Week 12 The Korean Values as a Driving Force for Hallyu

Korean Wave
흥(興) heung
정(情) jeong excitement
affection familism

빨리빨리 palipali
authoritarianism 한(恨) han ‘hurry, hurry’
regret; sorrow
Heung 興
Excitement

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§ The noraebang culture in daily lives
§ Socialising in the singing room more than in other forms of entertainment like sports
§ Numerous music programs on TV and radio

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§ Koreans enjoyed singing, drinking and dancing
from long ago
§ Self-expression through singing

§ Drinking, dancing and singing culture as one way

of relieving stress which originates from the
complex human relationships and high level of
anxiety

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Han 恨
Regret; Sorrow

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Concept of Han ‘Regret; Sorrow’
§ ‘Collective state of resentment and national
mourning’, Korean han frequently mentioned in
public; e.g., objecting to the result at the 2014 Sochi
Winter Olympics
§ “The suffering becomes a part of you, a part of your
blood, and there is a big emphasis on the sadness
more than Wester countries.” (Cain, 2014)

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 Concept of Han ‘Regret; Sorrow’
“If we lived in paradise, there would be no tears, no
separation, no hunger, no waiting, no suffering, no
oppression, no war, no death. We would no longer need
either hope or despair. We would lose those hopes so
dear to us all. We Koreans call these hopes Han. It is not
an easy word to understand. It has generally been
understood as a sort of resentment. But I think it means
both sadness and hope at the same time. You can think
of Han as the core of life, the pathway leading from
birth to death. Literature, it seems to me, is an act of
Han and a representation of it. . . . Han, which
comprises both sadness and hope, is a feeling unique to
the Korean people.” - Park Kyeong-ri (1994)

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§ Sociocultural concept understood as a uniquely
Korean collective feeling of unresolved resentment,
pain, grief and anger
§ Constantly studied and characterised as a
characteristic of Koreans and the root of Korean
culture
§ Deep-rooted grief, bitterness and longings that
Koreans experience as the result of a long history of
oppression and injustice as well as the pain that
Koreans experience from their individual life
circumstances

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§ Encapsulating how collective trauma and individual
hardship can create a complex feedback loop within
the social imaginary
§ Han as a mental state of giving up resulting from
experiencing tragic life events (Choe, 1991); Han as
the most important element in understanding Korean
and diasporic Korean cultural texts (Kim, 1991)
§ Korean born with han cannot escape it.

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§ “Accumulated han is inherited and transmitted, boiling in
the blood of the people.” - Kim Chiha (Korean poet)
§ Suffering believed to be a part of the blood of Koreans

§ ‘Hwatbyeong’ (anger syndrome) as a cultural syndrome

specific to Koreans and Korean immigrants” (Lee, Wachholtz
& Choi, 2014)

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§ Han characterised as creating complex beauty

§ Referring to not only a consciousness of ongoing trauma and a

lack of resolution but also the means to its own resolution
§ Associated with Korean cultural productions, such as visual
art, folk music, traditional ceramics, literature and film
§ Han providing “a path for the movement of the present into
the past, for a fresh and creative movement from the past
and present into the future” (Grinker, 1998)

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§ Injustice the country has experience as the origins of
han: long history of foreign invasions, colonisation,
poverty, the tyranny or ruling classes, the abuses of
authoritarian military regime and oppressions of
religious ideologies
§ Han (恨) appearing in other Asian languages as well;
but, taking on ethnonationalist and essentialist tones in
the Korean context

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Jeong 情
Affection

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§ Giving more benefits to someone you know; lack of
awareness of order?
§ Rank and affection among members prioritised in the
collectivism culture
§ Displaying deference to elders and giving priority to
those they know personally

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§ Korean groupism and familism: considerate about their
own group, but taking unconcerned and impersonal
attitude for other groups
§ Despite the industrial and economic development, Korea
showing high degrees of groupism along with other Asian
cultures; influence of Confucian traditions
§ Koreans having affection and obligation for their group
members; considering the maximum benefit of the group
§ Lack of individuality and care for human rights

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 § The value of age and power hierarchies

§ Natural to ask someone’s age to decide the social

hierarchy
§ The language reflecting the power hierarchy

§ Social customs like handshaking having its own rules

§ Expressing one’s opinion restricted to the older

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§ Lit. ‘eye-measure’; the subtle art and ability to
listen and gauge others’ moods; the awareness of
your surrounding that allows you to read the
atmosphere and react to it appropriately (Hong,
2019)
§ Not allowed to express emotions naturally; need
to consider how others would think
§ Existing in harmony with others as the most
important goal of social life; focusing on the
‘outside environment’

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The ‘High-Context Culture’ and Groupism
§ <Beyond Culture> Edward Hall (1976)
o High-context culture: people involved with each other; structure of social hierarchy; inner
feelings kept under strong self-control; and information shared through simple messages
with deep meaning
o Low-context culture: individualised and fragmented people; little involvement with others

§ People in a high-context culture, such as China and Korea, appear to be more

socially oriented, less confrontational and more complacent with existing ways of
living, and its authorities assume more responsibilities than people from a low-
context culture, such as the US (Kim, Pan & Park, 1998).

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Pali Pali
Quickly Quickly

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§ Working ‘harder’ and ‘faster’ developed in the
course of modernisation
§ Koreans described as impatient, passionate,
diligent and achievement-oriented

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§ Koreans being relaxed and slow in history

§ Changed to ‘hurry hurry’ culture during the

modernisation
§ Tendency to hurry when ordering food and
driving
§ Helped to realise Korea’s rapid economic
development
§ Caused accidents and stress; proving the
society with a high level of anxiety

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§ Pressure of a ‘hurry hurry’ culture; e.g., sports,
games, travels etc.

Best 5 of Korean ‘hurry hurry’

1. Put your hand in the vending machine waiting for the product to
come out.
2. Brush your teeth while on a toilet.
3. Close an internet browser if it does not open in 3 seconds.
4. The cashier at a shop does the sign for your credit card payment.
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5. Keep hitting the ‘close’ button in the lift.