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South Korean pop culture?

I realised that south korean pop culture is not very asian as in like the Japenese. I've seen them do breakdancing, beatboxing,their music videos, dressing and I've heard their music. Its very american based, unlike the Japenese and Tawainese who is now more into the kawaii cute culture. They can speak much better english too. I'm not quite certain if i'm correct or not, Can someone tell me more about Korean pop culture?

Public Comments

1. New guy from S. Korea is RAIN. Really good. For the moment he only sings in Korean but he is learning English. He is one to watch for, trust me!!!
2. On the whole, I don't think Korean pop music is fundamentally different from Japan's or Taiwan's. In all three countries you'll find the cutesy pop idols, as well as more hip-hop derived stuff. Right now there's a lot more overlap than there used to be in Asian pop culture, so you'll see more similarities. The biggest thing in Korean pop culture of the past few years are its television dramas. They've been exported to Japan, Taiwan, and other Asian countries (w/ subtitles, of course) and are huge, huge hits. One of the big stars of these dramas is an actor named Bae Yong-joon, who has become a huge star in Japan as well as Korea. I've heard that Japanese housewives are even going to Seoul these days to take a Bae Yong-joon "reality tour." As for the difference in English ability, I'm not sure it's as simple as that. There is a national mania for learning English in S. Korea right now, and huge amounts of money are being spent on private tutoring and cram schools. But so far the effect of this is limited to the smallish segment of the population that has the money for this. The supposed burst in English ability has been anticipated for several years now but still hasn't come. In Japan, learning English is important but perhaps not to the same degree. Also, the declining birthrate in Japan means that getting into college is much easier than it used to be, so as a result we're seeing college students with lower English proficiency in the past. But in both places the amount of required class time spent on English is about the same. I've observed English classes in both countries and I'm not convinced there's a real difference in level. Just my two cents there.
3. sad innit?!Cultural Imperialism
4. some music is very american based but there are so many korean bands that are very "cute" and poppy... for example, groups like super junior, ss501, tvxq.. very much cute and poppy... there are singers/groups that copy a lot of american stuff too.. such as lee hyori, se7en, etc. etc. mostly a lot of "hip hop" bands. and the english, i can't say accurately because i've never actually heard tawainese music but korea has improved a lot on english over the years... they're actually very good... but just to fill you in on a little more of pop culture, i think it's important to look at the older bands that created pop cultures such as..H.O.T.,Young Turks, and so many more which i cannot remember right now...
5. How in the world is Korean pop culture "not very asian [sic]"? You do know that Korea is in...ASIA, right?
6. You are probably the first person to me to say that J-Pop has asian characteristics! haha...(By the way, Taiwanese culture is a copy that of Japanese. I don't find any uniqueness in Taiwanese pop)