The Rising Popularity and Impact of Korean Drama

in the Philippines and South Korea

Marion Louise S. Calasanz

MMA-201
The Contemporary World (TCWN01G)
Mr. Jumel Estañero
 I. INTRODUCTION

Popular media in the Philippines is very

diverse, ranging the scope from shows produce by
foreign and local up to upscale to independent
production house. The popular medias
popularity will always start from television. It’s no
secret that Filipinos love a good old-fashioned
drama. It is quite common for a Filipino
household to at least know one quoted line
from a series or become a fan of one of the
starring cast. The Filipino drama, or as we
called it locally, Soap Opera, got its start in 1949 as a radio segment known as Gulong ng
Palad (Wheel of Fortune). From there, it got expanded to the television medium by the early
’60s with the creation of the very first Philippine TV soap opera, Hiwaga sa Bahay na
Bato (Mystery at the Stone House) (Santos, 2009). From the humble beginning as a radio
segment, Filipino creativity flourished in the realm of creating this kind of genre for the next
decade. By the year 2000, Filipino drama is now known as teleserye, is now getting international
recognition. The most known successful drama that got recognition from the other countries
is Pangako Sa’yo (Promise to You), it spawned numerous dubs and a Cambodian adaptation
(ABS-CBN primetime series, 2012). Despite the growing presence of online content, the
traditional route of television will not die easily, with the rapid increase of consumers, year by
year.
Although local series still has a strong footing
to the Filipino audience, foreign series also
catch the hearts of modern and old audiences in
the country. It started with the dramas that
came from Mexico, but in today’s landscape,
the talk of the town, or rather, social media is
the beloved Hallyu (Korean Drama) which was
started in 2003 by the Bright Girl. It gave the
titles such as Stairway to Heaven and Coffee
Prince that are still beloved up to this day
(Kwon, 2006).

Most searched Korean Drama in the

Philippines (2013-2017)
 The popularity of Korean Drama is still evident up to this day with being a trending topic
and number one pick on any streaming platform. This phenomenon caused an increased interest
of Filipinos in Korean Culture. Korean drama became the window for an ordinary Filipino to
experience South Korean without leaving the comforts of home. The promotion of Korean drama
have only increased due to the advent of internet and adaption of local TV station. With this
paper, it will examine the origin, why is it so beloved and similarities of it to the Filipino drama.

II. BODY
The Philippines has a rich history of telling a story. A typical genre that the people have
come to love and appreciate throughout the years are Action, Romance, and anything family-
friendly, but the most dominated is the Drama sector, with 55.1% that continues to dominate the
local entertainment industry, specifically in the digital media (Parrot Analytics, 2020). Even with
the advent of online streaming services with 43% of Filipinos preferred in this way, according to
one of the surveys conducted by Kantar Media, a media intelligence firm, back in 2016, 96.6%
watch television daily (Arcangel, 2017). The television became important, not only for Filipino
family but also to any nationality. Television is a tool for an active socializing agent and the key
to the prevailing cultural aspect of the society, think of it as the reminder of social issues in the
modern era. (e.g. Murray, Rubinstein, & Comstock, 1972). Although local shows are promoted
heavily in the country, like many developing countries, the Philippines is still dependent on
foreign shows. It all started with an American television show during the early ’70s. The local
broadcasting networks are forced to import foreign shows due to limited budgets (Mercado &
Buck, 1981). So foreign shows are easier to import rather than to make local shows back in the
day. Even though more local shows are created each year, the practice is not abandoned, rather it
was still practiced and consumed by a local. One export that created a national impact is the
Hallyu or affectionately called Koreanovela. Korean Drama became a trend during the late
1990s in the neighboring Asian countries but reached the Philippines during 2003 (Kwon, 2006).
Before the era when Koreanovela became a cultural phenomenon in the Philippines, the aspect
of drama is more focused more on the everyday life of a common Filipino, which it got from the
influence of Latin American and Spanish soap operas. The Philippine entertainment industry,
especially in the film industry, used to have
the “Golden Age” during the ’60s yet was
forced to compromise its quality during the
’80s.
After the EDSA revolution which returned
the television broadcast, the promotions
of nationalistic instilled by the said
historical event, sensationalized everyday
life, and unadulterated became the key
points for a typical Filipino drama that is
televised (Markowitz, 1988). The Filipinos

EDSA Revolution became the key point for the local

drama storytelling
show the typical hardships that a common person faced while having the aliw factor, one such
trope is the vengeance and grief the character must face, which also rose to Filipino drama
hybrids, drama anthologies which features upcoming and veteran stars, a show that could be seen
in cinemas and the infamous Filipino love team and romance-focus shows, and if a show is
successful enough to be the talk of the town, the show could last up to many episodes, which can
result to many subplots. (Reyes, 2000). This also paved the way for many opportunities, most
known as the effect of idol culture in the Philippines, which caused many big breakouts in the
industry, for which they are known for their roles, such as Judy Ann Santos and Gladys Reyes to
their long-running drama, Mara Clara. Yet, people taste in drama are starting to change, thus the
importation and showing of Korean drama in the local television through tagalized or Tagalog
dubs of shows, which were changed that will fit the local taste, such examples are changing
names that are easily pronounced by the locals (Allen, 1985). The main point why Korean drama
is popular in the Philippines is that it reflects the old format that the local producers used. The
aspect of grief, the heavy implications of romance, and the importance of family values that were
also stemmed from South Korea’s struggle for democracy during the late ’80s resonates with
many Filipino who loves to sympathize with the protagonist’s resolve for a better life (Sanchez,
2014).
In the modern era, Korean drama is the most talked about topic by millennials. The
success of Korean drama is the result of aggressive promotion from both entertainment agencies
and fans (Capistrano, 2020). The popularity of this drama stemmed from the changing taste
demographic. To an account of many millennial fans, which are mostly females, the reasons why
they love to watch this kind of shows, it’s because the stories have a complex yet refreshing plot
that is not afraid to tackle heavy subjects such as racism and mental health, attractive stars that
are easily recognizable at the same time a unique charisma that can be paired to one another (the
kilig factor), the stylistic choice for cinematography, and it has a definite ending, ranging the
episode 16 to 20 episodes that premieres once a week. (Gandia, 2017). 
The effects if Korean drama transcends into real life situations. The Philippines had
already a strong bilateral ties with South Korean that could be traced back during the Korean
War in the 50’s (Bilateral relations, 2007). Yet, the popularity of Korean drama exposed the
South Korean culture and history to a common Filipino, which helped to further improved the
Philippine-South Korea relation. The popularity of it rises the exposure for the Korean Culture
overall. The phenomena are called the Hallyu Wave or Korean Wave, which not only affected
the Philippines but also other Asian countries (Eugenio, 2020). The demand for Korean exports
such as music (Kpop), food, and other products have skyrocketed for the past year (Yap, 2011).
According to the survey of Workalife with 273 participants, it is one of the top destination of
every millennial Filipino have listed is the South Korea, due to the Hallyu wave, the locals want
to experience what it’s like to be their favorite Korean stars, which also prompted the South
Korean tourism agency to promote the medical tourism (Abellanosa, 2016).
 Economically speaking, both countries benefit from one
another. While the tourism of South Korean boomed
since the rise of the Hallyu wave all over the world by
the late 1990’s , with over 15 million international
travelers, including Filipinos, coming the country, as of
2018 (Visitor Arrivals, 2020). The most popular
destination are Seoul, Busan, the Seorak-san national
park, Gyeongju and the Jeju Island (Hohnholz, 2016).
Over the years, the medical tourism also saw the spiked
of numbers among foreign clients. With the advance
technology and advent of the Korean popular media
content, it had attracted for more over 380 thousand
patients from over 190 countries, as of 2018. The most
visited department overall is the sector is the internal
medicine followed by plastic surgery and dermatology
(So, 2020).

Visitor Arrivals in the South Korea per

Residence (2019)
Source: http://kto.visitkorea.or.kr/

Visitor Arrivals in the Philippines per Residence (January-December 2019)

Source: http://www.tourism.gov.ph/
As for the Philippines, the tourism in the country boomed due to influx of Koreans
visiting, followed by Japanese and Americans in the count (Department of Tourism-Philippines,
2020). Though the Koreans reason for moving in and visiting the country can be related to the
warm reception to popular Korean media, especially dramas, but most of the answers are relating
to that the Philippines has a cheap way of living, financially speaking. As of 2019, according to
Noe Albano Wong, the Philippine Ambassador to South Korea, there are estimated of 93,000
South Korean who are currently living in the Philippines, which are mostly here for work-related
and students who are studying English (Cayon, 2019). Overall, both countries have great
international relationship, helping each other in terms for economic and military purposes. The
most important thing is that Filipinos and Koreans are able to understand each other by the
power of modern popular media.

Though Philippine-South Korean relation is positive throughout the years, it is still

shaken with controversies. A former ambassador of the Philippines to South Korea have been
found guilty of sexual harassment of South Korea woman, which prompted to submit resignation
in March 16, 2020 (Philippines' ambassador, 2020). The Korean and Filipino netizen had a
racial tension between each other that was sparked when a Filipino-American vlogger named
Bella Poarch, had a tattoo that resembles the Imperial Japan’s rising sun, which interpreted by
the Korean as bad taste and insensitive, thus sparked an anti-Filipino and Korean sentiment, this
hate was further spread by social media, especially in Twitter with the hashtag #CancelKorea
(ABS-CBN News, 2020). Though it was eventually settled their differences.

III. ANALYSIS

From the perspective of an ordinary person, Korean drama is just another show that can
be watch and enjoy. The Korean drama is not just a mere popular media, alongside with Korean
music (K-Pop) that began to be introduced to the world by the late 1990s, it made the Korean
culture popular that can be felt until today. The impact of this is felt all over the world, especially
to the Filipinos. The effect of this is similar to the past when the Filipino television broadcasters
are practicing showing imported dramas for financial purposes, which helped the staged to
popularized foreign drama. Despite this is practiced, local shows especially for the next decades
still have a strong footing the same as their foreign counterparts. There is no day that Korean
drama will not be included on a set of trending on Twitter. In the shortest answer on why this is
happening: Filipinos love Korean Drama. The reason why Filipinos preference for Korean drama
has its similarities to the local way of storytelling of the past while having the change of taste and
wanting for more daring of the present times. Korean drama had mastered the element of grief
which pulls the heartstring to any Filipino audience watching while creating an entertaining plot
(aliw factor) that will make anyone hook until the very end of the drama. This kind of element
can also be found in the local dramas, this kind of story has its historical background of the
struggle for democracy. While the drama genre still popular up to this day, modern Filipinos still
want variety to the shows they watch. This is why Korean drama is so much popular for the
Filipino millennials. The adventurous yet confrontational plot, attractive stars that are the key
point for the “kilig factor”, a more advanced technique when it comes to technical aspects such
as cinematography and the once-a-week premiere of episodes that don’t extend the story for
more subplots.
 The Korean dramas helped the rise of the Hallyu Wave which will be the primary reason
why Korean culture, especially the popular media, became popular around the world. The South
Korean government have realized the popularity of Korean popular media around the world,
including the Philippines, they have materialized this to their advantage. Through the Korean
popular media have been produced, it was used to promote Korean culture and customs that
boosted the South Korean economics, specifically in the tourism scene, and helped the
governments’ diplomatic relation with international countries, especially in the Philippines. The
Philippine government has also become aware of the Hallyu Wave's success in the country,
that’s why the country has made efforts to appeal to the local scene to Korean investors and
tourism utilizing teaching English. The success of Korean drama and the rise of the Hallyu wave
helped to improve the South Korean-Philippine relation which by now, became each other's ally. 

IV. RECOMMENDATION

The success of Korean drama had a huge

impact on South Korean today. The early
success of Korean drama can be traced back to
when the local television broadcasters have to
import dramas and localized the context of it to
marketable to the local scene. As for the
modern times, Filipinos have been subscribed
to online platforms and preferred the subtitles
over the Tagalog dubs. It is now easier to be
updated in the online world via social media
posts and in-built alarms within the streaming
application rather than to wait for the television
debut of any Korean drama. Though, normally
in the television version of any Korean drama, one episode of it which usually have a watch time
of 40 minutes up to an hour will last one-week episodes in the local television to be set to be
shown alongside the local shows. The reason why Filipino millennials and older generations love
to watch Korean dramas it has the entertaining quality while maintaining a complex and
interesting plot. Unlike local television drama, Korean drama has a variety of genres and topics
that are integrated within the story plot, it doesn’t have unnecessary subplots to keep the pace
longer and making a once-a-week premiere of the episode.

As Filipinos’ taste for variety change for the past years, it is now the time to change
the ways on how the local industry approaches Filipino dramas. The industry must explore more
daring topics besides relationships that will always lean on the romantic genre. As for the story,
the Philippines currently adapts the one-week episodes, because of this, creators of local drama
have to pump up more and more stories to keep the plot more interesting. This caused to make
the pacing of the story to rushed and unprepared, plaguing the drama with more cliché and
unnecessary subplots to keep the show running. In promoting Filipino drama to foreign audience,
television broadcaster must have a less strict copyright and to create agreements that allows for
the adaptation.
 V. CONCLUSION

Popular media is a very powerful tool especially in the modern era, with a mere television
show, could show the culture and custom of a foreign country with just a dramatized
reenactment of everyday life. Korean drama, along with other popular media such as music,
had triggered the Hallyu wave that helped South Korea to be known as a cultural hotspot and
as a tourist destination today. The South Korean government took notice of this success and
eventually promoted Korean production houses to produce more, in exchange for exposure
for the international audience.

In the local context, the Philippines has a long history of loving foreign shows. The
people talk about it even before the times were trending pages even existed in cyberspace. It
is evident that when the wave of Korean drama has swept the local television household way
back in the early 2000s. With the help of promotion coming from the local broadcasting
houses and localizing context of Korean drama, it was the major factor that will lead to
Filipinos appreciation for Korean drama, eventually to the Korean culture altogether.
Filipinos love for Korean drama has to lead many Koreans to feel welcome, thus an influx of
Korean tourists, students, and investors have coming to the Philippines for opportunities.
While South Korea became the Philippines’ ally in terms of cultural aspects and tourism.

VI. WAY AHEAD

Korean drama had shaped the way on how drama could be. It helped Filipinos to see
shows are more than just romance-centered topics such as adultery and young love. The
Filipino drama may have difficulty parting ways with typical cliché that can be shown in
every series, but the local digital media are slowly changing its way by means of adapting the
Korean way of storytelling and pre-production process. In this way, creators are more
independent and can handle their works instead of being pressured by time. For now, it is still
centered around romance, but it is daring enough to include taboo subjects that are
considered by many while maintaining the entertaining factor that Filipinos grew to loved, it
slowly but sure process of transitioning. As for the Filipino drama being export
internationally, although it is practiced by the local broadcasting network, it is still far from
being recognized by foreigners compare to its Korean counterpart. As a Filipino, we hoped to
see one day that Koreans and other nationalities will able to watch Filipino drama, in that
way we will able to showcase local talents and creativity on the international stage.

As for the Korean drama effects on the real world, the South Korea-Philippines
diplomatic relation have drastically improved, Filipinos and Koreans can understand one
another even with many barriers, but was able to understand one another through historical
similarities and enjoyment of popular media. Yet, it is not all positive media, there will be
instances of hate and extreme nationalism. Despite the continuous hate coming from narrow-
minded people, Filipinos and Korean will overcome this obstacle and set this as a lesson for
understanding one another.
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