CREATIVE IDUSTRY I KOREA

I have already mentioned that culture today has great economic power, more than any time previously in history, as we have seen in the preceding sections. Creative industry is where invisible and intangible element of culture, that is creativity, becomes

tangible and consumable products. When speaking of the creative industry and its economic potential, the Korean government’s cultural activities and its policies cannot be ignored. In fact, Korea is one of the Northeast Asian countries which herself has seen successful results and significant financial returns from the production of cultural

products in recent decades; for instance, through a particular cultural phenomenon Hallyu, which I will discuss specifically later. The Korean government’s support for developing creative industry in Korea may have a shorter history than that of America or Britain but it is continuously and rapidly growing. As we will see later, its influential successes can be directly experienced in many other Asian countries. How then did the development and success of the Korean creative industry begin? What was the main impetus and source of power behind its continuous growth? Having such fast growth, is the future of the Korean creative industry bright? Or are there any problems to be considered in the current Korean creative industry? To begin to answer these questions, let us find out how it all began. As we have seen was the case with the successful examples of the USA and Britain, the very first impetus behind the Korean creative industry’s growth was economic.

The Korean government has supported its cultural sector for a long time, but it was February 1999 when the specific definition of creative industry was enacted into law (i.e.

Munhwasaneopjinheunggibonbeop clause 2.1). By law, it is now specifically called the

‘Cultural Content Industry’ and this indicates an industry which operates services for the planning, producing, circulating and consuming of cultural content, such as films, music, and games (Hwang, 2004: 9). The meaning of ‘Cultural Content Industry’ is identical to that of ‘creative industry’ in any other country (ibid.: 11). Hence, it is not necessary to discuss its differentials. Any items which possess artistic, popular or entertainment-oriented characteristics and can create economic value are categorised as creative

contents in the creative industry. As can be seen, this definition focuses on the economic side of the creative industry in particular. In other words, creativity, which was supposed to relate to only invisible and intangible human talent, is now

materialised in monetary form.

The influential power of creative industry does not stop at making money from producing creative content. Many creative contents are easily translatable and acceptable in many foreign countries as they can transcend linguistic and cultural boundaries. For example, music can be disseminated and appreciated worldwide; films and animations can also be consumed regardless of one’s particular cultural

background; and most of all, the game industry is the best example of creative content which can be consumed worldwide without any difficulties. In terms of the ease and rapidity of cultural spread, having individuals with similar cultural backgrounds be dominant in a locale, which is often is explained using the concept of ‘cultural proximity’ (Straubhaar, 1991), will accelerate the speed of foreign consumption.

Even though film and music do not necessarily require that audiences share a common language, if a similar culture is shared, understanding of plot and musical sensibility can be increased. For this reason, Korean dramas and films have experienced more positive responses from neighbouring countries like Japan, China and Taiwan.

Extending this idea, creative contents can also be associated with national brand images. A good example of Korea’s recent success at national branding is, as briefly mentioned previously, Hallyu. Hallyu literally means the Korean Wave. It is a term, first coined in the year 2001, which is used to explain the cultural flow from Korea to other Asian countries.

Hallyu fever is a cultural phenomenon that has disseminated gayo (Korean pop songs), drama, fashion, tour, films and other elements of Korean popular culture

to the residents and youth of China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Vietnam since the late 1990s, and includes resultant enjoyment and consumption (Chohan et al., 2004: 2).

Hallyu fever sped recognition of the value of Korean popular culture from overseas (ibid.: 43).

Korean drama and films were so appealing to Japanese, Chinese and Taiwanese viewers in particular that the rate at which Korea has been exporting media products to those countries has seen steady annual increases over the last decade. Consequently, income generated by these exports also has been enormous. Furthermore, some viewers from abroad develop the desire to visit certain Korean sets, filming locations, and/or to meet the actors in real life, as a result of which tourism rates have also risen dramatically.

Table 4. 1 Effects of Hallyu Tourism Marketing Category Total Number

Source: Korea Tourism Organization (2004), Analysis on Effects of Hallyu Tourism Marketing (Hallyugwangwangmaketing pageupyogwa bunseok)

A commonly cited example of the Hallyu phenomenon is the twenty episode-long Korean television drama, Winter Sonata (produced by Hyung-Min Lee, aired on Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) 2, January 14 ~ March 19 2002). This particular drama was extremely popular and attracted numerous middle-aged female fans in Japan who then longed to visit the film sets and locations. As a result, this fan boom has increased the number of tourists visiting locations in and around where Winter Sonata was filmed in Korea. In fact, since 2004 when Hallyu was first widely recognised, the number of tourists to Korea has increased by 35% (KOCCA). The effect of Hallyu has also

expanded its territory to include the film industry. Films like Shiri (Je-Kyu Kang, 1999), JSA (Chan-Wook Park, 2000) and others have also enjoyed the cultural spot-light not only from Korean audiences but also (global) world audiences. Through the

development of its creative industry, Korea has built strong national brand images which can also influence consumer spending and exert a positive influence on export patterns and the perceived desirability of Korean made goods in foreign markets. In this way, it is possible to say that the creative industries can be the foundation for national power to grow, too. People who did not previously know about Korea can now learn about the country by experiencing its creative products themselves.

As well as the above, one of the main reasons for the rapid growth of Korea’s creative industry is the firm infrastructure provided by the widespread proliferation of the internet. Korea’s IT (i.e. Information Technology) industry is amongst the most developed in the world and building on this strong base, the game industry and UCC (i.e.

User Created Content, which means that internet users themselves create media contents to upload to share with other users) are growing fast. Korea has attained a rate of

approximately 70% broadband connectivity to the home (Cunningham, 2003: 3).

Thanks to this high rate of connectivity, online game players actively play real-time

games with numerous people within and outside Korea. Lineage (released in 1998, by NCsoft) which was developed and originated in Korea, is a good example of one such game. This game and many others have reached such levels of popularity that online computer games are no longer considered “games” per se, but rather as a kind of sport that various nationalities can compete against each other in. This particular sector has even created new occupations, like ‘professional online gamers’, whose matches can be viewed on dedicated game channels on cable TV.

Another form of creative content which has made a positive contribution to the image of Korea worldwide is animation and the development of character-based goods.

As Chapter 6 will reveal, the Korean animation industry has functioned as a sweatshop for the mass production of animations originating in the USA and Japan for a long time.

However, due to rapid globalisation and the increasing flow of capital, a lot of this work has recently moved to China, Vietnam and India, where the new spots for lower labour costs are. As a result, Korean animators had to find a way to survive and hence have developed their own animation works. However, so far there have not been many commercially successful Korean animations, whilst there have been a number of artistically recognised ones which have won numerous awards and recognition through-out the industry. Despite this general trend, there is one animated TV show that should be recognised for its commercial success. That is Pororo the Little Penguin. This was created by a Korean animation company, Iconix Entertainment, and began production in 2002 and first appeared on TV in 2003.

Korea is home to Pororo, an animated penguin whose only dream is to be able to fly. In 2004, when the cartoon "Pororo the Little Penguin" hit television screens in France through TF1, the country's most popular network, the aspiring penguin was welcomed with a record-high 47 percent viewing rate. The cartoon then

successfully made its way to the U.K., Italy, South America, China and finally Japan last year. In that time the little penguin has pulled in some ￦80 billion (US$1=￦942) in revenue. Now other companies have begun commercializing on the character, such as Club Med which has organized Pororo children's camps in holiday destinations like Bali, Phuket and Bintan. ( Digital Chosunilbo, August, 21, 2007,

http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200708/200708210019.html)

Dolls and toys based on the Pororo character are easily found in stores and it is loved worldwide, as evidenced by the quote above. As well as this successful animated character, the global character industry also pays significant attention to Korean made Pucca. It is reported that Pucca is admired in 170 countries, and that 2,500 different types of goods based on this character have been produced since its first appearance in 2001 (Weekly Donga, November 21 2008,

http://global.puccaclub.com/en/html/pr/news_read.html?board_seq=120). This growth

may have slowed down a little in recent years, but its popularity continues so that it can now be found in collaborations famous fashion brands:

VOOZ Co., Ltd., the creators of the Korean designed character “Pucca” finished a very busy year end, and had an equally busy new year because of the increasing licensing contracts made through partnerships with well-known brands in both Korea and throughout the world despite the worsening economic conditions.

VOOZ Co., Ltd received royalties of KRW 1 billion from the sales of 39 types of PUCCA character products including T-shirts, bags and sneakers in Benetton’s 1,796 shops worldwide from the end of June to December 2008. Based on the successful result, the license contract term was extended until the end of this year.

The PUCCA mobile phone produced using a licensing contract with Samsung was launched in Portugal at the end of 2008. The first batch of 8,500 units was completely sold out and additional production is under progress to meet demands.

VOOZ earned KRW 72 million from sales of the first production batch. (Hankook Economic Daily, January 6, 2009)

With these successful examples of Korean produced creative content being used in many kinds of products worldwide, I believe that the economic benefits accrued through these types of licensing agreements is one of the main reasons for the continuous

support of the Korean government. Despite these particular success stories, and in a way similar to many European countries’ creative industry, Korea also faces certain

difficulties and problems. Some of the problems here are also impediments to the Korean animation industry’s development and contribute to the causes of animators’ in-between status.

The first problem is once again closely related to Korea’s Confucian ideology, which I believe contributes to many Koreans’ lack of understanding about creative industry and its activities (Hwang, 2004: 12). Confucian ideology considers education and hierarchy as being of primary importance (See the discussion section in Chapter 2 and interview data in the main chapters for proof of this assertion.). Thus, to a certain extent, creative content can only ever be seen as items for light entertainment and fun which do not have any meaningful significance. Korean people’s attitudes towards creative industry – for example, television dramas, films, music, and especially

animations and comics - were not positive at all (See Chapter 6, for detailed example for this). Popular mass culture products in general have traditionally been regarded as low grade and cheap whilst education (in terms of both teaching and learning) was strongly emphasised. This kind of hostility has been the first hindrance to the development of

creative industry in Korea. However, the second problem I have identified is rather consequential and provides us with hints of a certain amount of hope and positivity.

The second problem has its roots in the different understandings and attitudes about appreciating creative contents held by different generations (Hwang, ibid.). As a whole, it can be said that strong negative views about creative industry have gradually been changing as Koreans have witnessed Western countries’ successes which are tied to their cultural policies (e.g. Britain’s creative cities). Particularly, as Korean people saw how foreign cultural products were successfully making great sums of money, positive views about creative industry have increased.

For instance, Chapter 8 of this thesis shows how many of my interviewees’ believe that The Lion King (1994) was the first animation which enabled Korean animators to see animation’s potential. In fact, the first moment at which the value of creative industry was realised was when Jurassic Park was imported and shown in 1993 in Korea (Hwang, 2004: 12). This report (ibid.) also indicates that from that moment, the Korean government started addressing itself to developing creative industry. In looking at financial data, we see that government funding for creative industry has grown

enormously in Korea in recent years; it started with 50 billion won in 1999 and, in 2006, it grew to about 190 billion won. Support for this kind of financial investment is largely found amongst the younger generation. The young not only enjoy the creative content, but also take them seriously and hope to pursue their careers within creative and cultural industries. On the other hand, however, a large portion of the previous generation (e.g.

people currently in their 50s and 60s) still has a low opinion of creative industry.

Therefore, it is quite common to find conflict between parents with such (dismissive) viewpoints and children who see benefits to be won and enjoyment to be had and wish to engage in creative industry. Examples of this kind of conflict are provided in the data chapters in the form of disagreements between animators and their parents and families.

The third problem I would like to touch on, and one which will be closely related to Korean animators’ stories in the data chapters, relates to issues of un/employment and welfare concerns of the creative workers. As creative industry expands its scale and scope, increasing numbers of (especially young) people participate in the industry.

According to government statistics regarding the number of workers currently employed in creative industry in Korea there are: thirty thousand workers each in the game, film and broadcasting sectors; seventy thousand in music; ten thousand in cartoon/comics; and three thousand people in the animation industry (KOCCA, 2007:

42). Increasing numbers of universities and university departments specifically oriented towards training people for work in creative industry have also been developed. Every year, numerous students graduate from particular (creative industry related) departments and there are not enough working places for them in creative industry sector. This adds the seriousness to employment rates and welfare of the creative workers.

As in the case of the British creative industry, and recalling Angela McRobbie’s argument (2002), many creative workers who think of themselves as artists believe their low wages and poor working conditions to be something they must pass through in order to become successful professionals later in life. Likewise, a lot of newly graduated creative workers volunteer to become, what I would call, ‘creative labourers’. When graduates work under these conditions their status as artists diminishes or disappears entirely and for their sweat and hard work low wages and a poor welfare system are born. Official government figures might be showing a supposedly positive sign in the increase in national employment, but nonetheless, the often hidden truth within the creative sector is that more and more participants join it, more and more people are also exposed to vicious entrepreneurs who exploit artists’ talents and sweat to meet their business aims. Therefore, I would argue that the statistical increase in the employment rate can only be a temporary figure and certainly does not reflect the level of welfare

employees in creative sectors experience in the work place.

The last problem is that there is a tendency to excessively emphasise

“Koreanness.” The Korean government understands that a successful creative industry can build and disseminate positive national brand images worldwide. However, in its push to create a distinctive cultural/national identity as “Korean” (and to link this identity to the specific products of particular cultural industries) there can sometimes develop a lopsided requirement to introduce an element of Koreanness to all cultural products. This drive, in turn, imposes a heavy burden on people in creative industry and results in originality and creative talent being restricted. Furthermore, sometimes the actual outcome can look artificially self-conscious and artificial (for examples of this, see Chapter 10).

These problems are what I strive to address by collecting empirical data which speaks to the real life experience of workers in the Korean creative industry. As was noted by other scholars in the previous section, there is not much source data which examines these rather hidden problems which exist behind the seemingly positive statistical figures. My thesis, which draws on raw interview data – the life stories and working experiences as told directly by Korean animators – will provide necessary proofs of these problems and bring to light the current working conditions within the Korean creative industry.

4.4 COCLUSIO

In this chapter, I have reviewed relevant literature and studies on creativity and the creative industries, and discussed how the values of creativity have evolved in

accordance with the dynamics of the globalisation process. These will, as mentioned before, provide a ground to be explored in Chapters 9 and 10.

Ultimately, these reviewed arguments and debates concerning the economic value of creativity are important to understand the situation of the Korean animation industry, whose industrial sector has recently been recognised as worth investing in. This

literature review helps expand my argument that the Korean animation industry is experiencing a transformation from being composed of in-betweeners to creative agents.

I argue that the central goal of the Korean animation industry and of the Korean

government is to encourage Korean animators to be more creative so that more creative Korean animations can be produced. Thus, the creativity of their work is enhanced by providing education related to creativity, offering a variety of events to familiarise audiences and consumers with animation, and obtain sponsors for young animators.

These elements will be thoroughly studied and examined in Part Two (Chapters 6-10) of

These elements will be thoroughly studied and examined in Part Two (Chapters 6-10) of