International Journal of Communication 17(2023), 6887–6895 1932–8036/20230005

Netflix and the Global Receptions of Korean Popular Culture:

Introduction

DAL YONG JIN1

SANGJOON LEE
Lingnan University, Hong Kong

SEOK-KYEONG HONG
Seoul National University, South Korea

This editorial introduction examines the Netflix effect in the Korean wave tradition. It
analyzes the ways the world’s most influential over-the-top platform is changing the
production, distribution, and consumption of South Korean popular culture in the global
cultural markets from the perspective of transnational culture. It provides a deeper
understanding of the transformations of regional and transnational cultural industry
practices, creative labor, artistic challenges, and transnational reception juxtaposed with
and in response to the Korean cultural industries’ quantum leap in the (post-)age of the
COVID-19 pandemic. We attempt to advance our current debates and place them in
contexts relevant to future work in transnational cultural studies in the digital platform
era.

Keywords: Korean Wave, Netflix, transnationalism, popular culture, K-pop, digital

Between December 2022 and March 2023, The Glory (Ahn, 2022)—a drama about a woman who
seeks revenge on several classmates who bullied her—became globally popular. As a Netflix original, The

Dal Yong Jin: djin@sfu.ca

1
This work was supported by the Institute of East and West Studies at Yonsei University and partly funded
by the Korea Foundation e-school Project grant. This research was supported by the Research Grants for
Asian Studies funded by Seoul National University Asia Center in 2021 (0448A-20210063).

Copyright © 2023 (Dal Yong Jin, Sangjoon Lee, and Seok-Kyeong Hong). Licensed under the Creative
Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives (by-nc-nd). Available at http://ijoc.org.
6888 Dal Yong Jin et al. International Journal of Communication 17(2023)

Glory became the most popular show globally just three days after the release of The Glory Part 2 on March
11, 2023. It ranked number one in 38 countries, including Japan, Malaysia, and Mexico, and number three
in the United States and the United Kingdom, “making it the overall No. 1 show globally” (Cho, 2023, para.
2). The global popularity of The Glory is only one example that shows the recent popularity of Korean cultural
content such as dramas, reality shows, films, and K-pop in the global cultural sphere.

Many Korean dramas and films have already made their global popularity. For example, on
November 20, 2021, Netflix introduced the “original” series Hellbound (Yeon, 2021). This six-episode dark
fantasy is helmed by Yeon Sang-ho who rose to international prominence with the zombie thriller Train to
Busan (Yeon, 2016) in 2016. Within 24 hours of its launch, Hellbound (Yeon, 2021) became the most-
watched Netflix television series in the world, topping streaming ratings in more than 80 countries. Squid
Game (Hwang, 2021), another Netflix original series from Korea released in 2021, which was a brutal nine-
part survival thriller, directed by the veteran Korean filmmaker Hwang Dong-hyuk, immediately rose to the
top of the charts in over 80 countries. Squid Game (Hwang, 2021) went on to become the most popular
Netflix original series of all time. The series had been seen by an estimated 142 million households in 94
countries by the time Hellbound (Yeon, 2021) was released. The success of Squid Game (Hwang, 2021) and
Hellbound (Yeon, 2021) was followed by the webtoon-based high school–set zombie thriller All of Us Are
Dead (Lee & Kim, 2022) and the heart-warming legal drama Extraordinary Attorney Woo (Yoo, 2022),
centered on autistic genius lawyer Woo Young-woo, which topped the charts in over 30 countries in summer
2022. King the Land (Cho, Kim, & Han, 2023)—a romantic drama series—the latest addition to this trend,
continues to be a popular K-drama on Netflix.

The crossover triumph of these dramas in global cultural markets in recent years has demonstrated
how Korean cultural industries have evolved from a traditional theatrical release–based business model to one
that encompasses theaters, OTT (over-the-top) services, webtoons, and television stations. As a creative
director and a scriptwriter, for example, Hwang Dong-hyuk, whose 2014 comedy hit Miss Granny (Hwang,
2014) was remade in Japan, China, Indonesia, Thailand, India, and Turkey, is planning to work with Netflix to
create a Squid Game (Hwang, 2021) universe, with the streaming giant hoping to develop not only a sequel
(Weiss, 2022)—which is under production as of September 2023—but also spin-offs and anime.

Several global OTT platforms, such as Disney+, Amazon Prime, Apple TV, and iQiyi, as well as
Korea’s local streaming services Wavve, Tving, and Coupang Play, have actively produced, coproduced, and
licensed Korean films, dramas, and reality shows; however, Netflix has reigned supreme in the Korean
cultural market as well as global cultural markets. In 2021, Netflix invested US$463 million in Korean content
thanks to a string of commercial successes for “made in Korea” original series and films. Due to the
increasing role of Korean popular culture on Netflix in increasing global subscribers, in April 2023, Netflix
also promised to invest $2.5 billion in Korean cultural industries until 2027 (Bae & Toh, 2023).

More broadly, it is crucial to acknowledge that the global sensation of Korean pop groups BTS and
BlackPink, as well as a flock of Korean dramas, has positioned Korean cultural products at the core of the global
cultural industries. Korea’s cultural industries are now producing theatrical films and original series for
streaming services, film studios, and television stations worldwide. Korea is practically the only country outside
International Journal of Communication 17(2023) Transnational Perspectives 6889

the United States to have captivated the world’s hearts and minds through K-pop, K-dramas, K-film, and K-
webtoons. In 2014, Richard Greenfield (2014), in an article for The Hollywood Reporter, already predicted that

by 2024, the concept of a multi-month window between a movie’s theatrical and home
entertainment release will no longer exist. . . . By 2024, consumers will be able to pay for
and access content whenever they want and wherever they want on a device of their
choice. (para. 5)

That time came much earlier than expected. Significantly, Netflix is gaining great financial success
through Korean cultural content, while Korean cultural industries have partially reaped the benefit. Netflix
is undoubtedly the most influential OTT platform and content producer for Korean cultural products.

This Special Section, which contains 11 essays, including this introductory article, written by
scholars in various countries, examines the Netflix effect: the ways the world’s most influential OTT platform
is changing the production, distribution, and consumption of Korean popular culture in global cultural
markets from the perspective of transnational culture. This Special Section provides a deeper understanding
of the transformations of regional and transnational cultural industry practices, creative labor, artistic
challenges, and transnational reception juxtaposed with and in response to the Korean cultural industries’
quantum leap in the (post-)age of the COVID-19 pandemic. With this Special Section, we hope to shed light
on current debates and place them in contexts relevant to future work in transnational cultural studies in
the digital platform era.

Netflix and the Transnational Flows of Korean Popular Culture

Contemporary transnational cultural flows have occurred in three distinct stages. In the first stage,
between the 1970s and the 1980s, the majority of countries received popular culture mainly from the United
States, which wielded dominant power in global cultural markets. During this period, popular culture flowed
primarily in one direction—from the West, particularly the United States, to the rest of the world—and the
concept of cultural imperialism was used to explain the global flow of American cultural content. In this
stage, media globalization was understood to mean essentially the dissemination of U.S.-driven cultural
hegemony across the globe, and the primary actors were American cultural companies, including the
Hollywood majors (Schiller, 1976).

Starting in the early 1990s, a few non-Western countries developed their own popular culture that
attracted significant overseas audiences. Several local powerhouses, such as Bollywood (film) and
telenovelas (drama) made their global appearance; collectively, these phenomena were known as
countercultural flows (Thussu, 2006). Many Japanese anime and characters also earned global fandoms
(Allison, 2003; Iwabuchi, 2002; Yano, 2013). In particular, the recent phase of Hallyu clearly shows not
only “alternative circuits of media flows that operate outside the West” (Ginsburg, Abu-Lughod, & Larkin,
2003, p. 14) but also countercultural flows of non-Western cultural products into the Western regions
(Thussu, 2006). To understand this stage, a multitude of studies have moved beyond the rigid center-
periphery binarism. Within this theoretical tendency, which can be called the “cultural globalization thesis,”
6890 Dal Yong Jin et al. International Journal of Communication 17(2023)

especially since the 1990s (Kraidy, 2005), the diversification of cultural flows has been explored in several
ways by cultural studies researchers (Appadurai, 1990).

Meanwhile, the circumstances surrounding our contemporary cultural flows have again changed
significantly with the advent of digital platforms. The growth of Netflix in global cultural markets, particularly
in tandem with the Korean Wave, has fundamentally changed the trends of transnational cultural flows. The
existing research on transnational culture does not sufficiently address the shifting media ecology
surrounding the rise and integration of local cultural forces on a global scale, as exemplified in Hallyu and
Netflix, which exemplify the third cultural flow. Netflix is “the world’s leading curated video entertainment
service” (Lotz, 2020, p. 196), with over 167 million paid members in over 190 countries enjoying TV series
(both originals and licensed series), documentaries, animated shorts and features, and feature films across
a wide variety of genres and languages. When Netflix entered Korea in 2016, its strategy was to undertake
a partnership with local OTT carriers to supply their programs. In other words, the convergence of local
popular culture and global digital platforms has become a new norm in the global cultural sphere, although
it does not imply the demise of American hegemony.

More important, digital platforms increasingly enable media audiences to participate in and initiate
transnationalization, through a process that has been referred to as bottom-up transnationalism (Georgiou,
2006; Larkin, 2008; Lukács, 2010). In the global rise of non-Western content, much of which bypasses the
official media market and export/import routes, “alternative (bottom-up) practices of media circulation”
(Lukács, 2010, p. 179) play a significant role in enhancing the circulation of such content (Jin, Yoon, & Min,
2021). In the mediascape of Hallyu, technologies do not simply enhance virality but can also transform
cultural norms and the conventional modes of cultural consumption (Nahon & Hemsley, 2013).

The global popularity of several Korean cultural content items like Squid Game (Hwang, 2021) and
The Glory (Ahn, 2022) on Netflix has fundamentally changed the role that mediators play in contemporary
media ecology. Digital platforms, especially OTT platforms, generate many ways of circulating media. Unlike
previous stages, the transnationalization of local cultural content is now not only global but also
simultaneous. During the first and second stages of global cultural flows, people had to either buy cultural
content or go to theaters and concert halls to enjoy it. However, digital platforms, both OTT and social media
platforms (e.g., YouTube), have turned global cultural markets into a single unified market that allows global
audiences to enjoy local culture with no time difference. Again, Squid Game (Hwang, 2021) was popular in
over 90 countries almost simultaneously, and it was a genuinely global sensation. By engaging with the
Korean Wave’s digital mediascape, global audiences who otherwise would not have been exposed or
attracted to such non-Western media are integrated into transnational cultural flows.

Of course, we have to be careful in our interpretation of this new form of cultural flow, as it does not
necessarily mean the cultural environment is balanced or nonhegemonic. Some global OTT platforms are located
in the United States to maximize their profits, although local cultural creators use them as a new circulation tool.
This situation calls for a critical and analytical approach to the dominant role of American OTT platforms.
International Journal of Communication 17(2023) Transnational Perspectives 6891

Works Included in This Special Section

Dal Yong Jin discusses an industry approach to understanding the cultural industries in the digital
platform era. It critically documents several major theoretical frameworks, including critical political economy,
cultural industries, production studies, and critical media industry studies. Critical political economy and cultural
industries approaches are rooted in political economy, while production studies and critical media industry
studies are based on cultural studies; therefore, they show similarities and differences. It not only discusses
their major characteristics but also utilizes them to advance a new theoretical framework in understanding
contemporary cultural industries. By historicizing the growth of the Korean Wave, it introduced a new industry
approach termed “critical cultural industries studies,” which is a meso-approach.

Kyong Yoon discusses “Diasporic Korean Storytelling” on Netflix. During the global flows of South
Korean media and popular culture known as the Korean Wave or Hallyu, representations of the Korean diaspora
have gradually emerged in the global mediascape. This process is at least partly indebted to the role digital
streaming platforms have played in accelerating transnational flows of media content produced in diverse
locations. This article examines the transnational circulation of media content and practices relating to the
Korean diaspora in platform-driven media environments of the Korean Wave. While the subject of global flows
of Korean media has been attracting increasing interest among media scholars, the diasporic aspects of the
Korean Wave have remained underresearched. This article argues that digital platforms have played a role in
the emergence of diasporic voices in the Korean Wave. Drawing on theoretical discussions and textual analyses
of two Netflix shows portraying diasporic Koreans, the article examines how the streaming platform facilitates
and/or commodifies cultural diversity. In doing so, it initiates a discussion of how the diasporic aspects of the
Korean Wave are integrated with the platformized media environment.

Benjamin M. Han’s article examines how creativity is regarded as a significant corporate asset to
Netflix’s rise as a dominant global streaming platform. Using Netflix Korea as an empirical case study, the
article problematizes the institutionalization of Netflix creativity to construct the streaming platform as a
peculiar cultural space for creativity and lure ethnic content creators while capitalizing on the particularities of
Korean television production norms and practices. Drawing on critical media industry studies and analysis of
journalistic interviews with Hwang Dong-hyuk, the creator of the global hit series Squid Game (Hwang, 2021),
this article examines the politics shaping Netflix’s creativity in terms of authorial value, labor, and intellectual
property. The article moves away from a Western-centric study of creativity rooted in romanticism, inspiration,
and neoliberalism to explore how creativity as a resource to Netflix shapes the interactions between the Korean
television industry and the subjectivities of Korean creative laborers.

Sojeong Park and Seok-Kyeong Hong analyze how Netflix, an emerging global Subscription Video On
Demand (SVOD) service, affects the global reception of South Korean content. In-depth interviews were
conducted with 32 viewers of various ages, genders, and nationalities (Japan, United States, Brazil, and France)
who consume Korean content through Netflix. The findings suggest that Korean content is expanding beyond
fandom culture and into global media culture. This is due to the technological affordances that increase the
possibility of Korean content being more universally received by the global audience, as well as Korean Netflix
Originals creating new values such as diversity and sincerity that cater to the new generation. Furthermore, this
study provides a comparison between the audience who first encountered Korean content through Netflix and
6892 Dal Yong Jin et al. International Journal of Communication 17(2023)

the established Korean content consumers. By recontextualizing the findings within the changing discourses on
the interplay between Hallyu and Netflix, this study provides a new perspective on the notion of Hallyu.

Hye Seung Chung seeks to provide an alternative interpretation of Squid Game (Hwang, 2021) as
a Levinasian text about ethical choices made by the protagonist and his relationships with two other finalists,
including a North Korean defector. Challenging both popular and critical readings of Squid Game as a morally
ambiguous or even harmful text that might have detrimental effects on impressionable young viewers, the
author contends that Squid Game is covertly an ethical text that espouses Emmanuel Levinas’s theory of
“for-the-other” subjectivity and “infinite responsibility” for the other under the guise of an exploitative and
misanthropic “death game” narrative.

Yin Yuan examines K-drama’s potential as a postcolonial Third Space. She considers the impact of
Netflix’s profit-driven transculturalism on Hallyu by contrasting Netflix Korean Originals, particularly Squid
Game (Hwang, 2021), with K-dramas such as Liar Game (Kim, 2014). Contextualizing Liar Game within an
emergent K-drama mode that she calls the “melodramatic mundane,” she examines alternative structures
of feeling embedded in popular contemporary K-dramas and explores their potential as a postcolonial “Third
Space.” Analyzing K-dramas’ Western reception alongside a comparative close reading of American,
Japanese, and Korean TV shows, she examines alternative structures of feeling in K-dramas that challenge
American narrative ideologies. She integrates reception patterns with a comparative cross-cultural analysis
of different shows to examine K-drama’s transcultural potential in the global arena.

Kristin April Kim, Ji Hoon Park, Sola Yoon, Yue Wang, Hayoung Bae, and Kieu Trang Luc examine
whether Korean content carries distinct characteristics compared to those of other countries through a
comprehensive quantitative analysis of all non-U.S. Netflix Originals from 2015 to 2021. The findings reveal
a predominance of dark K-dramas and a duality to Korean Netflix Original programming, characterized by
high viewership and a lack of genre diversity. Netflix’s persistent focus on a limited set of genres can be
both advantageous and restrictive, potentially fostering a unique K-drama brand or hindering the exploration
of diverse genres. Therefore, this study recommends emphasizing platform studies and a political-economic
framework in future research on the Korean Wave to better understand the evolving K-drama landscape,
ensure continued growth and diversity of Korean content, and address challenges and opportunities posed
by dominant platforms like Netflix.

Tae-Jin Yoon and Yaewon Jin examine the potential collaboration between Netflix and the Korean
gaming industry and how it could impact the Korean Wave. Using the concept of transversality, it explores
hypothetical directions of collaboration that could create a new facet of the Korean Wave called Transversal
Korean Waves. This collaboration could blur the boundaries between virtual and physical reality, integrate
content and form into a metaverse, and establish a new digital economy and ethics. This study also contends
that this new wave challenges the notion of cultural product ownership and encourages collaboration across
boundaries. The paper concludes that the transversal Korean Wave’s sociocultural implications lie in
rediscovering cultural marginalities that were left out in the fast adaptation to universality.

Joseph Jonghyun Jeon considers the position of Netflix Korea within Netflix’s global business and
South Korea’s place within a transitioning world system in the early 21st century. The article will first discuss
International Journal of Communication 17(2023) Transnational Perspectives 6893

prospects for growth at corporate and geopolitical levels with an emphasis on leadership principles. Netflix
culture implies a useful strategy for stamping out weaker competition amid crisis conditions, but one that
does not solve the crisis itself, a fact that becomes apparent when Netflix assumes its position as an industry
leader rather than a scrappy upstart. Second, this article will track how Kingdom (Kim, 2019), Netflix Korea’s
first original scripted show, encompasses the contradictions of imperialist logics that ramp up precisely as
the foundation for that power erodes. Kingdom, and Netflix more broadly, imagine a world that bypasses
this fundamental requirement, and in so doing, they risk building castles in the sand susceptible to shifting
tides as hallyu waves begin to recede.

References

Ahn, G. H. (Director). (2022). The glory [Television series]. Seoul, South Korea: Netflix Korea.

Allison, A. (2003). Portable monsters and commodity cuteness: Pokémon as Japan’s new global power.
Postcolonial Studies, 6(3), 381–395.

Appadurai, A. (1990). Disjuncture and difference in the global cultural economy. Theory Culture & Society,
7(2/3), 295–310.

Bae, G., & Toh, M. (2023, April 24). Netflix to invest $2.5 billion in South Korea as K-content continues to
dominate. CNN. Retrieved from https://edition.cnn.com/2023/04/24/media/netflix-south-korea-
investment-intl-hnk/index.html

Cho, S. H., Kim, D. K., & Han, J. K. (Directors). (2023). King the land [Television series]. Seoul, South
Korea: JTBC.

Cho, Y. J. (2023, March 14). The Glory becomes most popular show on Netflix globally. Retrieved from
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2023/03/14/entertainment/television/Korea-The-Glory-
Theglory/20230314171532795.html

Georgiou, M. (2006). Diaspora, identity and the media: Diasporic transnationalism and mediated
spatialities. New York, NY: Hampton.

Ginsburg, F., Abu-Lughod, L., & Larkin, B. (Eds.). (2003). Media worlds: Anthropology on new terrain.
Berkeley: University of California Press.

Greenfield, R. (2014, September 2). Future of film: Studios will have to take their cues from TV networks.
Retrieved from https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/future-film-studios-will-
have-728428/

Hwang, D. H. (Director). (2014). Miss Granny [Film]. Seoul, South Korea: CJ Entertainment.
6894 Dal Yong Jin et al. International Journal of Communication 17(2023)

Hwang, D. H. (Director). (2021). Squid game [Television series]. Seoul, South Korea: Netflix Korea.

Iwabuchi, K. (2002). Recentering globalization: Popular culture and Japanese transnationalism. Durham, NC:
Duke University Press.

Jin, D. Y., Yoon, K., & Min, W. J. (2021). Transnational hallyu: The globalization of Korean digital and
popular culture. London, UK: Rowman & Littlefield.

Kim, H. S. (Director). (2014). Liar game [Television series]. Seoul, South Korea: tvN.

Kim, S. H. (Director). (2019). Kingdom [Television series]. Seoul, South Korea: Netflix Korea.

Kraidy, M. (2005). Hybridity or the cultural logic of globalization. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.

Larkin, B. (2008). Signal and noise: Media infrastructure and urban culture in Nigeria. Durham, NC: Duke
University Press.

Lee, J. K., & Kim, N. S. (Directors). (2022). All of us are dead [Television series]. Seoul, South Korea:
Netflix Korea.

Lotz, A. (2020). In between the global and local: Mapping the geographies of Netflix as a multinational
service. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 24(2), 195–215.

Lukács, G. (2010). Iron Chef around the world: Japanese food television, soft power, and cultural
globalization. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 13(4), 409–426.

Nahon, K., & Hemsley, J. (2013). Going viral. Oxford, UK: Polity.

Schiller, H. (1976). Communication and cultural dominance. New York, NY: International Arts and
Sciences Press.

Thussu, D. (2006). Mapping global media flow and contra-flow. In D. Thussu (Ed.), Media on the move:
Global flow and contra-flow (pp. 10–29). London, UK: Routledge.

Weiss, J. (2022, January 21). Netflix exec alludes to entire Squid Game universe while confirming season
2 green-light. Retrieved from https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/netflixs-ceo-hints-at-squid-game-
universe

Yano, C. (2013). Pink globalization: Hello Kitty’s trek across the Pacific. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

Yeon, S. H. (Director). (2016). Train to Busan [Film]. Seoul, South Korea: Nest Entertainment World.

Yeon, S. H. (Director). (2021). Hellbound [Television series]. Seoul, South Korea: Netflix Korea.
International Journal of Communication 17(2023) Transnational Perspectives 6895

Yoo, I. S. (2022). Extraordinary Attorney Woo [Television series]. Seoul, South Korea: AStory.