Korean culture, including popular TV series, is having a significant influence on Western countries
As reported by BBC, the editors of this authoritative publication include new words every year, carefully weeding out random and ephemeral ones. And the latest edition includes as many as 26 words of Korean origin. "We have all been swept up by the Korean wave," the editors of the Oxford English Dictionary said in a statement on the matter.
Which words appeared in the dictionary
Many of the new words relate to Korean cuisine:
• banchan – traditional Korean side dishes. Often a small portion of spicy vegetable salad served with rice;
• bulgogi – thin slices of beef or pork that are marinated and then grilled or stir-fried;
• kimbap – Korean rice rolls: steamed rice wrapped in seaweed with meat or vegetable filling.
Given the global popularity of South Korean pop culture products such as the TV series Squid Game, the film Parasite, and K-pop group BTS, it is no surprise that some of the new words are related to show business:
• hallyu ("Korean wave") – the rise of interest in Korean pop culture, film, and fashion;
• K-drama – television series in the Korean language, produced in South Korea;
• Manhwa – Korean cartoons and comics, reminiscent of Japanese manga;
• Mukbang – a social media broadcast where bloggers consume huge amounts of food while talking to viewers.
According to British philologists, these terms have firmly entered the colloquial speech of Britons. "People of Asian origin first use these words in their own circles, and then they penetrate the English-speaking world. Thus, a Korean wave rises in the sea of English vocabulary," experts noted.
"International thinking"
The success of Korean cultural exports over the past decade is linked to the international thinking of its creators, believes Dr. Hye-Kyung Lee from King's College London, who studies this phenomenon. "It has been more than 10 years since K-pop became popular worldwide, and now Korean producers have developed a truly global mindset," she says.
In the heroes of Korean TV series, Britons find much in common with themselves, the expert continues. They usually have no great hopes, no future, but they fight stubbornly for survival. "These films are engaging, they carry a national flavor that sparks additional interest among viewers worldwide. And they are critical of society, of its socio-economic conditions. People can empathize with such heroes," the researcher notes.
According to Dr. Lee, Korean cinema has fully integrated into the global cultural mainstream, and its popularity will only grow. "In terms of technology and acting, they have reached the highest level and produce first-class products," she says.
Rapid growth
The first Korean pop artist whose song Gangnam Style topped the UK charts in 2012 was rapper PSY. That music video has now garnered 4.2 billion views on YouTube.
The comedy Parasite, which won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2019 and an Oscar in 2020, about a poor family that fraudulently gets jobs in a wealthy household, became the highest-grossing non-English-language film in Britain.
BTS became the first Korean group to have an album reach the top of the UK charts.
And Squid Game has a chance to set an absolute record for viewership among films on the Netflix platform, with 95% of the series' viewers living outside Korea.
A successful nation
The Republic of Korea is virtually the only country that has managed to move out of the developing category and become, by all parameters, part of the conditional post-industrial West.
It also plays a notable role in the lives of our compatriots. Almost every home has Korean electronics, many use Korean cars. Before the pandemic, affluent citizens traveled en masse to Korea for cancer treatment and plastic surgery. And among young people, the musical style K-pop and comics are popular.