ABSTRACT
The Australian Diversity Council’s 2015 report Leading in the Asian Century: A National Scorecard of Australia’s Workforce Asia Capability discloses that lack of diversity is a liability for the Australian workforce. While the importance of strong economic and diplomatic links between Australia and Asia is widely agreed on, this is at odds with hegemonic popular culture. Australian popular culture is overwhelmingly anchored within the Anglosphere, with the exception of broadcaster SBS. The proliferation of media content providers in the digital age, however, allows audiences to seek out popular media outside mainstream and broadcast outlets. The small but established popularity of Korean popular culture (hallyu) and music has been enabled by YouTube, music streaming, and file-sharing. Crucially, this allows Australian audiences to explore popular culture beyond the Anglosphere. Capitalizing on K-pop’s trendiness, Korean language courses and institutes (such as the Sejong Institute) have seen significant growth. This chapter explores the K-pop audience in Sydney, and how interest in it affects perspectives and behaviours beyond music. It finds that K-pop provides an access point for audiences to increase their knowledge of Korean and East Asian culture as well as the Korean language, stimulating interest and engagement with Asia.
