Mirroring Culture: A Korean love symbol at a restaurant in Kolkata Photo: Sandipan Chatterjee Mirroring Culture: A Korean love symbol at a restaurant in Kolkata Photo: Sandipan Chatterjee

It’s December 2012 in Kolkata and the same song blares from pubs, nightclubs and wedding parties across the city—on repeat. That year, every disc jockey and the inevitable musician cousin in charge of music at family events were grooving to the same beats: “Oppa Gangnam Style…”

“It was a huge hit in Kolkata,” city resident and K-pop enthusiast Arghya Mukherjee recalls.

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The smash-hit song by South Korean rapper PSY shattered all conceivable records of popularity, becoming a global phenomenon and the first video to reach one billion views on YouTube. Celebrities across the globe—from MC Hammer to Amitabh Bachchan—shook a leg to its campy choreography.

While PSY might remain a one-hit wonder, Gangnam Style achieved something bigger than the artist could have imagined. It opened the floodgates for Hallyu, the great South Korean cultural wave that has continued to grow ever since. “I remember not really liking the song at the time, but looking back, it was probably the first major Korean export to go viral in India. BTS was formed in 2013 and everyone knows what happened next,” says Mukherjee, a proud member of BTS’ Army fandom.

The 33-year-old now runs a Korean eatery named ‘Yum Yum Korea Corner’ in Kolkata’s coveted Gol Park neighbourhood, offering a menu that spans corndogs, tteok-bokki, ramen, kimbap, bibimbap, bulgogi, soju and, of course, kimchi. “The popularity of K-culture started with K-pop and then K-dramas. Now, everything Korean is in vogue,” says Mukherjee.

Korean Influence: Members of “Bongo BTS” practicing Korean dance at a park in Kolkata | Photo: Sandipan Chatterjee Korean Influence: Members of “Bongo BTS” practicing Korean dance at a park in Kolkata | Photo: Sandipan Chatterjee

It took him over two years to perfect the menu. “I realised that many people became interested in Korean food because of the K-dramas that gained popularity in 2020. I wanted to offer an affordable way for K-culture fans to taste the food they see on these shows.”

Korea’s remarkable rise from an impoverished nation to one of Asia’s most advanced economies, dubbed the Miracle on the Han River, began in the 1960s when it opened itself as a manufacturing and tech hub. Over the last 15 years, the emergence of K-pop, followed by the boom in K-drama viewership, has led to the Hallyu—a cultural wave of all things Korean.

“I remember starting to watch K-dramas and eventually wanting to eat ramyeon (ramen noodles),” says Pallavi Kumari, a researcher of South Korean language, culture and literature at Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University. “It wasn’t just the taste of the food that was intriguing but the shared K-universe references that made the experience immersive,” she explains. “The phrase ‘Ramyeon mogole?’—meaning ‘Would you like to eat some ramyeon at my place?’—is Korea’s equivalent of ‘Netflix and Chill’. Being part of K-culture is like knowing a secret language shared among fellow enthusiasts.”

Pallavi notes that the Hallyu wave isn’t limited to big cities. “I come from Darbhanga in Bihar and grew up in Purnia. Over the last decade, many peers who once scoffed at K-pop and K-dramas are now avid fans, participating in K-cultural events,” she shares.

The COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing lockdowns in 2020–21 served as a springboard for the Korean wave. Although Korean dramas and films had gained popularity earlier, Netflix recorded a 370 per cent jump in K-drama viewership in India in 2020 compared to 2019, according to Euromonitor International, a global market research company. Increased consumption of Korean content—K-pop music videos, dramas, webtoons and OTT-based shows—paved the way for the expansion of Korean goods and products in India.

Today, Korean products have flooded Indian markets, from cuisine to skincare. Metro and tier-one cities have witnessed rapid growth in Korean food joints, eateries and cloud kitchens. Korean condiments like gochugaru, gochujang, ginseng and sticky rice are now widely available. South Korean companies like Daesang, which owns Cheongjeongwon, Jongga and Orion, a major player, have also expanded their footprint in India. Orion opened a production plant in Rajasthan in 2021, while Daesang has been exporting kimchi and traditional sauces since 2015.

The value of imported Korean food grew from $1.5 million in 2020 to $12 million in 2024.

According to media reports, the value of imported Korean food items like noodles and pasta grew from $1.5 million in 2020 to $12 million in 2024. South Korea’s share in India’s noodle and pasta imports rose from 0.8 per cent in 2015 to 37 per cent in 2024. NielsenIQ reports that the Korean noodle market grew from Rs 2 crore in 2021 to over Rs 65 crore in 2023.

Part of the appeal, says Reshma Munjal, founder of Korean skincare clinic KorinMi in Gurugram, lies in the “natural” components of Korean skincare routines, which promise a “clean” and “au naturel” aesthetic.

Traditional Korean aesthetics are characterised by four key aspects: pure formality, naturalistic simplicity, symbolic decoration and playful spontaneity. Pure formality embodies dignity, modesty, purity and status. Unlike Western traditions, which emphasise the body and proportionality, Koreans perceive the body holistically and abstractly. For instance, the preference for baggy, oversized clothing and a fondness for white reflect this sense of pure formality.

Naturalistic beauty integrates simplicity and comfort with pure formality and represents the indigenous ethos, customs and culture of the Korean people.

Contemporary Korean aesthetics often centre around the concept of jayeon, loosely translated as nature. Unlike the Western focus on beauty as symmetry or art for art’s sake, jayeon reflects a deeper connection to natural elements.

In Korean art history and discussions on Korean aesthetic, art historian Yu-Sup Koh describes the “naturalistic simplicity” of Korean artefacts as “free of excess” and “deeply connected to functionality”.

These artefacts are created through processes emphasising concepts like “artless art” and “planless plan”, which derive from real-life functionality rather than abstract artistic ideas. “The notions of artless art and planless plan refer to stylistic features originating from real life in contrast to abstract notions of art,” write Y. J. Kwon and Y. Y. Lee in Traditional Aesthetic Characteristics Traced in South Korean Contemporary Fashion Practice. K-beauty standards and products, often marketed as “pristine”, “clean”, and “all-natural”, reflect these aesthetic ideals. Skincare lines focus on “inner beauty” and the glow of naturally “glass skin”. While Korean beauty standards have faced criticism for being “colourist”, Reshbha Munjal, co-founder of Korean skincare clinic, KorinMi, notes that “unlike European or American trends tailored to dominant skin types of those regions, Korean beauty caters to Asian and South Asian skin tones and textures, considering South Asian climatic conditions”.

The adaptability of Korean products to hybridise and meet the needs of diverse audiences contributes to the enduring appeal of the Hallyu. This hybridity also arises from cultural synergies and similarities between India and South Korea.

Hair treatment at KorinMi Clinic in Gurugram | Photo: Tribhuvan Tiwari Hair treatment at KorinMi Clinic in Gurugram | Photo: Tribhuvan Tiwari

The rise of Hallyu symbolises a shift from the Western (read: American) hegemony over the global culture industry and the Eurocentric gaze that dictates what is deemed acceptable for mass consumption. “The success of Korean products and cultural iconography in postcolonial nations like India flows from shared neocolonial anxieties and afflictions resulting from the political and cultural dominance of the ‘West’,” Pallavi asserts.

In her 2019 book New Kings of the World: Dispatches from Bollywood, Dizi and K-Pop, Pakistani writer Fatima Bhutto argues that Bollywood films, Turkish soap operas and K-pop music are the new arbiters of mass pop culture. While the content may not always promote modern, secular or progressive views, it often marries traditional values with contemporary settings, portraying aspirations more relatable to viewers in the “third world” than the “American dream”.

Despite its commercial nature, popular culture can serve as a significant sociopolitical marker if it resonates deeply enough to shape contemporary norms. Researchers Srijita Biswas and Pratiti Roy, in their paper Binge Watching, Binge Eating: Popularity of K-Dramas and the Emergent Korean Cuisine in India, observe that the rise of K-dramas and food in the popular imagination reflect an “acceptance of the ‘other’” through pop culture. With its exotic and ‘foreign’ aesthetic, Korean content disrupts the monotony of ‘Western-gaze’-driven entertainment and normalises the ‘other’, symbolising an “unconscious break from xenophobia”. “The Army of K-drama fans, content consumers of ‘everything Korean,’ and even reluctant viewers have embraced and adapted South Korean culture through entertainment and food,” Biswas states, calling it a step toward “achieving inclusivity”.

India desperately sought an equalizer. They even disposed of goalkeeper PR Sreejesh in the quest for a late goal. The push continued till the very last second of the match, when Shamsher Singh had a clear shot at goal but his strike went over the bar.

Analysing the popularity of Gangnam Style, offers insights into how Korean cultural expansion operates on sociopolitical and emotional levels. The song references the upscale Gangnam district of Seoul, known for its lavish, trendy lifestyle. The music video begins with PSY lounging on a deck chair, surrounded by sand and fanned by an attractive woman. As the camera pans out, a children’s park emerges and the subject’s reality shifts. The illusion of a beach party gives way to the reality of a city choked with dust and skyscrapers—a scene relatable to many viewers.

Korean feminist author S. Heijin Lee, who teaches at New York University’s Department of Social and Cultural Analysis, notes how US culture has historically racialised Asian men, stereotyping them as “laughable, emasculated figures” while emphasising their “foreignness”. PSY, having studied in the US, delivers a comedic yet incisive critique of the hyper-consumerist, materialist Korean high society and flashy influencer culture influenced by Western individualism and capitalism. He situates modern Asian aspirations within the intersections of Western modernity and Eastern morality.

PSY’s character in Gangnam Style fits stereotypical “Asian” traits—eccentric, comedic and foreign—making him both familiar and exotically different. His antics are accepted as a legacy of his origins and he subverts stereotypes by embracing them. “PSY’s comedic appeal undoubtedly contributes to his popularity both in Korea and the United States,” Lee states.

The marketing of Korean cultural products often leverages this “familiar difference”. Howevermwplay888, in her essay, The Politics and Promises of Gangnam Style, published in Pop Empires: Transnational Flows of Korea and India, Lee warns that exploiting these familiar differences for commercial ends risks reinforcing the very stereotypes and systems postcolonial nations seek to dismantle.