K-pop fever sweeps the region, but it's no soft power

When the drama My Love from the Star hit China, the popularity of Korean pop culture skyrocketed to new heights. Fans on the mainland flooded Korean shops and cafes, posing with life-sized posters and imitating main characters from the drama, which tells of an alien in human form who falls in love with an actress. At a Communist Party Politburo meeting, it was asked why China had not had such influence.

Commentators are linking the phenomenon with "soft power" in international relations. Yet, to truly elevate international prestige, there needs to be more than songs and television shows.

Korea has become a more popular tourist destination. In March, tourist arrivals rose 12 per cent compared with a year ago. But closer scrutiny reveals that 82 per cent of the visitors originate from Asia and overwhelmingly from China, whose growth rates exceeded 50 per cent. The country has thus been successful only at attracting a specific crowd. Interest from the West is far lower, while the declining number of Japanese tourists suggests that strained bilateral relations ultimately exert more influence than pop culture.

Japan is an interesting parallel. Hong Kong and Taiwan were exposed to Japanese culture in the form of cartoons, dramas and music in the 1980s and 1990s. Many chose Japan as a holiday destination, learned Japanese as a third language or trained in Japanese martial arts.

Then tastes started to change. Listeners of Japanese songs gradually converted to Korean pop while Korean drama gained a following. In 2012, the singer Psy came, saw and conquered with Gangnam Style, a song that went viral and put Korea in the international spotlight.

The Japanese-Korean shift is a testimony that pop culture - like fashion - comes and goes. Some say that Korean television shows are more creative and better retain the wow effect. Audiences crave surprises.