Hallyu and Its Transnationality in the Global Age

This chapter explores Hallyu as a dynamic transnational phenomenon shaped by the interplay between Korea’s cultural identity and global media structures. Rather than a unidirectional cultural export, Hallyu is conceptualized as a process of cultural reproduction mediated by digital platforms, participatory fandoms, and algorithmic circulation. Focusing on the roles of platforms such as Netflix and YouTube, the study examines how Korean content is both amplified and reconfigured to meet global market demands. Through case studies including Squid Game, Parasite, and BTS, the chapter highlights how local narratives are remediated to navigate the tensions between cultural authenticity and commercial viability. While Hallyu enhances Korea’s soft power, its global trajectory is deeply entangled with platform capitalism, identity politics, and cultural hybridity. This analysis contributes to ongoing debates on media globalization by offering a critical framework to assess how Hallyu operates as a site of affective engagement, geopolitical negotiation, and digital mediation. Ultimately, the chapter argues for a rethinking of Hallyu not simply as a Korean success story but as a complex global assemblage that reshapes the meaning of cultural flows in the twenty-first century.