□ An international conference commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Korean-American
Communication Association (President Ki Eyun-jung) was held on August 9 in Washington, D.C.,
with special sessions on the theme of “Korean Wave, Culture and Globalization. The event was
sponsored by the Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange (KOFICE; President Kim
Yongrak).

□ The conference proceeded in seven sessions in which more than 60 scholars and business experts
from around the world participated, presented 29 academic papers, and discussed various topics. The
conference was held simultaneously with the conference of the Association for Education in
Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), the largest-scale gathering in the field of
communication in America, amid expectations for greater ripple effects on both business and
academic circles.

□ The keynote speech was given by Kim Yong-jin, editor-in-chief of Korea Center for Investigative
Journalism (KCIJ) Newstapa. He introduced the origin, history, current status and operational model
of Newstapa, an independent, non-profit journalism platform, and talked about the new role of Korean
press and media. Kim’s speech was followed by seven sessions, and two of them dealt with Hallyu,
hearing six papers on the Korean Wave prepared by academics from the United States, Canada, the
United Arab Emirates, and Korea. The papers had been selected from a three-month public
competition and invited to the conference. They examine and analyze the Hallyu phenomenon from
the perspectives of cultural diversity and identity, industrial strategies, points of appeal, and fandom.

□ During Session 1, the cause of the ongoing wave of Hallyu spreading among the young women of
United Arab Emirates (UAE) was examined. The participants also discussed how the wave grew high
for economic and industrial purposes and adversely affected cultural democracy during the previous
administration in Korea. They also confirmed the positive influence of Hallyu on the basis of research
results that suggest the wave changed the attitudes of Koreans living abroad towards their motherland.

□ At Session 2, ways of achieving second take-off of Hallyu were sought by analyzing the K-pop
performance strategy as practiced during the Music Bank in Chile program produced by the Korea
Broadcasting System (KBS). The session heard about the current status of K-pop and its limits in
South America through in-depth interviews of Chilean Hallyu fans. Participants also discussed
conflicts being observed on social networking services between Korean fans and K-pop fans overseas.

□ KOFICE President Kim Yongrak said, “This conference will boost Hallyu as a subject of academic
research in the United States, where the Korean Wave is getting heated thanks to BTS. I hope
international conferences like this one will be held frequently to encourage research on Hallyu and
seek ways of constructive development of Hallyu.”