South Korea: The Silent Cultural Superpower - Part Two
How the rise of South Korea's popular culture is leading to a raucous, more individualist culture.
South Korea is now the world's 12th-biggest economy – not bad for a country that was sunk in abject poverty until the 1950s. But over the last decade, Korea has become known for more than the cars and electronic goods that helped speed this small nation to economic success. Since the late 1990s, the 'Korean Wave' of popular culture has won great prominence and popularity across East Asia.
Rana meets South Korean pop producers, noise musicians and TV directors, to find out what has been driving the Korean Wave.
And he discovers how, as freedom and wealth bed down, South Koreans are breaking from the conformity that helped them pull off an economic miracle towards a more raucous, more individualist culture.
(Photo: Fans cheer during a public K-Pop concert in Seoul, 2015. Credit: Ed Jones/AFP)
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- Wed 30 Mar 2016 02:32GMT´óÏó´«Ã½ World Service Americas and the Caribbean
- Wed 30 Mar 2016 04:32GMT´óÏó´«Ã½ World Service Online, UK DAB/Freeview, Europe and the Middle East & South Asia only
- Wed 30 Mar 2016 05:32GMT´óÏó´«Ã½ World Service East Asia
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- Wed 30 Mar 2016 19:32GMT´óÏó´«Ã½ World Service East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa only
- Mon 4 Apr 2016 06:32GMT´óÏó´«Ã½ World Service East Asia