In the Middle East, where Judaism and Islam are deeply intertwined with culture, the Korean wave is starting to gain recognition. The BBC and an Israeli media outlet recently reported that K-pop has been highlighted as a symbol of hope and peace in this land of conflict, explaining that youths from both nations tend to find common ground through Korea’s pop music.
An online BBC article published on August 7 reported on the newly surfaced trend in an article titled “Middle East: Korean pop ‘brings hope for peace’.” In the article, it said “while Israeli and Palestinian negotiators make renewed efforts to find common ground for a lasting peace, youngsters in the region are reportedly taking their minds off the conflict with K-pop”. It quoted an article from Israeli economic magazine Calcalist, titled “How Korean culture came to global recognition”.
An August 7 article from the BBC online newspaper, titled “Middle East: Korean pop ‘brings hope for peace’,” highlights the power of K-pop.
The Calcalist reported back in June that Korean music have been heard everywhere — in a walking trail, at dance classes at the beachfront, from passersby’s ringtone around Ashdod (a southern port city of Israel), and a city belonging to Palestinian territory. This is one of the highest concentrations of K-pop followers in Israel, it added.
The newspaper mentioned that people absorbed in Korean music are often called “K-poptists” in Israel and the number of K-poptists is on a steep rise, reaching several thousands these days. K-poptists are known to have a willingness to spend their time and money sharing information on their favorite K-pop singers and are mostly comprised of female fans who love to purchase K-pop CDs and singers’ posters through eBay.
The newspaper mentioned the educational radio program The Voice Gat that broadcasts K-pop music in the northern region of Kiryat Gat. It explained that Korean dramas are also as popular as K-pop and that their popularity sometimes seems to “trump” US dramas.
“Korean soap operas show how to preserve traditional culture while modernizing, and their leading characters remain positive despite adversity”, said the BBC article looking into factors of Korean dramas’ popularity.
The love of Korean culture in the Middle East has inspired an interest in the Korean language as well. In 2008, a Korean language course was launched at Hebrew University offering lectures on Korean history, politics, and culture.
The article quotes Dr. Nissim Atmazgin, a professor of East Asian Studies at Hebrew University, saying “Many young people look at K-pop as culture capital — something that makes them stand out from the crowd”. Researchers of the university reportedly show a ray of hope that K-pop might possibly provide an opportunity to bring together the long-separated Israelis and Palestinians.
According to the researchers, the Korean wave has already spread widely throughout Israel and begun to give an influence on some parts of Palestinian regions. They estimate there are around 5,000 K-pop fans in Israel and 3,000 in the Palestinian territories. The number has been on such a steep rise, the Calcalist says, that one of the annual K-pop events has experienced a ten-fold increase in number of visitors in only three years.
“It is not very easy to find hope in Jerusalem but K-pop does”, said Ala Abid who was interviewed by Calcalist.
By Wi Tack-whan, Lee Seung-ah
Korea.net Staff Writers
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