The unofficial prohibition has been underway for eight years now.
China will probably raise its ban Hallyu (Corean pop culture) soon!
The K-Wave ban in China was imposed in 2017 in retaliation after Korea deployed the Thaad (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense), a US missile defense system. Although the government has never officially recognized this ban, the distribution of Korean content within the country has actually been limited in the last eight years. Any export of Korean cultural products to China currently requires the approval of the Chinese authorities and it has been said that requests are often denied without clear reasons.
However, due to a sudden change in diplomatic strategies, China said it wants “expand cultural exchanges “ with South Korea and “fully resume cultural cooperation already in May. ” This move will probably end the restrictions on South Korean content in the country, including dramas, films, games and k-pop concerts.
According to the estimates of the KDB Future Strategy Research Institute, an affiliate of the State Korea development bank, China’s ban on Korean content has caused losses up to ₩ 22.0 trillions of KRW (about $ 15.3 billion of USD) at Korean industries related to 2017 alone in 2017.
China’s overall diplomacy towards South Korea is also seeing a quick turn. Last year, China included Korea in its list of registration without visas for the first time since 1992 seen for tourists of the Chinese group that arrive in Korea.
During his meeting with the speaker of the National Corean Assembly Woo won Shik February 7, President XI Jinping he observed, “Cultural exchanges are a precious part of our bilateral relationships. We should avoid any problem in managing these issues. ” According to analysts, the move to raise the ban on Korean content has also shown that the country no longer perceives the K wave as a serious threat to its content sector.
