수아 is promoting Indian culture and contributes to cultural diversity in Seoul.
Today, K-Pop has become a global phenomenon and is enjoyed and loved by people all around the world.
Clearly, the Korean government has a big role to play in the growth of the K-wave. The Korean government has invested in the K-pop industry the way other countries invest in the automobile, and industrial sectors.
As Joseph Nye, has very well mentioned that soft power is “a means to success in world politics” for those that know how to leverage it. The soft power of a country influences the preferences and behaviors of other nations and has a great impact on decision-makers.
As K-Pop has spread at the speed of fire, so does the Bollywood of India has a great impact worldwide. The globalization of Bollywood indeed has impacted the economy of the country in a positive way. Though Bollywood is enjoying immense popularity across the globe, it is not as popular in South Korea. Interestingly the two biggest hits in South Korean society were "3 Idiots" and "My name is Khan." However, still, the majority of the Korean population is unaware of Bollywood music.
Seoul is one of the metropolitan cities that has a larger population of foreigners and around 12,000 Indians are living in Korea with day by day increasing numbers due to the growing popularity of the K-wave in India. Seoul has embraced several international cultures and music, however, Indian music is not as popular as the other continent's music like Latin & English.
South Korea has kept its diplomacy focused predominantly on major powers like China, Japan, and the United States for most of its history. However, due to the rising friction in its relation with China and Japan, South Korea is trying to strengthen ties with India under South Korea’s New Southern Policy (NSP). Keeping this in mind, both nations are aggressively working to improve their relations. That being said, if the efforts of improving relations are coupled with deploying soft power it will perhaps have a much better influence on decision making.
On asking random Koreans on the street about India, most of them said "Curry", "Taj Mahal", "Gandhi", etc. It is a bit disappointing that not many are aware of the great history and culture of India.
Therefore, a "Bollywood Night" event mainly for the Indian community and other nationalities was conducted on the eve of Independence Day of India & Korea. This event was conducted through a platform called "Seoul Events". More than 150 people registered for the event and despite having to close registration at 130 people due to capacity limitations, the event still had a huge crowd that DJ Fooch was very happy to entertain.
This year people came all the way from Jeju, Busan, and Daegu to specially attend this event. The first ever Bollywood party was conducted in the year 2019 under the same platform which was equally received with great love and success. It is a way of not only giving a chance to the Indian community to enjoy Indian music for their entertainment but also introducing the soft power of India in South Korean society.
Seoul Events believe that by conducting such events, it can act as a contributing step in promoting the Indian culture and music in Korea at a larger scale.
Thank You.
Swarnim Singh
Organizer & Founder of Seoul Events.
"Seoul Events" is a platform to organize exciting events catering to the needs of foreigners living in Korea.
Seoul Events Page https://instagram.com/eventsseoul
Personal Page https://instagram.com/lucknowi_nawab_in_korea
