Korean Invasion

“I want nobody, nobody, but you…” goes the Korean pop song by the Wonder Girls. The hugely popular hit, Nobody, has definitely caught the attention of youths in Malaysia.

No matter what music genre you are into, chances are that you might have heard of the song before with its catchy beat and chorus. The song is even heard blaring from the speakers of a trishaw along the streets of Malacca when I was there recently.

Today we are exposed to so many different cultures which cause trends to change rapidly. Some follow Spanish telenovelas rigorously, some tune into Animax for a dose of Japanese anime while others have developed a fancy for the Korean wave or also known as Hallyu.

This current trend in Malaysia has also brought with it its own brand of Korean music, dramas, food and even beauty products like Face Shop and Skin Food.

Korean dramas have been around for quite some time. Perhaps you still remember classics like Winter Sonata and Jewel in the Palace, which got Malaysians, hooked. KBS World, the network which produces these drama series, now provides English subtitles for all their dramas to cater to the demand from other countries around the world that has caught the bug.

I was introduced to Korean dramas when I sat down one day to watch tv with my father, a huge fan of channel-surfing. When we stopped at KBS World, I was stuck forever. Gone are the days where Hong Kong dramas ruled the 9-10.30 pm slot on my tv. Now, even my mother has caught the Korean drama bug.

One of my favourites is Golden Apple, which tells the story of a father wrongly accused of murdering his second wife. My mother and I have cried many tears while watching this drama. It also provides a refreshing feel to television as the storylines depict daily situations of life, as opposed to Hollywood or Hong Kong dramas which are more fiction-like.

But the Korean invasion doesn’t stop at dramas. Korean food have also made their emergence on supermarket racks – kimchi and bibimbap are some of the Korean dishes influenced by dramas, while Nong Shim and Samyang are just some of the more well known Korean noodle brands.

Korean boy bands such as SS501 and FT Island have held concerts in Malaysia, with the most recent being Super Junior on the 20th of March 2010. They performed to a sell-out crowd at the Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil.

Since the Korean Wave has already taken Malaysia by storm, let us all learn from their culture and incorporate values portrayed in their dramas, such as family, love and filial piety into our changing modern lives. We should follow their example of continuing to practice traditional customs thoroughly although they live in a modern society, as it keeps us true to our roots.