From South Korea to Turkey: Interactions of Youth Culture through South Korean TV Serials and Korean Music in Turkey

This paper aims to discuss young people’s interpretation of different cultures around the world, giving way to social changes in their own culture in the case of the impact of South Korean TV serials and Korean Pop (K-pop) music in Turkey. The discussion is grounded on how youth cultures, styles and consumption patterns from different part of the world affect each other with the help of digital technology. This paper addresses emerging youth cultural patterns in the case of the penetration of South Korean soap operas and Korean pop (K-pop) music into Turkish youth culture. The main research questions of this paper are as follows: Why Turkish youth is interested in South Korean culture? What kind of commonalities and differences do they observe between the culture they were born into and the culture they are interacted most? Although Turkey and South Korea are far from each other geographically, digital technology makes the introduction and increased popularity of South Korean culture through TV serials and music among Turkish young people. According to newspaper articles, many Turkish young people learn Korean language and their main ‘dream’ is to live in South Korea one day. There are more than ten South Korean TV serials adapted into Turkish TV serials. According to newspaper articles, Korea-Fans website in Turkey has 67 thousand members and there are 12 associations related to Korean culture in different cities. Turkish youth's interest in South Korean culture through TV serials and music is growing day by day. In order to understand this intertwinement between two cultures, this study will refer to 20 in-depth, semi-structured interviews among young people between 15-25 age years old and the admins of Korea-Fans website.