ABSTRACT
The regional governments in Korea invest heavily to entice film and television dramas to film in their provinces. Between 2000 and 2005, some 31 film sets were built in 25 cities and counties, with the investment of regional governments totaling 49 billion Korean won (approximately US$52 million) (Ministry of Culture and Tourism 2006). Many of the provinces have the prospects of tourism in mind. Faced with a dismaying decline in inbound tourism due to SARS, the Iraq War and the ongoing North Korean nuclear controversy, the Korean tourism industry had launched an aggressive campaign exploiting the unexpected popularity of Korean popular culture in Asia known as hallyu or the ‘Korea Wave.’ By March of 2005, when Japan re-ignited latent postcolonial hostilities by voicing territorial claims over Takeshima, an uninhabitable island known to Koreans as Tokto, elation over the unforeseen success of hallyu tourism to Korea, in particular to Kangwpn province, was at an all-time high. Amidst the mood of heightened nationalism and political anxiety, the controversy threatened to stall the momentum gained from events born of the reconciliatory spirit between the two nations such as the ‘Visit Korea-Japan Year,’ ‘Visit Kangwpn Province Year,’ and the Korean Wave Tourism Campaign, organized by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in cooperation with the state-run Korea Tourism Organization (KTO). And at first glance, it would appear that it did.
