한태교류센터 방콕법인의 홍지희대표가 3월 26일 태국 탐마삿대학 부속 아시아연구센터 주최로 열린 세미나에서 태국의 대표적 학자들과 `한류와 싸이의 강남스타일’에 대한 토론을 벌였다. 태국 영문 일간지 네이션과 연합뉴스 등이 이를 크게 보도했다. 다음은 전문.

 'Gangnam' evidence of global shift

Jintana Panyaarvudh
The Nation March 27, 2013 1:00 am

The big-hit phenomenon of Korean singer Psy's "Gangnam Style" is evidence that Asian popular culture is emerging to dominate this part of the world - particularly Asean countries.

The centre of the world has shifted from West to East, say academics.

"[Today] world leaders need to dance or shake hands with the chubby Korean artist - otherwise they will be out of trend," said Yukti Mukdawijitra, chairman of Southeast Asian Studies Centre, at Thammasat University.

"Even an Italian brand name had its model do a catwalk in Korean, Japanese, and Chinese style," he said in the seminar titled "Gangnam Style: implication, meaning, and why it became a world phenomenon" held by the institute.

K-pop star Psy's juggernaut video "Gangnam Style" became the most viewed video in the history of YouTube with 1.46 billion views as of yesterday.

When it comes to fondness for this Korean artist, seven Asean countries are in the top 20 in terms of most views of the video.

Viki, the global TV site powered by fans, ranked the list in December to show how the music video moved around the world since it started taking off in August.

The seven Asean countries were the Philippines ranking 2nd, Indonesia at 5th place, Malaysia 6th, Thailand 11th, Singapore 13th, Vietnam 16th and Cambodia 19th.

Using mass culture to ridicule elite (high) culture was another reason to make Gangnam a big-hit, anthropologist Yukti said.

"People get bored with formality, seriousness, and social class - so some artists [resort to] using 'tasteless' or 'kitsch' culture [as a statement against] hi-so culture in their art pieces," he said.

Social media was another factor in helping spread the K-culture as well as the policy of intellectual property rights in the East, he said.

"Unlike Western culture, K-pop has no copyright. If the rights owners file a lawsuit against Gangnam copyright piracy, the K-culture will die," he said.

Psy's success came from his determination, vice president of Korean-Thai Chamber of Commerce Hong Ji-Hee said. His first album was released in 2001 but he achieved little until the big-hit Gangnam Style single launched last year, she said.

"We…Koreans are tough, ambitious, and [have] high standards. That's our strength. Psy never gave up. He did R&D [research & development] all the time. He continued to fight and finally he can compete with the world," Hong said.

If Psy and his song had come out five years ago it would not have been as popular as these days. On the contrary, he would have been looked at as rather strange, she said, adding that he is now representative of modern Korean artists.

She added that the world has changed. In the past, artists had to be well-mannered but today uniqueness or showing a special character are the main pointers to success.

"Psy is different from other [artists]. People will get bored easily with an artist who follows the stream," said Hong, who is also managing director of Korea-Thailand Communication Center and has been involved with bringing K-culture to Thailand. According to Hong, 30 per cent of businesses or advertisers used Psy as their presenter.

Apart from the character of the singer, Psy's "Gangnam Style" became a big hit because his song used comedy in the form of music video, said Phaiboon Petasen, chairman of Language Teaching Programme at Thammasat University's Institute of East Asian Studies.

Phaiboon said Psy was also funny in his video, making viewing enjoyable. Moreover, he used irony to make people laugh by dressing classy but dancing cheesy. "Psy broke the rules of K-pop. While most Korean artists walked into a song, 'Gangnam' was created for Psy," he said.

Paiboon said the pronunciation of 'Gangnam' in Korean should have been "K" not "G" because the "G" was in the first word. "Koreans prefer "K" to "G". For example, K-wave, K-pop, K-food, or K-culture," he said.

"'강남스타일' 성공은 세계 중심의 이동 증거"

태국 아시아 전문가 유키 박사 "아시아 대중문화가 아시아 지배"

(방콕=연합뉴스) 현경숙 특파원 = 가수 싸이(박재상ㆍ36)의 '강남스타일'이 세계적으로 인기를 얻은 것은 세계의 중심이 서쪽에서 동쪽으로 이동하는 증거라고 태국의 아시아 전문가가 진단했다.

27일 일간 더 네이션에 따르면 태국의 저명한 사회학자인 유키 묵따위 동남아시아연구소장은 지난 25일 방콕 탐마삿 대학교에서 열린 '강남스타일:세계적 성공의 의미와 배경 분석' 세미나에서 "강남스타일은 아시아의 대중 문화가 아시아를 지배하기 시작했음을 보여주는 증거"라며 "세계의 중심이 서쪽에서 동쪽으로 이동하고 있다"고 강조했다.

유키 소장은 "요즘 세계 지도자들은 춤을 추거나 싸이와 악수를 하지 않으면 흐름에 뒤쳐지게 된다"며 "심지어 이탈리아 의류업체들은 모델들에게 한국, 일본, 중국 스타일을 연출하도록 하고 있다"고 말했다.

이 세미나에는 파이분 피따센 탐마삿 대학 아시아연구센터 한국학회 소장, 홍지희 한태상공회의소 부회장이 패널로 참가해 토론을 벌였으며, 연예산업 관계자, 학자, 언론인 등 100여명이 참가했다.

파이분 소장은 "강남스타일이 큰 히트를 친 것은 코미디를 뮤직비디오의 형태로 활용했기 때문"이라며 "싸이는 비디오에 재미있게 등장함으로써 시청자들을 즐겁게 만들고 있다"고 분석했다.

홍 부회장은 "싸이는 연구와 개발을 계속하는 등 피나는 노력 끝에 마침내 세계와 경쟁할 수 있었다"며 "한국인은 매우 야심이 큰데, 그의 성공은 그러한 불굴의 의지에서 나왔다"고 강조했다.

홍 부회장은 싸이와 강남스타일이 5년전에 나왔더라면 지금처럼 주목받지 못했을 것이라면서 싸이가 독특한 개성을 보여주며 한국의 현대적인 연예인을 대표한다고 설명했다.

더 네이션은 강남스타일이 이달 26일 현재 유튜브에서 14억6천만뷰를 기록함으로써 유튜브 사상 최다 뷰를 기록했다고 전했다.

신문에 따르면 유튜브에서 강남스타일을 가장 많이 본 20개국 중 7개국이 동남아시아 국가로 필리핀(2위), 인도네시아 (5위), 말레이시아(6위), 태국(11위), 싱가포르(13위), 베트남(16위), 캄보디아(19위)의 순서다.