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title: 'Korea fever' sweeps Asia's pop culture

SINGAPORE (AP) -- Call it "kim-chic." All things Korean from food and music to eyebrow-shaping and shoe styles are becom
ing all the rage across Asia, where pop culture has long been dominated by Tokyo and Hollywood.

Not long ago, Korea's best-known cultural export was kimchee, the pickled cabbage and chili dish known for its fierce, p
ungent spiciness.

But now South Korean TV shows, films, pop stars and fashions are even hotter, or cooler, as Taiwanese TV official Amanda
 Yang put it as she extolled the "K-pop" bands S.E.S. and Shinhwa.

"They look like street gangs -- so cool that you want to punch them," said Yang, of the island's Channel TV.

 COUNTRY PROFILE
At a glance: South Korea

Provided by CountryWatch.com


A South Korean TV tear-jerker series, "The Autumn Story," was such a hit in Taiwan last year that fans from there took g
roup tours to the South Korean city of Sok Cho, about 150 kilometers (90 miles) northeast of Seoul, where the story's im
aginary lovers grew up and met again after years apart.

The series ended with the main female character dying of cancer.

Regional popularity
In Vietnam, South Korean TV dramas provide the tightly controlled communist country with an enticing glimpse of the outs
ide world.

The shows are so popular that fans sometimes have to choose between two aired at the same time -- on Hanoi's total of fo
ur channels.

In the streets of Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, fashion-conscious young Vietnamese have adopted the darker makeup colors, 
thinly shaved eyebrows, body-hugging clothes and square-toed shoes of Seoul fashion.

Even in Japan, long Asia's fountain of cool, South Korean pop culture is invading the airwaves and box office. Japanese 
media are zooming in on any little bit of Seoul as the two countries prepare to host the World Cup soccer tournament lat
er this year.

Japan's hottest record label, Avex, has signed distribution deals with several South Korean pop acts including the five-
member boy band Shinhwa and S.E.S., a female trio.

A love of two Koreas
The concept of Koreans as two warring peoples split by barbed wire and ideology is a recurring theme in Korean films, an
d seems to fascinate people across cultures -- maybe partly for its analogy of forbidden love.

The film "Swiri," about two spies from North and South Korea who become lovers, was a surprise hit in Japanese theaters 
last year.

"Joint Security Area," another huge hit in Korea and abroad, depicts tension and friendship among four South and North K
orean guards at the truce village of Panmunjom, which straddles the north-south frontier -- the world's most heavily arm
ed border.

Hong Kong foothold
South Korean entertainment has also gained a foothold in Hong Kong, whose mass-produced films and choppy, hard-edged Can
tonese pop music have been staple exports to the rest of Asia.

Now, Hong Kong's tabloid magazines feature South Korean movie stars and singers, and Dicky Tsang of the city's P.O.V. Sq
uare bookshop says sales of South Korean video CDs have surged by about 30 percent this year.

Despite Hong Kong's reputation as a shopping hub, some of its residents are now making forays into South Korea's malls a
nd markets.

"Seoul is great for shopping for girlie stuff," said an assistant editor on a Hong Kong newspaper who gave only her surn
ame, Yau. "The styles are cool and they are cheaper than Japanese goods."

Korea fever
The Chinese are talking about "Hanguo re" -- literally, "Korea fever." Walk into a Beijing fast food restaurant and you'
re likely to see a South Korean boy band warbling and dancing on a TV screen.

"In the '80s it was Japanese, Taiwanese and Hong Kong singers and movies, but now Korean is the thing," said Zhang Jianh
ua, 24, owner of a Beijing video and music shop that stocks Korean products.

Korean pop culture is seen as fresh and edgy, but non-threatening because "they're Asian and they look like us," Zhang s
ays. "So it's easy to identify with them."

Sociologist Habib Khondker agrees. The Korean fad is part of a region-wide "reassertion of Asian identity," he said.

"It's kind of a pan-Asianism ... You can look for alternative cultures, not necessarily European or American," said Khon
dker, a university teacher based in Singapore, the latest Asian country to be hit by Korea fever.

Korean restaurants are surging in popularity in the wealthy, food-obsessed city-state, and subtitled Korean TV dramas ha
ve become all the rage in the past few months.

Not all Asian countries are happy with the "pan-Asian" idea, however.

One of Vietnam's state-controlled newspapers included the dominance of South Korean and Chinese TV programs in its list 
of Vietnam's "10 most embarrassing cultural events" of 2001.

Economic knock-on
There is an economic element as well. Asia was hit by a harsh financial crisis in 1997, and is now struggling with the g
lobal economic downturn.

"Korean songs, TV dramas and films are very competitive in costs," making a challenge to Japanese fare, said Kim Hee-tec
k, counselor at the South Korean Embassy in Singapore.

South Korean films also are more popular simply because they're getting better, said Philip Cheah, director of the Singa
pore International Film Festival.

One of the best is "Joint Security Area," Cheah said. "It's very polished, and it's very entertaining," said Cheah, who 
sits on film festival juries around the world.

On the South Korean home front, the love story and spy thriller "Swiri" beat all of the country's box office records wit
h 6 million admissions -- more than the massively successful American film "Titanic."