REPUBLIC OF KOREA’S STRATEGY IN LEVERAGING THE KOREAN WAVE ECONOMIC BENEFIT: FROM CULTURAL PHENOMENON INTO CREATIVE ECONOMY ENGINE (2010-2019)

Abstract

Hallyu or the Korean wave is a phenomenon that refers to the rising popularity of Korean culture which came into the boom in Southeast Asia and China in the late 1990s. This early boom has stimulated the government to put more concentration on the building of the cultural and creative industries. In only a decade, this cultural phenomenon continues in the global market massively, giving a tremendous spillover benefit for the ROK economy which generates a discussion on how ROK sustain the growth of the Korean Wave and enjoy the economic advantage from this phenomenon. Thus, the aim of this paper is to discuss the government role and strategies in leveraging the phenomenon through exerting multiple policy and initiative in building the cultural and creative industry. The paper will analyse how the ROK government conducts domestic decision making by identifying the factors that shape the policy and the process of negotiation at the domestic level by using the model of standard domestic sequence by Nicholas Bayne. Finally, the paper find out that the government of ROK has played a significant role in providing comprehensive support to the Korean cultural and creative industries building from the development of production, financial support and assistance, technology utilization and a skilled workforce capacity building to ensure quality, continue the fusion of the korean wave into multiple sectors and in simultaneously fueling the expansion of the Korean Wave globally.