Article by Heang, Vanny, ASEAN Weblog Correspondent from Cambodia
In many countries in the world, Korean Wave, a term referring to the spread of South Korean culture in the world, is becoming bigger and stronger day by day. Starting from the figure skater Kim Yuna to boy band singers Super Junior, there are almost no single person who does not know about South Korea today. Besides and more importantly, South Korea is also reaching to the world as a big grant aid donator especially for developing countries.
Super Junior KOICA in Africa
Talking about the case of Cambodia, Korean Wave is also a hot social phenomenon over there, while the diplomatic relationship between these two countries is also very fine. Korean culture is having a big influence in Cambodian society especially among teenagers, which is not different from other countries in South-East Asia. Everywhere, there are people trying to follow Korean style and using Korean products. On broadcasting network, there are countless Korean television programs, movies, dramas, songs, and so on. Along the street, there are Korean Restaurants. At language school, there are students holding Korean language books.
Korean Restaurants in Cambodia
Gradually, Korean Wave is spreading bigger and bigger in the following manner.
Dramas: The first most popular Korean drama in Cambodia was Full House even though the first one, Winter Sonata, was also a hit. After the hit of Full House, there are more and more Korean dramas translated into Cambodian language and broadcasted on television networks. Now, there is no single television network in Cambodia has no Korean dramas being broadcasted.
Full House
K-POP: K-POP is also very popular in Cambodia. Almost all the people like and listen to K-POP although they do not know Korean language. Also, there used to be several Korean concerts in Cambodia including Baby V.O.X concert, SHINee Concert, Paran Concert, JQT Concert, etc. Those concerts have been very successful with a huge support from Cambodian teenagers. Moreover, those concerts gave a good start for those who did not listen to K-POP to become a dedicate fans like today.
SHINee concert in Cambodia
Fashion: After watching a lot of Korean dramas and music videos, Cambodia teens became very appealed with Korean Fashion. They started to put on dress like actors did, they start change their hairstyle similar to Korean singers, and so on. And consequently, there are also more and more Korean Fashion shops, too.
Korean Fashion
Korean Language: These days, there are more and more Cambodian people showing a big interest in Korean language and starting to learn it. Some of Cambodians study it because they want to sing Korean songs and watch Korean dramas, furthermore, some of them want to travel in South Korea and feel that Korean language is very interesting and cute. Also, there is also high-level educational institution for Korean language now.
Korean Language
KOICA and Korean Scholarship: Cambodian people do know and have interest in Korean culture also because of the grant aid of South Korean government that always donates to Cambodian government through KOICA. What’s more, there are more and more Cambodian students come to do their degree in South Korean universities through scholarship programs such as NIIED scholarship, Korean air scholarship, and so on.
Korean International Cooperation Agency
Korean products and brand: People in Cambodia are also giving a huge trust to Korean products as they did to Japan products before. On market, there are more and more Korean products available such as vehicle, electronic, and so on. Especially, there are a lot of Korean Construction Companies investing in Cambodia currently.
Hyundai Car
It’s absolutely true! Almost no one doesn’t know about Hallyu wave today in Cambodia. Especially teenagers who like their idols like Super Junior, so on.
thank u for providing this article