[2003] South Korea to lift ban on Japanese music

[kawai]

From Financial Times, London

http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentSe...=1059480203239

South Korea to lift ban on Japanese music
By Andrew Ward
Published: September 29 2003 20:23 | Last Updated: September 29 2003 20:23



Ayumi Hamasaki (pictured), a Japanese pop diva known for her bleached blonde hair, catchy tunes and trend-setting outfits, is one of Asia's most popular singers, with millions of fans across the region. However, in South Korea, just 200km west of Japan, the 24-year-old is almost completely unknown.

That could change in January, when a ban on Japanese pop music and other cultural products is lifted in South Korea, 58 years after Tokyo's brutal colonial rule of the Korean peninsula came to an end.

South Korea's ministry of culture announced this month that barriers to Japanese music and video games would be removed and restrictions on Japanese movies and television programmes eased.

Removal of barriers to Japanese culture would mark an important symbolic step towards healing the historical wounds that continue to scar relations between the neighbours, separated by a narrow strip of ocean.

The longstanding ban on many forms of Japanese culture in South Korea reflects lingering resentment about Tokyo's colonial aggression and a resulting fear of Japanese influence on the Korean peninsula. But cultural and economic exchanges between the two countries have increased in recent years, culminating in last year's joint hosting of the football World Cup finals.

Welcoming of Japanese music, films and games would also advance liberalisation of South Korea's media market, one of the most protected and regulated parts of its economy.

Seoul's decision reflects its confidence that South Korea's thriving media industry has become strong enough to survive increased competition and could even benefit from new ideas imported from Japan.

South Korean films, computer games and music - known as K-Pop - have been among the country's fastest-growing exports in recent years, winning fans throughout Asia, including Japan. This success has made it impossible for Seoul to continue arguing that Korean culture would be threatened by Japanese competition.

"K-Pop is competitive enough to survive the inflow of Japanese songs, and the market opening can facilitate Korean singers' advance into Japan," says Han Se-min, senior manager at SM Entertainment, one of South Korea's biggest music companies.

Japanese films have gained just 3 per cent of the South Korean market since restrictions were partially lifted in 1998, suggesting Japanese media companies could find it difficult to exploit the new opportunities in Asia's third-largest economy. When given a choice of Korean or Japanese products, Korean consumers still opt for the former - a fact illustrated by the failure of Japanese carmakers and consumer electronics manufacturers to compete with local brands.

South Korea started easing restrictions on Japanese culture in 1998 but the process stalled three years later, when Seoul and Tokyo became embroiled in a dispute about alleged distortion of history in Japanese text books. Visits by Junichiro Koizumi, Japan's prime minister, to a Tokyo war shrine that honours the country's war dead, including convicted war criminals, also caused anger in South Korea and slowed reconciliation.

However, Roh Moo-hyun, South Korea's recently elected president, has renewed Seoul's push for improved relations.

In an interview with the Financial Times last week, Mr Roh said the two Koreas, Japan and China should follow Europe's example by putting their history of conflict behind them and creating a political and economic community modelled on the European Union.