In 2012 a taxi driver in Seoul told me that Psy’s ‘Gangnam Style’ had reached number two on the American Billboard chart. I didn’t believe him. I had lived in Seoul since the early 2000s and knew that accounts of Korean culture’s overseas success were sometimes inflated. Music, film and fashion were a source of insecurity as well as inspiring an occasionally...
The story South Korea likes to tell about itself is ‘The Miracle on the Han River’, in which a country rises from the ashes of war and dictatorship to become a stylish economic success story. The story of hallyu fits with the nation-building narrative, but the reality of Korean culture’s international popularity is more complicated.