The Korean Invasion

Barely 50 years after the Korean War and the animosity between the 2 conflicting Korean countries may anytime spark...the Korean invasion figuratively conquers our nation. Their unforgettable teledramas and the funny 3 syllable names of the actors and the actresses, the not-so-difficult redundant dance moves and the ghastly waxed hair with white powder make-up of the so called K-pop draws the attention of the young naive Filipinos. And despite the barrier language between the Filipinos and the Koreans' they're magically hypnotized us or put under the spell of their charisma.

Music is a universal language and anybody can listen to whatever music and still appreciates it. How many Filipinos understand the lyrics of "Nobody but you" by the Wondergirls? Not even the one percent of the entire Philippine population. But who will disagree that this song captures the very heart of the Pinoys? And please don't deny that you have done this: singing the chorus, pointing the two index fingers while raising one knee and not to mention that you have to clap your hands twice after. Haha. I won't tell.


Have you ever wondered why so many Filipinos move to the groove of the Koreans' catchy tunes?
Have you ever ask why their songs is such a hit in this non-speaking Korean country?
Have you ever wondered why we accept the Korean pop-group in open arms despite the language barrier?
Have you ever ask why in an instant the unknown K-pop group is now popular here in the Philippines?
Have you ever have the courage to ask why their songs are so appealing to you and most of the Filipinos?;

Are you not amazed by the storyline and the production of "Jumong"?
Did you fight the yawn every night just to watch the adventures of Jang-geum in the "Jewel of the Palace"?
Are you also teary-eyed every time you see Jessie of "Endless Love" weeping?
Did you feel unhappy when "Stairway to heaven" of Jodi and Cholo meet its end?
Does your night wasn't complete if you didn't watch the cuteness of Justin and Jessie of "Full House"?
Aren't you feel glee after you have watched the love story of Vivian and Carlo of "Lovers in Paris"?

Don't blame the Koreans for this phenomenal, don't blame them for the threat of ruining our local industry, don't blame them for the madness they have bring. In fact, the Korean actors, actresses, singers and groups doesn't care if they become famous or not in our country. They didn't asked for it; we Filipinos welcomed it! Their songs are on our FM Stations, their Music Videos are on MYX! and their artists have been invited here to perform. After the success of Mexican (Marimar et al) and Taiwanese (Meteor Garden series) telenovelas, Kapuso station brought to us the firsts Koreanovela that is: "Autumn in my Heart (Endless Love)" then the most successful of them all: "Full House" which starred the highly rated and the rising star of Hollywood Jung Ji Hoon (Rain) of Ninja Assassin. In response, Kapamilya station give us the not so popular "Save the Last Dance", "Stained Glass" and their 2 hits so far "Lovers in Paris" and "Boys over Flowers".

Forget the lyrics just the melody and the beat. Forget the language barrier of their telenovelas because their soaps literally dubbed in our language. Since the unexpected success of "Endless Love", how many koreanovelas shown in our small tube? Okay, I will name some because I might run out of space if I said it all:All about Eve, Attic Cat, Foxy Lady, Glass Shoes, Guardian Angel, Kim Sam Soon, Irene, Love Letter, Love story in Harvard, Stairway to Heaven, Winter Sonata, Coffee Prince, Jewel in the Palace, Jumong, Shining Inheritance, Queen Seon Dok, East of Eden, Forbidden Love, Green Love, My Girl, Only you, Princess Hours, A love to kill, High Kick, First wives club, Oh feel young among others. And these are just samples of the Koreanovelas we have patronized. Indeed, the Korea is a factory of great soap operas. And we didn't stop here, after the domination of some Koreanovelas in primetime; the two giant stations replays it in the afternoon gaining high ratings once more BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE! We are still not contended with this we even remake some of koreanovela hits fielding our local actors and actresses. Sick and tired is not on the vocabulary of Filipino viewers. And here's the list of Koreanovela adapted, reproduced and remade by our two local stations: Full House, My Girl, Kim Sam Soon, Lovers in Paris, Only you, My girl, All about Eve, Endless Love and Staiway to Heaven (did I miss one?) Now who will say that Korean Dramas doesn't invade us?

Many of the K-pop artists (as they want to be called) has a weird names some of them are: Super Junior, 2NE1, 2PM, 4minute, B2ST, SHINee, U-kiss, TVXQ, etc. but never mind the weird names 'coz this does not hamper them to infiltrate our pop-culture the important is they are making a huge wave in this country; giving us (new?) songs that can move your body and made you sing the chorus; even just the chorus - "en-eh-en-eh, en-eh TWENY-ONE"!

So what is special to them that our youth go gaga over them? Screaming, singing, dancing, googling, buying CD's, watching concerts; in short, amazed.

THE KOREANOVELAS - Isn't it that the Korean writers/novelists hasn't run out of great stories and ideas? That despite of the hundred telenovelas airing every year to their country still they come up with different tales to tell. Here are some reasons why Filipinos craving for it:

1. the uniqueness story of each of their soap opera
2. the fascination of the Filipinos to Korean culture
3. the curiosity to compare our teleserye to theirs'
4. the fact pacing story (compared to us)
5. Koreans aren't afraid to experiment and produced highly budgeted soap operas
6. film-like productions
7. (maybe) Filipinos are fed-up with the same plot of Philippine teleseryes
8. aside from their good looks; they have fine actors and actresses

THE K-POP! - They all have similarities; the type of songs, the anime hairstyle, their wriggler-like dance moves and the flamboyant clothes. They (almost) have the same over-all appearance and you can't easily recognize who's who yet still they manage to gain huge crowd not just on their country but also here in the Philippines and we just can't imagine how on earth that their songs find its way to be acknowledged and pass from the taste of Filipino. Here's my little observation:

* Because Filipinos just can't be patriotic we will admire any group/singers that caught our easy-to-please attention. It's like the admirations we have given to Menudo of Puerto Rico, F-4 of Taiwan, West Life of Ireland, Backstreet Boys of America etc. The only difference is that the K-pop songs aren't in english. I think the good thing about this is: It is just a fad and the popularity they enjoy today may die slowly and gradually.

Can you blame the Filipino producers for this happening? Who will idolize the copycat XLR8? Are you amuse by the wits of Masculados? Did you find the Viva Hot Babes great dancer or singer? Do you feel that Eurasia will lasts? Are you a fan of Voizboys? What will the La Diva has to offer? "Baduy" or "Jologs" is the first thing that comes into your mind. Don't deny. Unlike other countries, this is one of our biggest problem: lack of patriotism. If you're a fan of Koreanovela you may notice that they are promoting, using, patronizing their own products i.e. Samsung and LG phones, Hyundai , Kia and Daewoo cars.

Comparing to other countries; Philippines has a big follower of the French clothing Lacoste; imitation or not you may see many Filipinos wearing this overrated brand.

Did you notice the decline in PBL and PBA fans and gatesales? While we still get excited to watch the NBA.

Why do Philippine movie & music industry stuck in limbo? While Hollywood movies and CD's of RNB artists gain sales.

Filipinos are Filipinos nobody can change that as long as we have colonial mentality on our mind.

Then, we only refer Colonialism to the Western countries but now it has extent to a worst level. It's not that the Korean or Taiwanese are not that good but we just can't simply love our own! That we still have to remind the FM stations to play OPM; That we have to buy a box of glutathione just to have white skin; That we are more eager to explore the world than to be a tourist in our own country; That we are willing to spare some cash to the foreign artists rather than our locals; That we prefer expensive foreign brand perfume and find it more scented than our own;

Korean Invasion?...So what? I think nobody bothers and nobody cares and I also don't care....eh eh eh eh eh I Don't care eh eh eh eh. ♪♫♪♫♫♪