South Korean soft power in North-east India

ROSHAN RAI

The word  “saranghaeyo” is perhaps known by most teenagers and to some extent adults too. It means “I love you” in the Korean language and probably these words are used by teenagers and adults in their WhatsApp chat and social media platform just to have a blur experience of a Korean speaker. The states have gone under considerable change due to the rise and influence of globalization. The changes have moved to private domain and individual preference, the things we wear, the way we speak and the cuisine we prefer have tremendously changed.  It’s hard to debar when the spread is in terms of “soft power” because it influences us psychologically. For example, you just watched a Hollywood movie and you see the protagonist using some kind of cool language, the very next day you will try to imitate those same words, it’s an innate behaviour of human beings that they copy the person they like the most.
 The influence of Korean soft power in the northeast states of India is one such example. The spread of Korean culture or Hayallu was not an overnight thing, it took decades to form its roots and now those roots are bearings branches. Hayallu is a Chinese term that means “Korean wave”. It is a collective term used to refer to the phenomenal growth of Korean culture and popular culture encompassing everything from music, movies, drama to online games and Korean cuisine just to name a few. We have to understand that when we say about Korean culture or hayallu, we have to juxtapose the two terms. Korean culture refers to the cultural affinities of South Korean people that are related to their food, knowledge, belief, art, morals and the language they speak. Whereas hayallu is a hybridisation concept, it is a hybrid of traditional Korean culture in general and American culture in particular. The Korean pop culture is a fusion of westernised modernity with just the right amount of Asian sentimentality. But these terms at contemporary times are used interchangeably because of hybridisation. As the young populations of northeast India envy the music and dramas of Korea they have also picked up certain cultural traits of South Korea like food and languages. Food habits like Soju, Korean barbeque and kimchi had flourished in several restaurants in northeast India; these foods habits are very popular in Korean dramas. Korean languages like jinjja (really), kamsahamnida (thank you), mianhae (sorry) etc. These languages are very famous among the young populations of northeast India who love Korean dramas and movies. As the social learning theory of Albert Bandura points out that people learn through observation of other people’s actions in society. Cultural diffusion occurs when people learn the cultural traits of other societies.
The historical roots of Korean influence in northeast India are the nomenclature of political affairs and policies that were reflected during the last two decades. In 2000, the Revolutionary people’s front, a powerful local group imposed a ban on Hindi films and channels in Manipur to pull out the presence of “so-called indinisation”. Hindi movies were considered cultural imperialist media. The only exceptions are the government-controlled Doordarshan (DD) channels. Due to no access to Hindi movies, Korean films filled this vacuum, movies like my sassy girl, the classic and Millionaire first love had generated euphoria amongst the people. The pirated Korean DVDs and CDs were flooded in the market of Manipur and soon penetrated the markets of Nagaland and Tripura. This piracy culture happened when the government of India under look east policy opened its borders to Myanmar and other neighbouring countries for trade relations. Soon Korean movies and dramas started to gain their fandom in the entire northeast. It become so popular that it was dubbed in the Mizo language in Mizoram, the fact that Korean movies and dramas are popular is because of its family-friendly, you can watch them with your family without any hesitation. But people have accused Korean influence impinged the native culture.  
The problems occur when this type of influence takes the shape of acculturation. Acculturation is a psychological change induced by cross-cultural imitation. It is the “phenomenon which results when groups of individuals having different cultures come into continuous first-hand contact with the subsequent change in the original pattern of either or both groups. The phenomena of acculturation could be one dimensional, assuming that people lose their original culture as they acquire new culture. It could also be bi-dimensional, assuming that people acquire a new culture without losing their original culture. So far the fandom of South Korean culture is bi-dimensional in northeast states. People do like Korean culture but they are also very much embedded with their own culture.  
Since northeast India have myriad Korean fans, therefore it opens up opportunity and possibilities of India and South Korea bilateral relations with special context on northeast India. For example, the government of India can open a cultural exchange programme between northeast states and South Korea, so that we can also export our culture to them. The South Korean soft power has increased and spread its tentacles all over the world, its time India should also try to increase its soft power capability rather depending upon Bollywood to do so.   
(The author is a M.Phil student of Department of International Relations, Sikkim University. Email: rr162004@gmail.com)