girl, Junah Jang, who performed in the musical revival “Annie” at the Palace Theater.  

 

Actually, two Koreans made musical history in London, not on Broadway, in 2009. Daniel Dae Kim (Korean name Kim Dae-hyun) of “Lost,” ABC-TV drama, and soprano Jihyun Lim, New York City Opera's “Madama Butterfly,” played the King of Siam and the Queen-Lady Thiang in the revival musical “The King and I” in Royal Albert Hall. Back then Kim, in an interview with me for The Korea Daily of New York, said “I think ‘The King and I’ is the best character ever written for an Asian man.” Kim then made his Broadway debut as the King of Siam at the Vivian Beaumont Theater seven years later taking over the role from another Korean King, Hoon Lee. In 2015 Korean American actress Ruthie Ann Miles won the Tony Award on Broadway for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for “The King and I,” and Ashley Park who played Tuptim, rose to star in the musical “Mean Girls” and in the off-Broadway original musical “KPOP.”  Siam, the Kingdom of Thailand, was sparkling with Korean actors on stage.

 

 

Daniel Dae Kim and Jihyun Lim starred in the revival musical 'The King and I' performed at the Royal Albert Hall in London in 2009. Photo: Jihyun Lim 

 

We should remember the late Willa Kim (1917-2016), the great costume designer who won two Tonys. She took her first trophy for “Sophisticated Ladies” in 1981 and her second for “The Will Rogers Follies” ten years later when she was in her 70s. And in 2007 at the age of 90, she created about 200 costumes for “The Sleeping Beauty,” her 7th ballet production. In her long career Willa Kim designed costumes for over 150 shows. Willa Kim passed away in 1996 at the age of 99. She was honored at the Theater Hall of Fame in 2007. The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts in Lincoln Center was planning a retrospective of Willa Kim in May 2020 but it was cancelled due to the Corona Pandemic.

 

Linda Cho’s splendid costumes were recognized by the Tonys and won the trophy for “A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder” and she was invited to design The Metropolitan Opera’s “Samson and Delilah” costumes.

 

In October 2022, the original musical “KPop” is scheduled to open at the Circle in the Square Theater on Broadway. “KPop” originally debuted off Broadway, with a book by Jason Kim and music and lyrics by Helen Park and Max Vernon. It will be the first Broadway musical created by Koreans, performed by Koreans.

 

 

The Renaissance of K-Culture 

 

At the Special Exhibition of Korean Monochrome at Christie's New York in 2015. Photo: Sukie Park/NYCultureBeat

 

In the art world, the Korean Waves (Hallyu) were high in 2019 with the reexamination of Nam June Paik (1932-2006), the “Pioneer of Video Art.” The Tate Modern in London presented a large-scale survey exhibition of Nam June Paik. It was a retrospective of the artist that coincided with the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci, who was the subject of an exhibit which opened at the Louvre in Paris a week later. In 2011, Lee Ufan became the second Korean artist to have a Guggenheim Museum retrospective following Nam June Paik in 2000. Then, Lee exhibited his work in the garden of the Palace of Versailles. Lee also created the label for the French luxury Bordeaux wine Chateau Mouton Rothschild for the 2013 vintage.

 

All of a sudden, the art world discovered Dansaekhwa, Korean monochrome paintings. Major galleries around the world started showing Dansaekhwa  including New York and London. In 2019, there were exhibitions of Chung Sang-Hwa at Lévy Gorvy gallery in Upper East Side and Yun Hyong-keun at David Zwirner, Chelsea. Ha Chonghyun’s painting was hung at the reopening of the Museum of Modern Art in October 2019 and Park Seo-Bo's paintings were shown along with Agnes Martin in “Marking Time: Process in Minimal Abstraction” at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. Chung Chang-Sup and Yun Hyong-keun couldn’t enjoy the overdue fame, but Chung Sang-Hwa, Ha Chonghyun and Park Seobo are enjoying their heyday.

 

 

Susan Choi, winner of the 2019 National Book Awards, the most prestigious literary award in the United States.

 

Koreans are excellent writers. In 2016, Han Kang’s “The Vegetarian” won the prestigious International Booker Prize, and Brooklyn-based novelist Susan Choi was the winner of the National Book Award for Fiction in 2019 for “Trust Exercise.” Seattle resident Don Mee Choi, poet/translator, won the 2020 National Book Award for Poetry for her “DMZ Colony.” Choi was also named one of the 25 recipients of the 2021 MacArthur Fellowship, a.k.a. “Genius Grant.” LA poet Cathy Park Hong was named one of TIME magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2021 along with actress Youn Yuh-jung and actor Steven Yeun for “Minari.”

 

Chang-rae Lee, professor at Stanford University, won the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award for his first novel “Native Speaker” (1995) and in 2011, “The Surrendered” was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. A lawyer turned bestseller novelist Min Jin Lee was also the finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for “Pachinko” (2017) after his successful debut novel “Free Food for Millionaires” (2007). “Pachinko” was made into a mini-series on Apple TV+ in 2022.

 

 

There's something about Koreans 

 

David Chang won the 2013 James Beard Foundation Award for Outstanding Chef. Photo: Sukie Park/NYCultureBeat 

 

Koreans are passionate about food. In the culinary industry, Korean chefs have been changing the American dining culture. Superstar chef David Chang (Chang Seok-ho) of the Momofuku empire started a cozy Japanese ramen place (Momofuku Noodle Bar) in the East Village of NYC in 2004. Back then, sushi was hip, ramen was almost unknown. Chang decided to do whatever he wanted to do, even if his business is doomed to fail. Chang dared to put a pork belly sandwich (pork bun) on the table of New Yorkers. It was very hard to find Korean restaurants on 32nd St. which serve pork belly (samgyeopsal) BBQ. This is the city of many Jewish residents and power elites. They don’t eat pork. But the pork bun’s flavor melted food critics and they raved about David Chang’s talent. That was the beginning of the Momofuku empire.

 

David Chang won the James Beard Foundation Award, a.k.a., the Oscars of the restaurant industry, recognized as Rising Star Chef (2007), Best Chef New York City for Momofuku Ssam Bar (2008), Best New Restaurant for Momofuku Ko (2009), Outstanding Chef (2013). Also, he was selected for Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World not once, but two times, in 2010 and 2016. Now Chang has more than 30 restaurants, bars and takeout joints around the world.    

 

From Coast to Coast, Korean American chefs rose to the mainstream. The first Michelin three-star Korean chef (Corey Lee of Benu in San Francisco), Roy Choi of Kogi BBQ Taco Truck in LA, Edward Lee of 610 Magnolia in Louisville, Danny Bowien of Mission Chinese Food in New York and the first Michelin star Korean restaurant Danji’s Hooni Kim are the culinary star chefs. Then a second wave of star chefs came from Korea, Jungsik Lim of Jungsik and Junghyun Park of Atomix made their name with meticulous tasting menus and garnered two Michelin stars.  

 

The restaurants that garnered Michelin stars in New York also showed outstanding Korean talents. David Chang's tasting menu restaurant 'Momofuku Ko', Jungsik Lim's 'Jungsik', and Junghyun Park's 'Atomix' were included among 14 Michelin 2-star restaurants, while Cote by Simon Kim and Jeju Noodle Bar by Douglas Kim were received 1 star. At the 2019 James Beard Foundation Awards, Ann Kim (Young Joni, Minneapolis), Beverly Kim (Parachute, Chicago), Yoon Ha (Benu, San Francisco), and Studio Writers (Atomix, NY) won the prestigious medals.  

 

In July 2022, Atomix, a tasting menu restaurant run by Chef Park Junghyun Park, was ranked 33rd in the World's 50 Best, and was recognized as the best restaurant in the United States. Eric Rippert's Michelin three-star restaurant Le Bernadin was ranked 44th.

 

 

Times Square, June 19, 2022 

 

While Korean men are making a name for themselves in the kitchen, Korean women have been fierce on the ice or on the green grass. After breaking her world record 11 times, Queen Yu-Na Kim was named as one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2010 with the chef David Chang. In particular, the performance of female players who are called “Taegeuk ladies” in golf is dazzling. In October of 2019, Korean female golfers were in  the world’s top 10:  #1 Ko Jin-young, #2 Park Sung-hyun, #3 Jeongeun Lee, and #8 Inbee Park.  

 

In the late 1970s, Ok-hee Koo broke out from “The Barrens of Golf” Korea. Se-ri Pak started her prime time after winning the US Women’s Open in 1998. Pak was the role model for aspiring Korean golfers, “Seri Kids”: Inbee Park, Ko Jin-young, Park Sung-hyun, Lee Jung-eun, to name a few.

 

Korean cosmetic brands, from Amore Pacific to Face Shop, joined the Korean Wave branded as coveted “K-Beauty” as they advanced from Saks 5th Avenue department store in Manhattan to Chinatown and as far away as Saudi Arabia. Korea is also an IT (Information Technology) advanced country. Samsung’s Galaxy, along with Apple’s iPhone, is the driving force behind the global smartphone market. Now, “K-” has become synonymous with advanced culture and technology with a cool charm.

 

 

If you live in a big city in the U.S., you are likely to run into something Korean at least once a day. In New York, you'll be walking across the street at a Korean owned greengrocer's, a dry cleaner or a nail salon on the corner of the street, or a Taekwondo gym. In the middle of Manhattan Times Square, there is a fast fashion global chain "Forever 21", and a teaser for "Squid Game" and advertisements for Samsung and LG neon go around on the huge electronic display. Times Square is also adjacent to bakery "Paris Baguette" and Japanese fast food spot "Wasabi". Don't be surprised! Both are global chains run by Koreans. The huge Tiffany & Co. billboard of featuring ROSÉ of K-pop group BLACKPINK is looking down at you, and BTS' song flows from somewhere. This is not Ridley Scott's film "Blade Runner (1982)." You are a witness to the 2022 K-Wave (Hallyu).

 

Where does the power of this hurricane called Hallyu come from? Why were the first generation of Korean immigrants so successful in the greengrocer/deli, laundry, and nail salon businesses? What is the code to understand Korea’s splendid culture shaking the globe? As an outsider Korean and an insider New Yorker, it’s t time to contemplate the “Looking-Glass Self” and put the puzzle together. There's something about Koreans. Here are the 33 codes to suggest. WHO ARE KOREANS?

 

 

Sukie Park

A native Korean, Sukie Park studied journalism and film & theater in Seoul. She worked as a reporter with several Korean pop, cinema, photography and video magazines, as a writer at Korean radio (KBS-2FM 영화음악실) and television (MBC-TV 출발 비디오 여행) stations, and as a copywriter at a video company(대우 비디오). Since she moved to New York City, Sukie covered culture and travel for The Korea Daily of New York(뉴욕중앙일보) as a journalist. In 2012 she founded www.NYCultureBeat.com, a Korean language website about cultural events, food, wine, shopping, sightseeing, travel and people.

 

 

 

33 Keys to Decoding Korean Wave, Hallyu 

Beyond BTS, Parasite & Squid Game 

 

CONTENTS

 

#Prologue: 국풍인가, 국뽕인가 Dynamic Korea, Sparkling Koreans