The most interesting thing about Korean culture is probably how widespread its became in such a short amount of time. This phenomenon is known as 한류 (hallyu), the Korean Wave. Essentially, this refers to the mind blowing growth in Korean culture including food, movies, shows, games, and of course music.
The start of 한류 can be debated, but most sources agree that it started in the 1990s. The word 한류 comes from hanja, where 한 means ‘Korean’ and 류 means ‘wave/flow’. The 90s was when Korea began to “open up” more to the world, and thus the expansion of its influence began. However, from what I’ve seen and grown up with, it seems that the wave really began to pick up during the late 2010s. That was when Korean shows (K-dramas) began to become mainstream and movies such as Parasite began to receive global attention. And of course the music cannot be ignored. The large scale integration of K-pop in mainstream media became so massive that it overtook music that was produced in America. On a more minor scale, are some words that were directly taken from Korean and integrated into the English dictionary. These words include 재벌 (chaebol) and 갑질 (gabjil). Even though these may seem very minor, the mere fact that words are being directly incorporated into the English language is a testament to the influence of Korean culture.
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