We’d like to share some comments from Heejeh Ahn, a young Korean writer and cultural critic who came from Korea at his own expense to attend the conference for the full three days from beginning to end. Ahn is interested in illness, disability, and popular culture. He is the author of Love Hesitates: K-pop Idol Scandal and Fascinated Publics (2023), The (Incurable) Imagination of Nanchi (2020) and Plant Time (2021). On his return to Korea, he shared the following insightful remarks:

“A common question is, ‘How far can Hallyu go?’. I believe that the conference’s structure provides an answer to the topic after three days of the ‘Surface Tension’ conference at UdeM. Hallyu is frequently reduced to a few popular Korean works and their impact on the cultural sector; this is interpreted as the Korean government’s ‘soft power’. However, discussions at this conference covered more ground than just soft power or K-Drama or K-Pop. Presentations covered topics such as Korean fine arts in the context of colonization and industrialization, documentaries on environmental activism and critical analyses of the relationship between platform capitalism and Korean content.

Above all, on the final day of the conference, there were films about Chinatown gentrification inNorth America and Korea’s problems with adoption abroad. The conference’s contents themselves demonstrate that Hallyu can and ought to serve as a starting point for cross-cultural interactions. Hallyu is a combination of the words ‘Han’ (Korea)’ and ‘Ryu’ (wave). This has always been about cross-cultural interactions and changes that occur. Hallyu is partially an initiative of Korean companies and government, it’s true. But like any cultural movement, Hallyu undergoes surprising transformations. The things that Hallyu inadvertently creates are what we need to pay attention to.”

- Heejeh Ahn, writer and cultural critic.

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