Professors from SciencesPo University. present on Korean entertainment industry.

From an economic perspective, the two professors pointed out the reasons behind the Korean cultural wave phenomenon and the remarkable development of the Korean entertainment industry, specifically in the fields of cinema and music.

Professor Patrick Messerlin began with specific statistics on the supply and demand of the Korean film industry in relation to Japan, France, the UK, the US and China. Accordingly, in 2018, the rate of moviegoers in cinemas per capita in Korea was the highest (4.2), followed by the US (3.8); the rate of domestic films produced by Korea per capita was also the highest (8.5). In terms of film quality, calculated by the average score of films on reputable websites from 2009 to 2018, Korea also ranked first with scores of 6.48 according to IMDb; 75.2 according to Metacritics; 67.0 according to Rotten Tomatoes. Notably, Korea achieved these achievements in the context of the lowest government subsidy budget for the film industry (only 136 million USD compared to 1,585 million USD of the US).

Prof. Patrick Messerlin presented

Explaining the success of the Korean film industry, Professor Patrick Messerlin said that it was because the country boldly abandoned its protectionist policy and opened its industry to the world. Under the previous protectionist mechanism, Korean film companies only focused on mass production or importing foreign films to meet domestic consumption standards; causing Korean films to not ensure quality and not be known to foreign audiences. After Korea and the US signed film cooperation agreements in 1986-1988, the policy of liberalizing the Korean film industry was implemented. The Korean government opened its market for Hollywood films to flood into the country. Under this pressure, Korean film companies were forced to innovate their filmmaking methods by investing in better quality and learning from foreign film studios (such as the case of Korean film studio CI cooperating with Dreamworks). As a result, from 1988 to 2005, although the number of Korean films produced never exceeded 100, the total revenue skyrocketed sevenfold, from 1 billion won to over 7 billion won. In contrast, the total revenue of foreign films in Korea during this period decreased from over 3 billion won to under 2 billion won.

Thus, although not favored by the government with many subsidies, thanks to taking advantage of the open-door policy, Korean film companies have developed rapidly, creating competitiveness compared to other countries. Professor Patrick Messerlin considers this a successful model that other film industries should learn from, including his own homeland France.

Prof. Jimmyn Parc presented

With a similar perspective, Professor Jimmyn Parc shared: if from the 1980s-1990s, in Korea, Japanese music was still popular, then from the 2000s, when the Internet became increasingly popular, the Korean music industry had a remarkable development. Korean entertainment companies have transformed their business model from selling CDs to providing free music online and investing in concert tours. Not only have they diversified their music production teams to include foreign members, they have also taken advantage of the audiovisual media of the digital age. Thanks to that, Korean music groups are increasingly known to foreign audiences; parent companies such as SM, VG, JYP have earned huge profits.

Professor Jimmyn Parc concluded that it was the proactive expansion of the market, taking advantage of positive leverage from globalization trends and technological development that helped Korean music rise to international influence, becoming the 6th largest music market in the world in 2018. Similar to Professor Patrick Messerlin, he considered this a successful lesson that any country can learn from.

Prof. Dr. Pham Quang Minh and staff and students of the School took souvenir photos with the speakers

After the presentation, the two professors received comments and discussions from the audience on issues such as the advantages and disadvantages of the open-door policy of the entertainment industry; the role of the government in the development of the Korean entertainment industry; the impact of economic development on soft power as well as the wave of Korean culture; the negative aspects of rapid development and the consequences of fierce competition for artists in the entertainment industry.