South Korea: Cultural Identity - Essay Example

Subcultures

At the University of Arts London, promotion of diversity, innovation and individuality are at the heart of the institution. It is proud of its diverse student communities, and it is committed to ensuring that the university provides an inclusive and supportive environment for everyone. To create an integrate all students from all the races, the university’s Equality, and Diversity Framework establishes its commitment to promoting diversity and equality on the grounds of race, sexual orientation among variables. The proportion of first-degree international students at the University of Arts London is 33.9%. Koreans represents 1.8% of international students in the United Kingdom who are from non-EU nations. Every Year University of the Arts London welcomes students from South Korea to its degrees, short courses and study abroad programmes (Thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk, 2016). The ascendancy of India and China into the top ten most powerful economies in the world and South Korea entering the top 15, has led to increasing international mobility with these three countries being the world’s leading sources of international students. In general, 53% of all students studying abroad are from Asia (Thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk, 2016).

There is a variety of religions, societies, and ethnicities that shape the Asian culture. The Asian culture is an accumulation of diverse traditions, social values and customs that form the core of the Asian society. The larger Asian continent is made up of geographic and cultural sub-regions of central, western, southern and eastern Asia (Oak, 2016) .The content boasts of rich cultural heritage, which has been a source of identity on its own. Various aspects of the Asian culture such as art and literature are popular around the world.

East Asia is one of the most influential regions regarding culture and development. Some of the countries in the region include Korea, Japan, and China. Most of the countries and regions of East Asia host diverse cultural traditions. Nonetheless, the influence of the Chinese culture in the region cannot be ignored. It is one of the oldest cultures in the world, but its traditions and customs vary across the different parts of the country. Some elements of the Chinese culture such as food are extremely popular. Other popular elements of the culture include Chinese architecture and the Chinese system of aesthetics (Oak, 2016). The Japanese culture is another ancient culture in the region. The culture has evolved over time from the Yayoi and Jomon cultures to the contemporary culture that has been influenced by Western cultures. Among the popular elements of the Japanese culture, include martial arts, visual arts, and the Japanese art of flower arrangement, sumo wrestling and their sculpture styles.

The Korean culture has equal importance in the region. Korean civilization went back 5000 years ago. The family holds an important position in the Korean culture and Koreans keep records of their genealogical origins (Oak, 2016). The Korean culture is popular for its festivals that are based on the lunar calendar. Korean tea and traditional foods such as kimchi are important constituents of the Korean cuisine. Korean art that includes paintings, handicrafts and pottery are important elements of the culture.

It is evident that the Asian culture has made a big influence on western culture, but Western culture has also made a great impact on the Asian culture. However, the eradication and lack of self-identity that is most prevalent in Western cultures have driven Asian students to bring back subcultures into their countries. As much as Asian students are going abroad for further studies, they are still holding to their subcultures by maintaining close contact with their home countries. They are able to cope with the acceptance of the dominant culture because they are aware of their culture.

South Korea has a homogeneous population that shares a common cultural, linguistic and ethnic heritage (Countrystudies, 2016). On one level, the national self-image of South Korea is unmistakably defined by the coming together of territorial, cultural identities, ethnic and linguistic. The intense feeling of the culture of nationalism has been felt in athletic events such as the 1986 Asian Games and the 1988 Olympic games that were held in Seoul. South Korean view themselves as a tightly knit national community more than Western people and even more than the Japanese does. It is for this reason that the South Korean culture has been spreading rapidly and different people from all over the world are identifying with the culture. Nonetheless, in a world that is changing very fast, it has been hard for them to define clearly and exactly what being a South Korean is. Nevertheless, South Koreans have identified with one dominant culture known as K-pop, which is an abbreviation for Korean pop, which is popular among the youths in South Korea.

K-pop culture is based on a musical genre that originated from South Korea that is highlighted by a variety of audio-visual elements. It is a music genre that combines all genres of popular music in South Korea and it is now being used to describe and define a modern form of culture that is popular among Korean youths. Since its inception in 1992, it has become an infectious culture characterized by addictive beauty products, imitable street style, and stronghold in technology. Nonetheless, this has not been the case in South Korea, in the 1970s and 1980s, the country was drowning in overwhelming debt, but it was able to deliver itself out of the debt loan, rebrand and become one of the most innovative nations in the world. In the book ‘The Birth of Korean Cool), Euny Hong decodes the success of the K-pop culture by peeling back the K-pop stronghold in fashion, music, film, lifestyle, video games and technology.

K-pop has presented another different view of East meets the world. Just like other Asian cultures like Chinese and Japanese, Korean Pop culture has had an international influence. There are numerous music icons, fashion icons, and music groups that have contributed to the rising international popularity of the K-pop culture (Lynch, 2014). The K-pop culture has created an intriguing image of the general Korean culture. It has become a global phenomenon and it is one of the popular cultures of the world with interesting social phenomena. K-pop has been creating several trends in Asia, Europe, and the United States. Among one of the major icons of the K-pop culture in the 21st century is PSY who has been able to break almost every world record with his music. There are some American magazines that have described Korean pop culture as a ‘pop culture tsunami’ that is flowing from South Korea to the United States and the rest of the world. The Financial Post defines k-pop cultures as the ‘world’s coolest brand.’ in this paper, I hope to not just to differentiate the cultural exchange within Asia, but also spark interesting knowledge with the East meets west movement. Knowingly something so normal in a western country can be so explicitly controversial or even illegal in Asia.

The history of subcultures in Korea is short. Nonetheless, it has rapidly formed numerous unique subcultures that are influenced by the Korean society and the existing subcultures of Euro-America. In today’s world, South Korea have centralised Asia pop culture with the “K-pop Movement” into becoming an explosive sensation around the world. South Korea is also the most technological advanced country in the world, yet are also the second country in the world with the highest suicide rates (Lynch, 2014). The K-Pop influence created a sprawling mass of perfect order and the pursuit of perfection. K-Pop took over 3.8 billion dollars in Korea’s economy, and over 6 Billion Dollar Beauty industry. The number 1 country with the highest plastic surgery rate. K-Pop stars was recruited and trained from young to package themselves to fit the ideology of perfectionism. Subcultures communities are slowly growing inside Korea, but the majorities would rather convert their subcultures into being fitting the general public, because it is hard to survive being an outlier in a ‘manipulative’ society when jobs and finance are so determined for a good lifestyle.

In 1992, South Korea passed legislation that defined tattooing as a medical procedure. Since then, it tattooing has continued to be termed as an illegal practice for all the tattoo artists in the country who do not have medical licenses. Koreans are now fighting to overturn the law that is being termed as outdated. The principles of the law are deeply engraved in the Confucian culture (Zappulla, 2011). There is a belief in the Confucian culture that the human body should be preserved in its natural state. In addition, tattooing is perceived to be a practice that is reserved for mobsters as well as criminals a perception that has been obtained from the Japanese mob Yakuza. In the history of Korea, marks were tattooed on criminals to differentiate them from rest of the community; this gave tattooing a bad representation. Men who have tattoos are not allowed to complete their compulsory military service (Zappulla, 2011). Furthermore, having a tattoo is enough ground for employment refusal, dismissal, and termination. Legislators in Korea consider tattooing a public health violation, and there are corresponding consequences such as fines and lifetime incarceration. Nonetheless, tattooing still remains an underground operation. Nonetheless, the subculture is still available, safely but pricey.

Pursue for education has brought the Asian culture to the world. The number of Chinese students studying abroad went up by 11% in 2014. The trend of young Chinese students going abroad has continued to grow as indicated by the Chinese Ministry of Education that stated that 459800 Chinese students went abroad in 2014. Among those students, public funding sponsored 21300 of them, 15500 were employer funded, and the other 423000 were self-funded. The leading destinations for Asian international students are United States, United Kingdom, Japan, France and Australia (ICEF Monitor, 2015). On a positive view, the Chinese government has reported that Chinese students who are returning to China to pursue their careers. The number is now larger than ever before with over 364,000 students returning to China in 2014. Since the conception of international study in 1978, a total of 3.5 million Chinese have studied abroad, and the return rate stands at 74.5%.

Studying abroad has been a trend in Asia particularly China and most of the students are going a younger age. It is expected that the trend towards greater outbound mobility for younger students will expand further in 2015. There are reasons that are associated with this trend, and they are the same reason that is shaping the future of global student mobility. The hunger and thirst for quality education will increase global student mobility especially in countries that lack higher education capacity regarding available seats and reliable quality of education. Students will continue to look for opportunities to study abroad as they look quality education. In addition, the leading destinations for international studies are losing share to Australia and Canada (ICEF Monitor, 2015). Asian students are now going to other countries such as Austria, Spain, New Zealand, Italy, Russia, and Japan.

These new destinations are creating more room for more international students. The middle class is driving growth in the emerging economies; this is another key factor that is driving the demand levels for study abroad. The number of middle-class people in Asia is going to rise from 600 million to over 3 billion in 2030. The middle-class families require tertiary education for their children. The middle-income economies are driving growth in outbound student mobility. Regional student mobility is another element that is driving growth in mobility of students.

Global student mobility follows inter and intra-regional migration patterns. Greater importance is now being put on regional mobility, as there is a new trend of Asian students studying within their region. The growth of regional schemes across the world is creating platforms for students to acquire quality education instead of going abroad (ICEF Monitor, 2015)d. Regional mobility has developed a new way of thinking for the younger generations and created a new evolution of diverse cultural exchanges within the Asian countries.