0

CAN DESCENDANTS OF THE SUN BE PURELY CONSIDERED AS AN ENTERTAINMENT?

Sujin ParkASIA367: Contemporary Korean Culture

December 16, 2017

IntroductionDescendants of the Sun (directed by Eungbok Lee and Sanghun Baek, script by Eunsuk Kim and Wonseok Kim, aired February 24-April 14, 2016, Wednesdays and Thursdays 10:00-11:00 p.m. on KBS2) was a nationwide syndrome because of its extraordinarily high ratings. Its highest rating was 38.8% (estimated by Nielsen Korea), which was thought to be impossible to achieve due to diversification of television channels.1 It was different from other dramas because it directly dealt with military; three of four key characters in Descendants of the Sun were professional officers. However, considering the rigid nature of the army, the famous television drama writer, Eunsuk Kim unraveled the story in a fresh way considering the rigid nature of the army (Kwon 2016: 345, 348-349). Viewers were attracted by romantic relationships among four key characters which fulfilled their fantasy.

Nevertheless, there are several factors that make this drama controversial. This paper is based on cultivation theory addressed by Gerbner and will focus on (a) imminent population decrease nationalist rhetoric which made Korean government participate in funding the drama; (b) South Korean (hereafter Korea) military’s efforts to glorify the army and; (c) elements that highlight the existing sex roles. Korea has to prepare for the population decline and military is one sector that will face a crisis due to the decrease of soldiers to defend the country. In this situation, Descendants of the Sun was anticipated to perform a fancy advertisement for younger generations to apply for the army. Also, the drama follows the conventional sex roles. There is no attempt to reverse gender norms. This paper is going to argue that these two features of the drama, combined with the cultivation theory, reinforce nationalism and sexism in the following sections.

Expected Population DecreaseScholars have long warned Korea of devastating ramifications caused by population decrease, especially the number of younger generations. According to the report by National Statistical Office and Joongang Daily, the population of Korea would slowly increase until 2030-2031, but is going to drop sharply (Choi and Mahmoudi 2013: 80-81).2 As extensive social chaos is predicted through the works of various scholars, Korean government is trying to implement policies such as financially supporting would-be mothers to raise the birth rates (Choi and Mahmoud 2013: 81-89; Lee 2017: 32, 42-44).3

1. An article by Yonhap News (published online on November 11, 2017, accessed on December 16, 2017) states that cable channels and other channels which provide a wide range of programs but are not considered as terrestrial broadcasters (jonghap pyeongseong chaeneol) launch a lot of dramas, challenging the hegemony of three terrestrial broadcasters such as KBS, MBC and SBS.URL: http://www.yonhapnews.co.kr/bulletin/2017/11/09/0200000000AKR20171109185000005.HTML?input=1195m

2. According to the report by Joongang Daily (published August 24, 2017), Korea would face population decrease 10 years earlier than expected (accessed on December 11, 2017).URL: http://news.joins.com/article/21870178

3. Korean government concentrates on supporting would-be mothers and childcare (Yonhap News, article published online September 27, 2017, accessed on December 11, 2017) and is going to implement additional policies to raise the birth rate (Yonhap News, article published online on November 21, 2017, accessed on December 11, 2017).

2

There are a lot of studies to figure out the reason why the birth rate is steadily decreasing. Among these studies, the theory which is going to be used to explicate this phenomenon in this paper is cultivation theory suggested and elaborated by Gerbner. Cultivation theory emphasizes the impact of mass media which lead people’s behavior into certain ways (Gerbner 1998: 176, 178, 183; Lita and Cho 2012: 1434; Jin and Jeong 2010: 18). Gerbner mentioned the role of mass media—especially television—is to “transform selected private perspectives into broad public perspectives.” He argued that television “brings mass publics to existence” and “these publics are maintained through continued publication” (Gerbner 1969: 140). He highlighted that “cultivation is not a unidirectional flow of influence from television to audience, but part of continual, dynamic, ongoing process of interaction among messages and contexts” (Ibid., 182). This statement is crucial because it stipulated the relationship between society and television; both society and television influence each other and thus content of television shows reflects the change in society as well as television affect society.

In particular, Jin and Jeong’s paper analyzes the cause of the low birth rate with Gerbner’s cultivation theory, focusing on that 15% of television dramas aired by three terrestrial broadcasters (KBS, MBC, SBS) in 2005-2007 favorably illustrated single and women who have a few or no children (Jin and Jeong 2010: 29). Using content analysis and survey, Jin and Jeong try to overcome the limitation of the cultivation theory, which was criticized due to the lack of concrete mechanisms to verify the effectiveness (Ibid., 21-22, 28). They set two hypotheses: first, they hypothesize that positive description of so-called “career women” and families with a few children encourages (a) to remain single or (b) to have a few children (Ibid., 20). Though the first hypothesis was rejected, the second hypothesis was supported (Ibid., 25).

Their study is consistent with Gerbner’s opinion that viewers tend to store and retrieve the information from television when they have watched television dramas “frequently, recently and vividly” (Ibid., 28-29). Importantly, Jin and Jeong suggest how future propaganda would look like. They argue that the government would ask scenario writers to produce dramas which promote the beauty of family life with kids (Ibid., 30). This can be directly applied to the following section of this paper; Descendants of the Sun is funded by the ROK Army. Yet, they clarify that the socio-political situations of Korea—women started to focus on their own life instead of marriage and having kids thanks to improved education and people are not satisfied with the unrealistic policies to raise national birth rate—are also a crucial factor that lead to the low birth rate (Ibid., 29).4

URL: http://www.yonhapnews.co.kr/bulletin/2017/09/27/0200000000AKR20170927169600004.HTML?input=1195mhttp://www.yonhapnews.co.kr/bulletin/2017/11/21/0200000000AKR20171121124400017.HTML?input=1195m

4

. An article from Hankook Daily (published April 24, 2017) commented that policies to encourage married women to have children turned out to be not effective (accessed on December 11, 2017).URL: http://www.hankookilbo.com/v/c4bda932646e4ca2ab22a031851a09f7

The Rapid Growth of Popular Culture IndustryMeanwhile, Korea experienced a severe economic crisis in 1997 (Yang 2017: 744).5 Realizing the limitation of existing industries to overcome the nationwide crisis, Korean government started to search for new industrial sectors. Information and communications technology (ICT) and entertainment industry were selected as a new driving force for economic revitalization (Kwon and Kim 2013: 523, 525; Kwon and Kim 2014: 424, 426-427; Kwon 2016: 354; Yang 2017: 742, 744, 747). The government promoted and supported these industries with nationalistic rhetoric (Yang 2017: 741-743).6

Concentrating on the entertainment industry, it was actively supported after unexpected success of Winter Sonata in Japan (Kwon and Kim 2013: 526; Joo 2011: 493-494; Tokita 2013: 1-3). The underlying logic of this promotion is Korean government’s expectation to gain revenue from foreign viewership. As the government anticipated, tourists visiting Korea increased thanks to Hallyu (Korean wave) (Joo 2011: 490-492, 495; Lit and Cho 2012: 1435, 1437-1438).7 After realizing the potential of Korean popular culture industry, the government attempted to maximize profits through the videos promoting to visit Korea.8 Celebrities who gained international popularity appear on these videos and they highlight traditional and contemporary beauty of Korea, which is highly nationalistic (Kwon 2016: 354; Lita and Choi 2012: 1442). These videos do not hide its delightedness that the entertainment industry will certainly contribute to the national economy.

This indicates that the nation started to directly intervene in the popular culture industry. More interestingly, national support toward this sector was consistent regardless of ideological preferences of president, even presidents known to be relatively liberal (Kwon and Kim 2013: 524-526; Kwon and Kim 2014: 430). Types of governmental intervention have been diverse, from financial aids to awards and direct advertisements (Kwon and Kim 2014: 424-425). However, whatever the means of support, that the government perceives Hallyu as a prospective tool which can bring profits remains the same (Kwon 2016: 354). This is the reason why Bang Sihyeok’s presidential citation cannot be overlooked. Bang is a

5. An article from Munhwa Daily (published November 29, 2017) is an interview of Seokdong Kim who was in charge of massive layoffs and restructuring during Asian Financial Crisis (1997) (accessed on December 14, 2017).URL: http://www.munhwa.com/news/view.html?no=2017112901031803311001

6. For example, there was a movement among the public to save the national economy by donating the gold, which is called “Gold gathering movement [geum moeugi undong].” Though some scholars have criticized that this movement was not effective as Koreans hoped, it is viewed as a symbolic event which shows patriotism of Koreans (article published online on December 4, 2017, accessed on December 7, 2017).URL: http://news.joins.com/article/22172944

7

. An article from Segye Daily (published November 2, 2012) introduced that Hallyu hugely contributed to attratcing “10 million” visitors (accessed on December 15, 2017).URL: http://www.segye.com/newsView/20121102023418

8. These are the two videos uploaded in YouTube by Korean Organization (Hanguk Gwangwang Gongsa) in 2015 and 2016. Lee Minho and Song Joongki, who were considered to be the most popular celebrity of the year, show up in the videos (accessed on December 15, 2017).URL (video released in 2015): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJVlHwpS6NwURL (video released in 2016): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zn5BlL-nN7M

4

producer who launched a boy band named BTS (Bangtan Sonyeondan) and BTS is now gaining immense popularity all over the globe, even in the US.9 Considering that Korea has been under the US influence since the liberation in 1945, nationalistic discourse and endless efforts to garner fans as much as possible, Bang’s recognition signifies the nation’s self-admiration and euphoria toward the entertainment industry (Chua and Koichi 2008: 16; Joo 2011: 490, 497, 499).

Descendants of the Sun as a tool to promote the ROK ArmyWatching Descendants of the Sun, viewers can easily notice that governmental branches of Korea (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Korea Creative Content Agency) participated in producing the drama. This is one way of Korean government to support popular culture products, which is mentioned above.

[Figure 1]10

Also more importantly, though the ROK Army did not financially support this drama, it did allow the production team to film barracks and offices which are necessary in the drama dealing with the military.

9. An article by Joongang Daily (published online on December 4, 2017) reports that Bang is going to be cited by the President Moon Jae-in and the boy band he produced, BTS, is winning popularity (accessed on December 15, 2017).URL: http://news.joins.com/article/22173607

10

. Second episode of Descendants of the Sun (accessed on December 7, 2017)URL: http://kissasian.ch/Drama/Descendant-of-the-Sun/Episode-2?id=24600

[Figure 2]11 The red box (“국가방위의 중심군 육군”) indicates that the ROK Army has cooperated in making this drama.

Then why did Korean government fund this drama? As mentioned earlier, Korea has faced a sharp decline of newborns in a couple of decades. Naturally, people who are going to serve in military will also decrease. Since national policies and systems in general are constructed on the premise that population will increase or at least be maintained, there should be changes in policies to prepare for the future with fewer populations.

On the other hand, according to Moon, a lot of scholars have predicted that the draft system would eventually come to an end and be replaced by the professional army, no matter how badly people delay the actual abolishment of the mass conscription (Moon 2005: 66). In fact, the period of service has steadily decreased regardless of the ideological stance of the administration. When the ROK Army was first established in 1953 after Korean War, the service term of all three sectors of the military were 36 months. However in 2017, the service term for army, navy and air force has reduced into 21 months, 23 months and 24 months respectively.12 Moreover, debates are ongoing among the public as well as politicians after the new administration is launched whether to reduce the service term again. The government and the military are trying to recruit more officers including the non-commissioned to make the army more professional.13

11. The last episode of Descendants of the Sun (accessed on December 7, 2017)URL: http://kissasian.ch/Drama/Descendant-of-the-Sun/Episode-16?id=26112

12

. Reduction of service period after the establishment of the Republic of Korea (accessed on December 7, 2017)URL: http://terms.naver.com/entry.nhn?docId=1049101&cid=43667&categoryId=43667

13

. President Moon Jae-in is trying to reduce the service period of the army from 21 months to 18 months and this is one of his 100 administrative projects.http://news.jtbc.joins.com/html/998/NB11496998.htmlhttp://www.seoul.co.kr/news/newsView.php?id=20170719500108&wlog_tag3=naver

6

Despite this difficult situation that the military has to confront, the overall image of the military is not favorable. First, a majority of conscripts-to-be do not want to join the army (Kwon 2000: 30). It can be directly seen how these young men try to avoid conscriptions when one searches Military Manpower Administration in Naver, one of the most widely used search engines in Korea. Among relevant keywords, there is a keyword which can be translated into “how to be exempted from the conscription.”

[Figure 3]14 The box indicates “conditions to be exempted from the conscription,” “exemption” (from left to right). Also focusing on circles, 공군 [gonggun] is air force; 의경 [euigyeong] is conscripted police officer; and 사회복무요원 [sahoebokmuyowon] which is also called as 공익 [gongik] is people working for public sectors such as district offices. These four are widely recognized among the public to be more lenient than the army (Moon 2005: 75).

Second, the military is no longer considered an advanced or privileged sector of Korean society. Furthermore, the military has been on the center of oppressing the public during democratic movements, which largely contributed to forming negative impressions. In this situation, propaganda was needed to improve the image of the military (Kwon 2000: 34-35). As the public have become more intelligent than before, more sophisticated propaganda was to be produced, and the result of the military’s effort is Descendants of the Sun.

Indeed, several reality shows had already been aired whose propagandistic nature could be easily detected such as TV Barracks, The Stage of Friendship, and The Youth Report. These shows outwardly promoted nationalism and highlighted tough images of the conscripts by comparing them to emotional and weak females represented through their mothers and lovers (Gerbner 1998: 178; Kwon 2000: 36-39, 43-45; Moon 2005: 79-84). Another show called Real Man was broadcasted in 2013-2016. This show was different from those stated above since celebrities themselves experienced the conscripts’ or officers’ daily training There were no mothers and lovers who rely on their existence.15

14All three links were accessed on December 7, 2017

. Search results for Military Manpower Administration in Naver (accessed at November 20, 2017, 15:26)

URL: https://search.naver.com/search.naver?where=nexearch&sm=top_hty&fbm=0&ie=utf8&query=%EB%B3%91%EB%AC%B4%EC%B2%AD

15

. Official website of the variety show “Real Man” (accessed December 7, 2017)

Though Real Man was remarkably different from previous shows in terms of formats and contents, Descendants of the Sun has opened a totally new page of television programs which dealt with the military. First, three out of four main characters in Descendants of the Sun are professional soldiers, not the conscripts. Thus, the plot of the drama and what these characters do are essentially different from the previous shows which featured the conscripts. What professional soldiers do usually require their expertise such as rescuing the hostages compared to the unexperienced conscripts who just follow orders by superiors. Second, Descendants of the Sun was a “drama,” not a reality show. It was aired at 10:00-11:00 p.m. (Wednesdays and Thursdays) on KBS2. All shows introduced above, including Real Man, were aired on evenings when broadcasters can easily secure fixed viewership such as people who are back from work.16 On the other hand, the reason why directors put Descendants of the Sun at night is to garner young audiences. According to the estimates provided in the website of Nielsen Korea, ratings of dramas aired at 10 p.m. on weekdays estimated in metropolitan area (Seoul, Gyeonggi, and Incheon) turn out to be higher than nationwide ratings.17 This is because the population of younger generation in the metropolitan area is larger than that of rural areas (gun, eup and myeon).18 To the military and the government, younger generations are important; they are would-be conscripts and moreover, they are the ones who can serve the nation when they become professional soldiers during their lifetime. This can therefore contribute to alleviating the burden of the nation which should maintain the number of troops.

To give positive impression to professional soldiers, directors/producers extremely fantasize Captain Yoo Sijin throughout entire episodes. Yoo is described as a character who brings the ultimate good. There are a series of extreme situations which put him in difficulties such as an urgent operation of Arab President (third and fourth episode), catastrophic earthquakes (sixth to eighth episode), outbreak of a lethal virus (eleventh episode) and an independent action to rescue Kang from Argus (eleventh and twelfth episode). These hardships function as dramatic devices which shape him as a “hero” (Park and Kang 2017: 90). Also, Urk is set as a disaster area where most of these events take place. People there need Yoo’s help. In other words, this harsh setting is the best environment to accentuate Yoo’s heroism (Ibid., 94).

URL: http://www.imbc.com/broad/tv/ent/realman/16

. The information about The Stage of Friendship (program listings in Kyunghyang Newspaper) and TV Barracks (program listings in Maeil Economy) is fromhttp://newslibrary.naver.com (accessed on December 7, 2017)Also this is the official website of The Youth Report in official website: http://www.kbs.co.kr/1tv/sisa/youthsingo/ (accessed on December 7, 2017).

17

. From the website of Nielsen Korea (http://www.nielsenkorea.co.kr/default.asp), reviewed ratings of a month and results both from the whole nation and metropolitan area (accessed on December 7, 2017).

18

. Data from the website of Korean Statistical Information Service. Data focused on average age and median age of population in Seoul, Gyeonggi, Incheon and rural areas (eup and myeon), accessed on December 7, 2017URL: http://kosis.kr/statHtml/statHtml.do?orgId=101&tblId=DT_1IN1603&vw_cd=MT_ZTITLE&list_id=&seqNo=&lang_mode=ko&language=kor&obj_var_id=&itm_id=&conn_path=E1#

8

Especially in the fourth, eleventh and twelfth episode of the drama, Yoo defies the order from the immediate superior and even from the Blue House when political interests are prioritized over an individual. The outcome of his defiance is only deprivation of an opportunity to be promoted and temporary cutback of salary (Kwon 2016: 349-350). He never regrets his deeds; he rather happily embraces these consequences because they are the result of his conviction. These scenes do not realistically reflect the mechanism of the military which requires unconditional compliance to orders. The reason why these scenes are inserted is to propagate that the military always cherishes justice more than the narrow-sighted profits which demand sacrifice of nationals and hence to lead more people to sign up for the army (Ibid.).

Applying this feature of the drama to the cultivation theory introduced in the earlier part of the paper, Descendants of the Sun functions as a television program which delivers the information about the military to the mass (Gerbner 1998: 177-178). Also, the information from the drama can perform as evidence when viewers have to make judgment regarding relevant situations (Jin and Jeong 2010: 28). Since heroism of Yoo is well embellished in multiple episodes of the drama, audiences tend to exaggerate the heroic images. This induces people to form positive images of professional officers represented by Yoo, which was intended by the ROK Army (Gerbner 1998: 180; Jin and Jeong 2010: 29).

Solidifying Deep-Rooted Sex RolesContrary to Yoo who is illustrated as a “perfect man,” Kang is depicted as a clumsy person who still needs improvement. She fails to understand social codes and because there is no influential person among her family members, she always misses chances to be a professor (second and fourth episode). She earns a lot of money, but it does not help relieve her stress to be officially acknowledged as a competent physician. More importantly, she turns down the chairman of the hospital that she works for, which led her to be sent to Urk. This is a personal punishment by the chairman; if she had accepted his favor, she could not have been dispatched to Urk (second episode). Albeit she has a talent, she cannot be a major figure who actively engages in the situations she faces.

In Urk, she does contribute to saving Fatima, a girl who was kidnapped by Argus (tenth episode). She indeed plays a decisive role in this scene, because without her, Fatima and Yoo could have been killed by people under Argus. However, Kang here is portrayed like a child. Kang’s childishness is reinforced by Yoo’s heroic behaviors. To a perfect, versatile man, even a single contribution of her can be made fun of:

Kang: Wow! Awesome! That is totally exciting! Nobody would be following us, would they? We did it! I’m still excited! Did you become a soldier for this? I fought off the enemy!

Yoo: You do know that you almost fought me off as well, right?Kang: Of course I thought you would avoid it. I had it all calculated!Yoo: With calculations like that, how did you make it through medical

school?19

(Emphasis added)

In addition, in the tenth episode, even though there are landmines which can cost a life, Yoo easily locates them as if it were a routine for special forces and guides Kang. At this moment, a skilled doctor Kang becomes a mere assistant of Yoo as she does not have

19. Tenth episode of Descendants of the Sun (accessed on December 7, 2017)Directly cited from http://kissasian.ch/Drama/Descendant-of-the-Sun/Episode-10?id=25134

expertise in this field. When everything goes back to normal after the tragic earthquake which is an opportunity for her to show off her ability as a doctor, she becomes a civilian who should abide by the rules given by the army.

Kang’s helplessness is even more highlighted when she was kidnapped by Argus (eleventh and twelfth episode). Resisting against Argus who has a gun only worsens the situation. She has to wait for Yoo to save her. As all audiences have already expected, Yoo and his colleagues sneak into the place of Argus and successfully rescue Kang. This type of story—a male character saves his female lover—is called “Cinderella story” and it has already been widely adopted in various dramas (Kwon 2016: 345). By situating female characters in a passive position which needs men’s protection, this drama prevents females to become an independent individual. In short, they are still subordinate to the patriarchal normativity.

It is also intriguing to notice that even though there is a female lieutenant Yoon Myungju, a vast majority of soldiers are comprised of men. Descendants of the Sun repetitively shows soldiers jogging in the morning. Soldiers show off naked, masculine body with muscles. They also sing military chants which are also masculine. Their bodies and military chants both exhibit masculinity. Military has long served as an organization which accentuates masculinity and eradicates a remaining trace of effeminateness (Moon 2005: 72). That these soldiers sing “Real Men,” one of the most popular songs during jogging, is not a coincidence (third, fifth, ninth and twelfth episode). Albeit these military songs entail “explicit and implicit degeneration of women and sexualized violence against them,” female civilians such as Kang describe these soldiers as “doves preserving peace” (Moon 2005: 49). Kang and her fellows’ exclamation toward these masculine bodies subtly erases long-lasting sexist practices of the military.

This remark should not be overlooked considering how sex/gender discrimination is deeply rooted in Korean society. Seguino stated in her paper published in 1997 that women received lower wages than men (Seguino 1997: 103-105, 111-115, 125). Through detailed analysis, she has revealed that women’s wage increase was suppressed under the nationalist rhetoric of export-led growth in 20th century (Ibid. 112-115). Though Korean economy matured and vigorous export-led growth strategy was weakened, the wage gap was not mitigated. According to Yeong-ok Kim, the wage difference between men and women is still prominent even in 2010 (Kim 2010: 2, 5, 8). The problem of wage difference has not resolved because not many women succeeded in achieving managerial positions. That is, development of job markets for women were usually centered on low-wage jobs (Ibid., 2, 21). This implies that (a) social discriminations toward women such as marriage and (b) a vacuum in human resources due to maternity leave, deprived them of chances to earn high managerial positions (Kim 2010: 8).20

Back to the cultivation theory, the theory itself can be an effective tool both to promote the egalitarian society and aggravate widespread prejudices (Gerbner 1998: 180). However, Descendants of the Sun sticks to the existing sexist discourse. It reveals that Korea is still a patriarchal society and moreover, justifies women’s weakness and men’s bravery to the younger generations, who was the target audience (Gerbner 1998: 180; Lita and Cho 2012: 1434). The media which should contribute to alleviating sexual discrimination in fact can solidify patriarchal structure of Korean society.

20. An article from Dong-a Daily (published online on July 26, 2017, accessed on December 16, 2017) reports that only 2.7% of managers in 500 Korean enterprises are women and there was no female manager in 67.2% of these firms.URL: http://news.donga.com/3/all/20170726/85537868/1

10

ConclusionIn the era that most households have a television which broadcasts various shows throughout the day, the influence of television is not negligible (Gerbner 1998: 177). That Descendants of the Sun succeeded in garnering a great deal of audience signifies that its influence would be more profound than any other television programs.

This is the reason why Descendants of the Sun is problematic. The nationwide popularity of the drama might have concealed its controversial aspects, but that does not mean it is not controversial. As income of middle-class increased and more and more people received higher education, the government was no longer able to use the same strategy to promote the nation (Kwon and Kim 2013: 521; Kwon and Kim 2014: 425). Bureaucrats needed more sophisticated tactics and what they focused on was popular culture products.

Starting from Descendants of the Sun, more and more popular culture products funded by the government are going to come out. Even more advanced techniques are going to be utilized. Audiences’ ability to critically view the media is becoming important; they are the ones who can change the popular culture and politics of contemporary Korea.

Bibliography

Choi, Byoung Mohk [Choi, Byeongmok], Kooros M. Mahmoudi. “Hangukeui geupkeyokhan ingu gamso: woningwa gyeolgwa [Rapid Fertility Decline in South Korea: Causes and Consequences].” Geulobal Sahoebokji Yeongu [Journal of Global Social Welfare], no. 3 (2013): 77-114.

Chua, Beng-Huat, and Koichi Iwabuchi. East Asian Pop Culture: Analysing the Korean Wave. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2008.

Gerbner, George. “Cultivation Analysis: An Overview.” Mass Communication and Society 1, no. 3/4 (1998). 175-194.

Gerbner, George. “Toward ‘Cultural Indicators’: The Analysis of Mass Mediated Public Message Systems.” AV Communication Review 17, no. 2 (1969). 137-148.

Jin, Bumsub, and Seongjung Jeong. “The Impact of Korean Television Drama Viewership on the Social Perceptions of Single Life and Having Fewer Children in Married Life.” Asian Journal of Communication 20, no. 1 (2010): 17-32.

Joo, Jeongsuk. “Transnationalization of Korean Popular Culture and the Rise of ‘Pop Nationalism.’” Journal of Popular Culture, no. 44 (2011): 489-504.

Kim, Seung-ho and Joseph Kim. “From Censorship to Active Support: The Korean State and Korea’s Cultural Industries.” The Economic and Labour Relations Review, no. 24 (2013): 517-532.

Kim, Seung-ho and Joseph Kim. “The Cultural Industry Policies of the Korean Government and the Korean Wave.” International Journal of Cultural Policy, no. 20 (2014): 422-439.

Kwon, Changgyu. “Mellowa pabyeong gunin, hallyueui mannam: Myohage heungmiropgo myohage bulpyeonhan ‘Taeyangeui huye’ [Combination of Romance, Soldiers Dispatched Abroad, and Hallyu: Subtly Interesting and Uncomfortable ‘Descendants of the Sun’].” Munhwagwahak [Culture and Science], no. 86 (2016): 340-355.

Kwon, Insook [Kwon, Insuk]. “A Feminist Exploration of Military Conscription: The Gendering of the Connections Between Nationalism, Militarism and Citizenship in South Korea.” International Feminist Journal of Politics, no. 3 (2000): 26-54.

Lee, Samsik. “Ingu mit chulsan donghyanggwa daeeung banghyang [Demographic Dynamics and Policy Response].” Bogeonbokji Poreom [Forum for Public Health and Welfare], no. 243 (2017): 29-46.

Lita, Rahmiati, and Yoon C. Cho. “The Influence of Media on Attitudinal and Behavioral Changes: Acceptance of Culture and Products.” International Business & Economics Research Journal (IBER) 11, no. 12 (2013): 1433-1444.

Moon, Seungsook [Moon, Seungsuk]. Militarized Modernity and Gendered Citizenship in South Korea. Duke University Press, 2005.

12

Moon, Seungsook [Moon, Seungsuk]. “Trouble with Conscription, Entertaining Soldiers: Popular Culture and the Politics of Militarized Masculinity in South Korea.” Men and Masculinities 8, no. 1 (2005): 64-92.

Park, Kyung-min [Park, Kyeongmin], Kang-jin Lee. “Seonggong hallyu deuramae natanan yeongung seosaeui byeonyong bunseok: TV deurama ‘Taeyangeui huye’reul jungsimeuro [Analysis of the Transformation of the Heroic Narrative in Successful Korean Wave Drama: Focusing on the TV Drama “Descendants of the Sun].” Munhwa gyeongje yeongu [Review of Culture and Economy], no. 20 (2017): 81-104.

Seguino, Stephanie. “Gender Wage Inequality and Export-Led Growth in South Korea.” The Journal of Development Studies 34, no. 2 (2007): 102-132.

Tokita, Alison. 2010. ‘Winter Sonata and the politics of memory’. In Complicated Currents: Media Flows, Soft Power and East Asia, edited by Black, Daniel; Epstein, Stephen; Tokita, Alison. Melbourne: Monash University ePress. pp. 3.1–3.12. DOI: 10.2104/cc100003.

Yang, Sunyoung [Yang, Seonyeong]. “Networking South Korea: Internet, Nation, and New Subjects.” Media, Culture & Society 39, no. 5 (2017): 740-49.