K-pop and Korea's Entertainment Industry

One of the topics to which I have returned on occasion is the heavy dependence of South Korea's economy and its ICT sector on manufacturing versus software and the creation of content and services. There are some bright spots that suggest this situation may change in the future. One of those is the multiplayer online game industry, especially as that industry adjusts to the increasing availability of mobile broadband around the world. Another one is South Korea's entertainment industry, which has generated a "Korean wave" that has swept across the globe, especially throughout Asia, in recent years. This year the U.S. market seems to be taking notice of K-pop. As suggested by the headline of a recent article in the Los Angeles Times, this may be the year that "K-pop enters American pop consciousness."   As the article appropriately notes, "Poised at the intersection of two countries' fast-moving pop cultures and cutting-edge media technology, the sprawling genre colloquially known as K-pop has operated outside the American pop limelight. But that's changing."  Later it notes that K-pop grew in Korea partly because "Songs and especially videos were quickly passed over high-speed Internet and mobile devices several times faster than what's available in America. In a related point, the article suggests that, "...while K-pop has a lively Internet presence, America lacks a dominant media hub for first encountering K-pop culture. If one emerges, it might the Culver City-based Mnet. Its cable channel, a division of CJ Entertainment, is heavily focused on K-pop and broadcasts a mix of video countdown shows like "M! Countdown," "Jjang!" (a celebrity gossip show) and "Hello Pop!" (a social-media-themed show whose 21-year-old host, Chrissa Villanueva, is L.A.-raised and Filipina).

K-pop received a big boost with the appearance in January of this year of The Girl's Generation on The David Letterman Show, as shown in the following video.