These days, Koreans overseas take pride in their home country, as Korea is “glittering” in the international spotlight. In America, for example, many Korean Americans are proud of the country of their heritage thanks to the huge success of “KPop Demon Hunters.” People in Korea, too, are pleased with their country, as K-pop, Korean film and K-drama enjoy immense popularity in the global village.
The recent worldwide applause for “KPop Demon Hunters” has greatly elated people of Korean origin. In March, "KPop Demon Hunters" won the Academy Awards for best animated feature and best original song. It has also been a mainstay on Netflix's top 10 movies chart.
McDonald’s has also celebrated "KPop Demon Hunters" with its Huntrix Meal and Saja Boys Breakfast Meal. Children -- and some adults -- eagerly collect picture cards of Rumi, Mira and Zoey that come with the Huntrix Meal, as well as Jinu, Mystery, Abby, Baby and Romance in the Saja Boys Meal. McDonald’s launched the two special meals on March 31, and within a few weeks they were already out of stock.
Recently, at the graduation ceremony of Northern Stage Children’s Camp in Vermont, American children wearing Huntrix and Saja Boys costumes sang the Academy Award-winning song “Golden.” If Koreans had been there, they would have been proud of their country, empathizing with the lyric, “I’m done hiding. Now I am shining like I’m born to be.”
Koreans were also greatly excited before when Bong Joon-ho’s “Parasite” won four Academy Awards in 2019: best picture, best director, best original screenplay and best international feature film. In 2025, the Korean people’s long-cherished dream came true at last, when Han Kang won the Nobel Prize in literature. That Korea now has a Nobel laureate means that not only Korean pop culture, but also Korean literature is basking in global recognition.
As a result, Korea is now “enjoying its place in the sun,” as The Times Literary Supplement aptly put it some time ago. Korea has come a long way from a relatively unknown, “hidden” country to a “shining” nation of economic prosperity and worldwide cultural influence, admired by other countries.
Korea’s spectacular accomplishments have been made possible by mingling its culture with foreign cultures. Of course, maintaining unique and distinctive “Koreanness” is important. At the same time, however, hybrid culture is equally important because the infusion of different cultures leads to better international reception and universal appeal. Indeed, we should cross boundaries and venture into cultural fusion to appeal to the global community.
In her interview with The Korea Herald, Maggie Kang, who co-wrote and directed “KPop Demon Hunters” with Chris Appelhans, said, “If we are serious about Korean culture going global, we need creators who know Korean culture intimately but also understand other cultures.” She was right: “KPop Demon Hunters” is a supreme example in which we can find harmony and balance between Korean and Western culture.
Indeed, if “KPop Demon Hunters” had been made solely inside Korea with an exclusive emphasis on “Koreanness,” it might not have appealed to international viewers. The reason is obvious: It would seriously lack a dual perspective, boundary-crossing vision, and crossover spirit. Moreover, it might not have been able to collaborate with Sony Pictures, Netflix, or talented people of Korean origin who have strong nostalgia for Korean culture and who understand global trends and concerns.
The same principle applies to academia.
The late Lee O-young was a legendary literary and cultural critic who introduced Western literature and culture to Korea and compared the two to perceive Korea from a global perspective. Lee was a famed professor of Korean literature, but he was also a prominent scholar of English, French, Japanese and Russian literature. He boldly crossed boundaries and embraced cultural hybridity to provide his readers with broader perspectives on human life and thought.
Professor Kim U-chang is also a great scholar and critic who has crossed boundaries and provided us with global perspectives. Although Kim is a distinguished professor of English literature, he is likewise an eminent critic of Korean literature. He has crossed boundaries not only between Korean literature and world literature, but also between literature and philosophy, literature and politics, and literature and the social sciences. Kim’s profound insight into and powerful criticism of the contemporary world are quintessential for those of us who ponder the question, “How should we live in this rapidly globalizing world?”
In his monumental "Culture and Imperialism," Edward W. Said wrote, “All cultures are involved in one another; none is single and pure; all are hybrid, heterogeneous, extraordinarily differentiated, and un-monolithic.” Even in Korean culture, we can find cultural vestiges of neighboring countries such as China, Japan and the United States.
Living across boundaries, embracing other cultures and acknowledging the merits of hybrid culture are imperative for Korean culture to continue flourishing and prospering in the world.
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Kim Seong-kon
Kim Seong-kon is a professor emeritus of English at Seoul National University and a visiting scholar at Dartmouth College. The views expressed here are the writer's own. -- Ed
khnews@heraldcorp.com
