The Influence of Korean Pop Music on Vietnamese Culture

The research aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the Korean pop music's influence on Vietnamese culture, particularly among young adults. The study reveals that K-Pop has become a significant part of Vietnamese cultural life, with its impact extending beyond music to fashion, food, and entertainment. The findings suggest that the governments should strengthen cooperation with Korea to benefit from different fields, while young people in Vietnam should be aware of international integration without losing traditional values.

A Study on The Preference of Korean Pop Music Among Vietnamese Teenagers
by
Truong Yen Phi _ F11-100
Subject: Project (Term II)
Lecturer: Ms. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Bich
Class: F11D
Mark:

ABSTRACT
Korea has become trendy due to its variety of contents in entertainment (music, reality TV
shows, dramas,...) that the youth wanted throughout the region. The phenomenon can be
partially explained by discovering how Korean pop music manage to effectively swept across
the globe. As the title suggests, the goals of this paper is to point out the reasons behind the
success of K-Pop and its effection on Vietnamese adolescents, and also the connection of the
two countries: Korea and Vietnam. Based on the data carried out within Banking Academy’s
ITP, Hanoi’s Walking Street and survey online, the project analyze the preference of K-Pop
among the youngsters of Vietnam. The highlight is the collected data is from three different
places, for that the results is more objective towards the topic of the research.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract................................................................................................................................. 1
List of figures........................................................................................................................ 2
I.Introduction......................................................................................................................... 3
II.Method............................................................................................................................... 4
III.Result................................................................................................................................ 5
IV.Discussion of finding....................................................................................................... 7
1. The factors......................................................................................................................... 7
2. The merchandises.............................................................................................................. 8
3. The two countries: Korea & Vietnam............................................................................... 8
V. Conclusion........................................................................................................................ 10
References............................................................................................................................. 11

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: The reasons Vietnamese teenagers listen to K-Pop........................................... 5
Figure 2: The goods related to idols that Vietnamese young people have purchased...... 6
Figure 3: Different aspects that K-Pop have affect Vietnam............................................ 6

I. Introduction
In recent years, the entertainment industry in East and Southeast Asia has taken the world
media and global markets by storm as the development of Korean popular cultural content
such as pop songs, television dramas, movies and reality shows... continue to grow
significantly. According to SAGE Journals, “the phrase “Korean wave” or “Korean fever”
(Hallyu or Hanryu in Korean) which refers to the popularity of Korean media culture across
East and Southeast Asia, is a metaphor for thinking about this recent regional media
development.” (Shim, 2006).
By far, the most spectacular aspect of this phenomenon that got the world’s attention is
music. Teenagers are farmiliar with Western pop music since the American industry is
certainly a powerful global force and English is the international language, however, Korean
pop music is more unique apart from any other genres. Due to globalization and integration,
young people (apart from Korean) tend to be more open-minded to learn about this new
culture through Internet and other social network sites.
Leung (2012) concluded that in early 1997, Korea was the thirteenth largest market for
recorded music in the world, and by 2002, it was the second-largest music market in Asia as
the Hallyu phenomenon, or the “Korean Wave,” has already effectively swept across the rest
of Asia, bringing South Korean music, television, and films to China, Taiwan, Japan,
Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, the Philippines, and others. However, Leung’s research has
provided little information on what is behind the success of this phenomenon, more
specifically the Korean music industry. These studies have emphasized the massive influence
of Korean pop music, as opposed to the hardship that Korean entertainers in big idol groups
must traded in order to earn reputation and global recognition. Apart from the details on how
Korean culture serve an amazing impact on the world’s market and economy, I would also
want to know how Hallyu wave affects Vietnamese young generation nowadays and the
relationship between two countries: Korea and Vietnam.
As a result, the aim of this research is to investigate and answer following three questions:
What are the factors contributing the distribution and recognition globally of K-pop?; What
are the reasons for the big impact of its on the Vietnamese young population?, and What does
the success of Korean pop music imply in terms of the relationships that have existed among
the countries (more specifically Korea and Vietnam)?

II. Method
The data used in this report is acquired from questionnaire carried out within Banking
Academy’s ITP and the Walking Street in Hanoi, the survey was also spreaded out online
through Facebook. Begin with the first step, 16 multiple-choice questions including 1 open-
ended question and 15 closed questions are consisted in a questionnaire, which was designed
based on my three research questions. In the following step, 155 people (mostly females) in
the age group 18-25 were randomly selected, and each of them would give their answers to
the questionnaire. The purpose of chosing this method would help interviewees to quickly
give their correct responses to the suject of the research. For that, this method will
successfully produce the result to my research.
III. Results
The answers given to the questionnaire shows that there are certain factors contributed to the
massive impact of Korean pop music in the recent years.
Figure 1: The reasons Vietnamese teenagers listen to K-Pop
Quality of music
Visual
Fashion
Others
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140

It can be seen from Figure 1, the Quality of music was the main factor that most Vietnamese
adolescents chose when it comes to Korean pop music with 125 votes (80,1%), followed by
the Visual, it was supported by 104 votes (66,7%) and Choreography with 96 votes (61,5%).
Figure 2: The goods related to idols that Vietnamese young people have purchased
Album
Photo cards
Hand fan
Fan Lightstick
Clothing
Notebooks
Standee
Cosmetics
Plush
Others
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
In Figure 2, it is clear that the proportion of the merchandises related to idols that Vietnamese
young adults spent money on the most is Photo cards and Album with 98 (64,1%) and 86
(56,2%) votes, respectively.
Figure 3: Different aspects that K-Pop have affect Vietnam

Culture Entertainment Economic Education
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
According Figure 3, juveniles thought the aspects which the success of K-Pop mostly
influnced on is the Entertainment of Vietnam with 140 votes (89,7%), and Culture at 108
votes (69,2%). The least contributed factor with 34 votes (26,3%) is Economic.
IV. Discussion of findings
The results give reasons on why lots of young people in Vietnam enjoy listening to K-Pop as
this kind of music genre does have its own particularities in both content and style. Due to the
fact that the questionnaire was conducted in a large scale – survey online, printed survey
carried out in a university and in a public place, for that, the results may outlook all the
teenagers’ point of view to K-Pop.
1. The factors
From the results was shown in Figure 1, the majority of people chose the quality of music as
the main reason why they are into K-Pop, which accounted at 80,1%. This result is quite
predictable since “K-Pop is a musical genre that incorporates a variety of styles, including
pop, hip-hop, rap, rock, R&B, and electronic music. But ultimately, it is a genre whose most
identifiable attribute is its origin of South Korea” Leung (2012). With this wide range
combination of styles in one musical genre, it is understandable to see teenagers showing
their preoccupation for K-Pop. The answer to why these people listen to this type of music
simply because many K-Pop songs are catchy and such earworms, plus it has singable
melodies. Furthermore, the choruses in most K-pop songs are more likely to be very simple

to sing along to. This unintentionally helps people to memorize the lyrics even if they don’t
know anything about the Korean language.
The second largest percentage of why young people love K-Pop is visual, amounting to
66,7%. Different from other musical culture such as the Western musical culture, the Estern
musical culture – K-pop individually, has taken the use of effects, make up, outfits, and
everything else to a next level, which are always in service to a greater theme and vision. In
the K-Pop industry, music is not just about sound, but also about image – the arbitration of
the singer’s movement in performances, personality, as well as the visual stories that could be
told through lyrics and music videos. Leung (2012) stated that “This is demonstrated clearly
and quite extremely in the Korean industry, partly due to the fact that although Korea’s music
industry was moving away from network control, it was still developing alongside a newly
liberated television industry”.
Another factor makes young adults addicted to K-Pop is the choreography. Idol groups are
not only sing and rap, their performance also includes choreography, which is another area
where K pop artists completely dominate. Not only does this take an insane amount of effort
and skills to practice, but K pop artists are also well-known for performing these routines live
– proving they truly work hard to perform and to earn recognition.
The three elements define K-Pop: Quality of music, Visual and Choreography. These are the
main factors contributing the distribution and recognition globally of K-pop.
2. The merchandises
It is clearly seen from Figure 2 that photo cards was the most popular goods to Vietnamese
K-Pop lovers, which accounted for 64,1%. According to Shim (2006) “Korean stars have had
a big impact on the consumer culture, including food, fashion, make-up trends, and even
plastic surgery. It is not uncommon to find Asian youth decorating their backpacks,
notebooks, and rooms with photographs of Korean stars. In the streets of Hanoi and Beijing,
it is common to find young members of the ‘Korea Tribe’, or Koreanophiles, sporting
multiple earrings, baggy hip hop pants, and the squaretoed shoes of Seoul fashion”. For that
the consumption of goods related to K-Pop artists is also a way to discover the trending of K-
Pop nowadays. Out of many other K-Pop products, photo cards are the easiest to purchase in
stores, showrooms or shops from all over the world. There are two kinds of photo cards:
Official cards and Fanmade cards. Official cards are the productions of the idols’ companies,
while Fanmade cards are just regular cards printed by fans. Following photo cards, the

percentage of K-Pop album consumption compriced of a good proportion of 56,2%. Album
sales reflect the popularity of a K-Pop group, it’s also an official product that many K-Pop
lovers (not just Vietnamese youth) want to purchase when it comes to their favorite group.
Korean big companies is investing money and making efforts in order to transform Hallyu
wave fans into consumers of Korean products and services. With the popularity and influence
of K-Pop continue to grows across Asia and worldwide, young people eagerly want to obtain
the K-Pop related products. For that Vietnamese youth is definitely affected, due to
globalization and migration.
3. The relationship of two countries: Korea & Vietnam
The percentage of young adults chose entertainment more than other aspects in survey, with
the figure accounting for 89,7%. Shim (2006) stated that “The growing popularity of Korean
pop culture has more implications than simply earning foreign currency, especially
considering that the country has had some diplomatic friction with its neighbours in the past
decades”. The Korean music industry has spread throughout Asia and Vietnam is receiving
the wave of this culture. Korean idols performing in Vietnam are within the framework of
large-scale concert programs for diplomatic purposes. Actually, instead of "encroaching", K-
Pop may simply want to make a profit from Vietnam like in Thailand, Singapore, Europe or
Latin America. Vietnam musical industry also benefits from the success of K-Pop. If K-Pop
“landed” in Vietnam to make a profit, then the entertainment industry has long tendency to
look at K-Pop as a learning model. Not only did Vietnmese singers learn the style of
performance, but they also learn the activities of Korean music industry. In addition, the way
of training performers of Vietnamese companies is also targeting the same process as Korea.
The output of this process are the groups, the singers, who carrying the Korean style such as
Monstar, Uni5, Suni Ha Linh, Cara... Vietnamese music is in the transition to catch up with
other entertainment industry in the world, especially the industry which has many similarities
such as Korea.
In summary, based on the results, it can not be denied that Korea has maintained a wide and
deep influence in Vietnamese cultural life. Although Korea was first known in Vietnam
through film and television, the scope of that wave is now spreading to other areas such as
music, fashion, and food, game,...

V. Recommendations
The following suggestions are made, which based on the above discussion of the findings.
First, the governments should strengthen the friendship and cooperation with Korea to see the
cohesion between the two countries: Vietnam and Korea, that way both sides can be benefit
from different fields. On the Vietnamese teenagers’s part, it is important to understand the
international integration, however, young people of Vietnam should not too infatuated in
pursuing another culture. They should be well acknowledge of this so that life is always
civilized without losing the tradition values.
VI. Conclusion
In conclusion, this research is made to give the readers a broad look at the great influence of
Korean pop music and how it affects not just Vietnamese young adults but also in the world
nowadays. Through the research, some limitations have been found, which should be taken in
great consideration and preparation from the beginning of the work. While doing the
research, there are some difficulties in designing the questionnaire that the survey online and
the printed survey does not match. For that, the results of this research does not come out as
expected. It is our hope that in the future, we could examine the issue extensively in order to
bring out the best results.

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