The “triumph” of Psy and the smooth sailing of K-pop boy and girl bands in the international pop scene have heated the Korean cultural fever around the world more than ever.

A systematic and integrated approach is needed to retain the boom and develop it into other business opportunities now, said Yoo Jin-ryong, dean of Hallyu Graduate School at Catholic University. The school aims at cultivating businessmen with a sense of culture, based on their extensive studies into “hallyu,” or the Korean cultural wave. 

“Yes, there are people skeptic al about hallyu but if one just gets to experience the actual fever they would agree with me,” the former vice culture minister said in his interview with The Korea Herald last Thursday.

“The number of foreigners enrolled at Korean language institutes around the world has spiraled; more tourists are rushing to Korea and its enhanced national brand image all thanks to the recent mass cultural boom,” he added.

And the graduate school is aiming to make the most of it, he said, in order to stabilize and seek out the expansion of the cultural phenomenon. The school opened in October and holds classes on Fridays and Saturdays for a total of 20 students who are mostly working people.

Field experts such as entertainment firm executives are invited as guest lecturers to share their experiences. The curriculum follows that of regular master of business administration courses but with emphasis on creativity and integration courses.

Yoo said the school was not planning to nurture entertainment businessmen, as the title of the school suggests. He explained that hallyu is the starting point of their academic journey but the majority of the curriculum will weight more on creativity and a hybrid of different fields of studies.

“For quite a long time, Korean entertainers and their producers have done a fine job of creating good and attractive content. I don’t think students at classrooms will do better than them,” Yoo said.

Instead, the school will be a platform for businessmen to delve into the development of the distribution, copyright and further management as well as the use of contents. “I believe those things are equally as important as the creation itself. The tighter and wiser management of the contents could support the creators,” he said.

The school will also provide students opportunities to blend different ideas about hallyu and mix the cultural inspiration to their own business fields.

“The students were carefully selected from different career backgrounds. For example, one of them is from a construction firm and said he likes K-pop which led him to do hallyu studies. I don’t expect them all to jump into showbiz themselves ― that will be too boring,” he said. “What I want is for them to grab some ideas through talking with different people, mix them with their workplace environment and make some improvements at their own fields with a touch of trendy, contemporary cultural flavor,” he said.

“I believe that culture is the new keyword for every business field. Those who have thoroughly studied hallyu, the hottest keyword for Korean culture, will be able to come up with novel and appealing ideas. If they advance into the international business market and present their products or approach, that will be another form of Korean culture promotion, which will, in the end, will be the retention of hallyu,” he said.

By Bae Ji-sook (baejisook@heraldcorp.com)