KOREA FOUNDATION

Being “Made in Korea” Matters to K-pop Groups and Enhances National Pride

Lim, YoonJu PhD Student
Ewha Womans University

Hallyu, the Korean Wave, is one of the biggest driving factors behind making Korea’s national image what it is today. By enhancing the nation’s image, Hallyu has positively influenced the effect of Korea’s country of origin (COO) or “made-in-Korea” image. To put it simply, Korean cosmetics and clothes have gone viral around the world for having been made in Korea.

In recent years, this phenomenon has been observed in popular culture, too. Since 2019, the global streaming service Netflix began to offer a “made in Korea” section for Hallyu fans around the world. However, the effects of the Korean Wave are more frequently found in the K-pop arena. Numerous multinational K-pop groups have made their debut, including BLACKSWAN, NiziU, and VCHA. Though these groups perform and promote themselves in their own ways, they have all been through the usual K-pop system of training in Korea, communicating in Korean, debuting in Korea, and appearing on Korean television music shows. As performers born from the K-pop system, they emphasize that they are made in Korea.

This caused me to wonder whether placing such emphasis on being made in Korea would strongly affect Korean nationals, too, and I believed it would. As expected, my research found that Koreans tend to favor popular culture productions—specifically K-pop groups in this study—in proportion to the emphasis said products place on being made in Korea; this also tends to heighten feelings of national pride.

What, then, does it mean to be “made in Korea,” and what exact elements generate this feeling? Recently, as manufacturing environments are internationalized, the scope of COO has expanded to not only recognize a product’s manufacturing country but also countries that plan, fabricate, and/or produce parts. The areas affected by country of origin, such as brands, manufacture, design, assembly, and industrial firms are also diverse. By analyzing K-pop groups I have found that, among other diverse elements, the presence of a Korean member or members does affect their “made in Korea” aspect.

As a researcher, I will be cautious not to interpret such a result as indicative of the importance of including a Korean member or members in a K-pop group. More significantly, my research confirmed that “made in Korea” K-pop groups play a significant role in boosting national pride. The K-pop market has already begun to prepare for what may be the era of “Hallyu 3.0” or “4.0.” To continue the K-pop-driven enhancement of Korea’s national image and sense of national pride, uninterrupted attention needs to be paid to factors that greatly influence this “made in Korea” image.

This is an excerpt of the paper that won the top prize in the 2023 Public Diplomacy Thesis·Essay Competition, jointly sponsored by the KF and the Korean Association for Public Diplomacy. The paper is titled “Study on the Country-of-Origin Effect of Domestic Public's National Pride in K-pop Groups: Focusing on the Mediating and Moderating Effects of Identity Recognition and Members' Nationality.”

Please note: This article has been authored by a specialist outside the Korea Foundation. The views expressed here may not reflect the KF’s official position.

Lim, YoonJuEwha Womans University2023 Public Diplomacy Thesis·Essay Competitiontop prizeK-popMade in Korea