Korean cultural contents began to be introduced to local people in Thailand, after Korean drama All About Eve was aired over a terrestrial broadcaster in 2000. In 2001, Autumn Fairy Tale became popular, starting to set a trend of Hallyu. 

Hallyu, triggered by a TV drama, appeared to remain dormant for a while, until 2005 when Dae Jang Geum gained tremendous popularity in the foreign drama market in Thailand, leading Thais to talk about Korea Fever and allowing Hallyu products to hit the market with full force.

Beginning in the second half of 2005, Dae Jang Geum made a hit, and in February 2006, Hallyu pop artist Rain held the first solo concert for a Korean singer in Bangkok, enjoying a ticket sellout. As such, the Hallyu fever continued to rise in the local market. Actually, in 2006, Dae Jang Geum led the Hallyu fever in Thailand, prompting a succession of Dae Jang Geum parodies in local entertainment programs and advertisements. Hallyu also sharply raised Thais’ interest in Korean food, leading Korean restaurants in Bangkok to increase their sales by about 20%,

One successful Korean drama sharply elevated local people’s interest in and awareness of Korea, and offered local businesspeople a good marketing tool of Korea Fever. As such, the local import market for Korean cultural contents was activated beginning in 2006, and imports of Korean films, records, and TV dramas markedly rose. 

Korean drama serials are still leading the Hallyu craze in Thailand. Korean historical drama Jumong, which has been aired over Thailand Channel 3 since April, does not enjoy as much popularity as Dae Jang Geum did, but still has formed its own group of aficionados. 

Also, aired beginning in June, Prince Hours (Thailand Channel 7) posted a good rating, aided by the popularity of its former series. This has led Hallyu pop artist Seven – previously inactive in the Thai record album community – to raise his popularity. After Prince Hours ended in September, Bad Family is now being shown in the same time slot, gaining a favorable response. Dramas, which are being aired over Thail terrestrial channels in October, include Que Sera Sera – the first part aired recently - (TiTV), Bad Family (Ch7), Only You (Ch7), First Love of a Royal Prince (Ch3), Stained Glass (Ch3), and Jumong (Ch3).

Furthermore, many Korean dramas are being shown again over cable channel UBC (True Vision). Notably, a survey of local viewers says that the Korean entertainment program X Man is gaining popularity among the audiences. 

In the Thai film market, Hollywood movies and Thai films prevail, but August saw more Korean films shown in theaters. In particular, popular Hallyu icons-starring films such as The Masked Dalho, The Restless, and Hwang Jin-Yi gained popularity among local people. 200 Pounds Beauty, which was popular in Korea, was premiered in the third week of August following diverse hypes, gained a favorable response in the fourth week. (*Normally, a Korean movie is shown for three weeks)

As for record albums, representing the Korean music sector are those record albums – released toward the end of last year or early this year – by Korean pop artists such as TVXQ, Super Junior, SS501 and BoA. TVXQ visited Thailand to promote their second solo concert scheduled for December, and received a hot welcome form their fan clubs and young people.

With respect to sales of record albums, OST of popular dramas are still enjoying high sales. Following the releasing of OST albums of Goong and My Girl introduced toward the end of last year or early this year, no particular demand was created. However, the OST album of Prince Hours which ended its airing at the end of August was released in September, invigorating the lackluster Korean OST market. 



Korean cultural contents, which Thais can associate with Hallyu, include dramas, online games, and Hallyu stars. This is different from the circumstances surrounding Japanese cultural contents that have been settled as a natural culture in Thailand. Local pundits say that the popularity of Hallyu contents, concentrating currently on dramas, games, and stars, may reach their limitations any moment. Steps need to be taken to sustain the Hallyu popularity commercially.

In June, a Thai economic newspaper reported quoting a local pundit that Korea’s star marketing fever may end in a brief craze. This suggests that thorough plans need to be formulated to sustain the fever and develop better marketing. Korean and local marketers of Hallyu stars should know that this business is never so easy and simple as it appears to be. Notably, large business operators of performance events should be better prepared. Only world-class stars such as Rain who has been well-prepared for a long time will survive and succeed, while Korea fever-pursued marketing would not be the correct solution to the situation.  

To enable Hallyu to establish itself as a natural culture, to be sustained and to succeed commercially, exporters of Hallyu products are requested to have long-term perspectives and to give and receive feedbacks positively. 

Furthermore, local operators demand that the government should come forward to address the problem surrounding intellectual property rights on Hallyu cultural products, which makes their imports and exports difficult. As for Hallyu cultural products with a big market potential, the protection of copyrights will lead to sales. Amid these circumstances, Thailand has yet to implement a distinctive system of intellectual property rights, and to control the current high illegal copying. These problems are a big trouble to local distributors of Hallyu products, and should be addressed promptly. Fortunately, early this year, the Bangkok office of Copyrights Commission was opened to pursue the project of protecting the intellectual property rights on Korean cultural products marketed in Southeast Asia. 

Local operators also indicate the problem involving a lack of understanding of local people. Local people are yet enthusiastic about the new Korean culture, but to bring this fever to a commercial success, there is a strong need to understand local people’s needs and develop items suitable to the niche market. Also, Thai buyers complain about the high prices of Korean products when they sign contracts. Shedding dominant dependence on the current popularity of Hallyu, a strategy should be implemented to look for a common ground of local and Korean cultures and then to introduce Hallyu products one by one. 

Also, there is no guarantee that successful Hallyu items in neighboring countries would succeed in Thailand as well, as some failures of this kind have already occurred. Of Southeast Asian nations, Thailand is not easy to forecast as to the success or failure of marketing Hallyu products. With this in mind, efforts should continue to spread the Hallyu culture in the local market.