Arts & International Affairs: Volume 3, Issue 1, Spring 2018 | Page 68

KOREAN POPULAR CULTURE AND HISTORICAL SENSIBILITIES IN EAST ASIA
are not under Japanese colonial rule now. Cheers, Taiwan. Independent
activists fought strenuously for Korea’s independence, but now
pro-Japanese collaborators prosper, sadly” (Sarapina, 사라피나 , 193
likes, 9 dislikes).
Emotions, Historical Sensibilities, and Contradictory Processes of
Border-Making
The Tzuyu Incident generated the intensity of political-cultural reactions among people
in Taiwan and South Korea. Tzuyu’s apology video elicited immediate and strong
emotional reactions from people in these two locations by evoking an ISIS video. Duncombe
and Bleiker note that visual images of an ISIS video with a hostage and the subsequently
triggered emotions caused an instant public and political response worldwide
(2015:37). Although the apology video was not intended to emulate an ISIS image,
viewers overwhelmingly drew a parallel between the two, and this caused emotions to
flow across national borders to share their support for Tzuyu.
In Taiwan, the incident served as a factor that sparked open support for and affirmation
of Taiwanese identity among people as well as presidential candidates from different
political parties. The incident played a crucial role in awakening Taiwan’s historical relations
with China and the island’s long-held internal struggles between mainlanders and
islanders. Taiwanese responses speak to the core dimension of identity processes, given
that the debate centered around whether they are Taiwanese, Chinese, or both.
Similarly, Korean netizens reacted to the incident by supporting Chou’s Taiwanese identity.
Korean society increasingly respects the hallyu industry. The term hallyu has come
to entail a nationalistic sentiment that Korean cultural products are successful not only
in Asia but also across the globe (Kim 2007:55). Cultural projects that can be considered
as part of hallyu are those that have been exposed to and accepted by foreign audiences
(Kang 2005:221–222). That is, “not every Korean drama, film or pop song, no matter
how popular in Korea, will be labeled Hallyu�only those that have been exported and
done so successfully” (Kim 2007:50). This tendency is closely related to the way that
Korean society regards more highly those who have gained some sort of recognition
overseas for their achievements than those who have done so domestically, whether it
be selling Korean products or winning sports competitions (Oh and Lee 2013:115).
The respect for, and pride in those, who achieve recognition in foreign countries can
be seen in the changing views of respected careers among children. To become a hallyu
star has become the most popular career aspiration among young South Koreans (Lie
2012:360).
But the Tzuyu Incident has prompted South Korean netizens to cross hallyu nationalism.
Overwhelming support for Tzuyu and public condemnation of JYP, as seen in Korean
netizens’ discursive reactions to the Tzuyu’s flag controversy, shows that the content
67