Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
While it was plain to see that the Korean government was invested in K-pop because they wanted to use it as a vehicle to spread their country’s culture around the world, sending K-pop idol calendars to international embassies goes above and beyond confirming that assumption.
More importantly, it’s embarrassing as fuck.
To promote K-Pop idol groups all over the world, the Korean government has produced special photo calendars for international embassies.
Produced by the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, the ’2012 K-Pop Photo Calendars’ were sent to 170 different embassies. The calendars contain pictures of top K-Pop stars, as well as short introductions on traditional Korean instruments — ultimately seeking to introduce the variety of Korean pop culture and music.
Embassy staff the world over will find photos of Super Junior, f(x), Big Bang, 2NE1, Wonder Girls, 2PM, miss A, KARA, B2ST, 4minute, T-ara, and SISTAR.
A representative of the ministry stated, “Through these calendars, we hope to introduce Korean culture and Hallyu to major media outlets and cultural art centers all over the world.”
That sound you hear is every rational Korean person facepalming.
I can only imagine the Nigerian embassy receiving these calendars and thinking about how all of the males in it would be burned alive in their country.
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As part of the K-pop community, I realize we’re insular and tend to be in our own separate world, so maybe this doesn’t sound that ridiculous on the surface. However, consider how this news would be treated had England sent out Spice Girls calendars. Or if the United States sent The Jonas Brothers to Japan or Canada sent Justin Bieber to China. Ugh.
It’s just…it makes you want to roll your eyes. Like why in the fuck would you want them to represent your country? Out of all the awesome stuff Korea has accomplished in the past couple of decades, pop music is what they want their country to be known for?
I would kill myself if Kanye West was used to represent my country. Fuck my life.
Oh that’s ace. LOL.
They know what they’re doing is embarrassing. The only good thing they did was not including TVXQ and SNSD. They don’t want to ruin the reputation of the real good ones.
sometimes, it really does seem like the only accomplishment from korea in recent history is kpop -_-
Korean companies are doing amazing.
That’s sad because kpop isnt the only thing korea has accomplished but they make it look that way. Also Nigeria isnt very fond of gays so with kpop skinship they are gonna feel really weird looking at calendars with Suju in them.
Not fond of gays is an understatement. :o
Keep in mind this is from the “Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism”. But I agree – pretty fucking stupid to be sending it to embassies.
I actually ordered a tourist information package from them earlier this year. Not because I really want to visit Korea. But I plan on visiting Japan in 2012 and just figured I’d see what Korea had to offer, since it’s just a short flight or ferry ride away from Japan.
Based on the stuff they sent me, Korea really don’t have a lot of unique things to draw in the tourists like Japan does, so they have their work cut out for them trying to promote it as a tourist destination.
However, there has been a recent surge in tourism and it’s apparently due to the hallyu wave. It’s also probably the easiest thing for the tourism board to promote.
Korea really has been kicking ass lately, but the hallyu stuff is such a tiny part of their overall success. There was a pretty good documentary on the History Channel recently called “South Korea: A Nation to Watch”. I just noticed someone uploaded it in parts to YouTube, as well:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3_zsVijn2Y
Of course, it also features K-pop, but it does give a good overview of how successful they have been in almost every area. I don’t think there has ever been a country that has experienced such a huge amount of success in such a short period of time.
I don’t think there are as many historical tourism pitches as Japan or China have.
Sort of the same for America, except Korea is obviously an older culture and society.
The pitch would have to revolve around modern advancements, I just don’t see K-pop as something that would make it seem cool to anybody but Asia. :o
I can’t see a scenario in which this would be concluded to be a good idea.