hankyoreh

By Jeong Nam-ku, staff reporter

Along with increased worldwide consumption of cultural content, the Korean Wave is also boosting consumer good exports, tourism numbers, and foreign investment, an analytical report suggests.

The report, titled “Analysis and Implications of the Economic Ripple Effects of the Korean Wave,” was published on Aug. 24 by Hyundai Research Institute senior researcher Baek Da-mi and senior fellow Ju Won. It analyzed annual panel data for 196 countries between 1995 and 2012 to assess the economic effects in various areas from the “Korean Wave,” a term used to refer to the popularity of South Korean cultural products overseas.

According to the report, a 1% increase in cultural exports from the Korean Wave was associated with a 0.038% rise in consumer goods exports for the same year, and a 0.019% increase in the number of tourists visiting South Korea. It was also correlated with a 0.08-0.09% rise in foreign direct investment in services.

Another dramatic effect from the Korean Wave was seen in the rise of cultural exports to China and Southeast Asia in the past six to seven years. China accounted for 27.6% of exports in 2012, up 9.1 percentage points from the 18.5% recorded in 2006. Southeast Asia saw a 10.6 percentage point increase from 8.7% in 2006 to 19.3% in 2012. Among exports not including games, music in particular rose from around US$20 million in 2008 to US$230 million in 2012, a more than tenfold increase.

The effects of the Korean Wave have also included a dramatic rise in the number of tourist visits to South Korea from other Asian countries. Some 9.8 million tourists from elsewhere in Asia visited South Korea in 2013, accounting for 80.9% of the 12 million foreign visits, up 10 percentage points from 70.7% in 2003.

The amount brought in by tourists from Asia has risen steadily since 2008. Money spent by them rose nearly three times from US$3.3 billion 2007 to roughly US$9.7 billion in 2012.

The researchers also concluded that the wave has impacted FDI, especially in services. China’s scale of service FDI in particular stood at US$1.4 billion in 2013, or seven times the US$200 billion recorded in 2001.

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