MANILA, Philippines – K-Pop, K-Movies, and telenovelas are expected to stay in the country as the US and Europe absorbed some Korean culture. The foremost K-Pop star to rock the world was Psy, who sang “Gangnam Style,” and earned more than a billion hits on YouTube, the first- ever- in the history of the site.
Korean TV series are part of Filipino’s daily lives. There are several that were and are enjoyed by viewers, such as, “Coffee Prince,” “Lie to Me” “Dongyi,” “Queen Seon Deok,” “Jumong,” “Full House,” “Stairway to Heaven,” and “Jewel in the Palace,” to name some of them.
K-Pop groups have also performed in the country namely: U-Kiss, EXO, Girls Generation, and many more and teens went to watch, some of them with their parents. Some of the tickets costs P11, 000 for front seats but this does not stop fans from queuing for the shows.
Koreans are now enrolled in schools and universities, and many of them are entrepreneurs, going into the IT, food, and beauty and fashion businesses.
In Balibago, Angeles City, a Korea Town exists where you can find a community of Koreans with their own restaurants, stores and services for its residents. Many are enrolled in special English classes so they could catch up with the primary language of instruction in universities.
Even the Filipino language is now acquiring Korean language, such as, “Weh,” “Oppa,” “Umma,” “Conde,” and a lot more. Filipino fashion is also influenced by Korean fashion.
There were several remakes of Korean TV drama shows or Koreanovelas like “Coffee Prince,” “Stairway to Heaven,”and “Temptation of Wife.” Previously, Mexican telenovelas were in the picture but Koreanovelas now lord it over foreign shows.
K-Pop and Koreanovelas are still gaining a fast stronghold in the Philippine entertainment industry. TV viewers are expecting more Korean movies and K-Pop music to entertain them this 2013.
