Week 1- What is a startup (Korea) Ia Lo

Generally, a startup is a new initiative aiming to serve a community and/or contribute to a cause. Startups don’t necessarily have to be “brand new” or an original idea. For instance, there is an existing entertainment industry in Korea when Korea was “not cool”. Creating a cultural identity for Korea had become a top priority for leaders in the early 90’s in which there were great investments into information technology (Yim 40). Technology transmitted Korean entertainment into foreign countries. With time and luck, many countries received Korean drama with high ratings especially The Jewel in the Palace, tuning into royal monarchy, traditions, caste system, resistence, and national unity that relates to their foreign audiences. Enhancing the pre-existing entertainment industry feeds back into achieving a more unified sense of identity for Koreans.

            Korea branded their cultural identity as a proud nation. There are numerous dramas and movies (Rooftop Prince, Arrow of War, The Tiger: The Old Hunter’s Tale) that exhibit Korean nationalism of resentment against Japan imperialism and rich culture of Korean politics and court. More into the late 90’s, young and hip teen vocal groups (usually unisex) like Baby V.O.X, H.O.T, and the famous S.E.S have set the new image for Korea as breaking the boundaries of Korean traditions and formalities to a cool vibe resonant to Western images. According to Yim, the Korean government believed in creativity and was receptive to foreign influences into Korea. Korean music was revolutionized from this point on and Korean economy and social welfare was an all time high compared to the 70’s (Yim 45).

            Graham states that it is important to be able to recognize different issues (3). Flexibility is a quality crucial to startup projects, having multiple perspectives and ideas to solve different issues. The Korean entertainment did not just thrived in film, but in all genres of film (historical, action, romance, contemporary, HORROR), in Pop music, but also through their music videos and commercialization of KPop fashion and beauty. The Hallyu have pushed for more exposure of Korean cuisine, especially here in the states, but this is for another blog.

Now that Korea has achieved in establishing a strong entertainment industry as a foundation of their country, is there anything else that the Korean government could look into starting a new startup?

http://img.kpopmap.com/wp-content/uploads_kpopmap/2016/11/kpop-poll-1st-generation-idols-ses-hot-finkl-sechs-kies.jpg