확장하고 경합하는 K: 국내 언론 보도를 통해 본 K 담론에 대한 분석

초록

With the rise of Hallyu, using the prefix ‘K’ has increased as well. After the term ‘K-pop’ which was coined abroad was imported to Korea in the mid-2000s, ‘K’ has become a common prefix for various cultural content that are gaining popularity abroad, such as K-drama, K-beauty, and K-food. Furthermore, as the word ‘K-quarantine’ was introduced by the Korean government after the outbreak of Covid-19, using ‘K’ has expanded into wider social areas beyond popular culture. Therefore, ‘K’ is more than just an identifier for ‘Korea’, but rather a discursive site where different meanings are conflicting each other. Recognizing the significance of K-words to illuminate the current Korean society, this study seeks to explore the ‘K discourse’ and provide critical analysis of it. What areas and topics are included in K discourse? What social meanings are produced by K discourse? To answer these questions, this study collected 7,639 news articles containing ‘K’ as a keyword in major domestic daily newspapers from 2000 to 2021, using BIGKinds, a Korean news big data collection and analysis system. Then a word cloud analysis was conducted to map out the general features of K discourse. The articles were classified into 11 categories: pop, policy, beauty, economy, content, food, medicine/technology, art/literature/comics, music/performance, value, and others. The analysis of the usage of ‘K’ in each field reveals the various significations of K discourse. In addition, the chronological characteristics of K discourse were examined by dividing it into three periods – beginning, developing, and expanding periods – and the commercialization and politicization of K discourse throughout these periods were discussed. Based on these findings, this paper suggests complexities of K discourse in three dimensions. First, while ‘K’ stemmed from a cultural phenomenon, it has come to signify the market value of commodities, thereby turning attention to the economic effect of Korean content and disregarding its cultural aspects. Second, while ‘K’ is used in the context of transnational cultural acceptance of Korean content, on the other hand, it is also utilized by the Korean government, thus reinforcing its nationalist implications. Finally, ‘K’ originally embeds national pride that Korean content is well received by overseas audiences, but recently it has been appropriated by the public to criticize the backwardness of Korean society. The insights gained from this study provide a critical perspective on market-centered or nationalist aspects of the K discourse and propose the need for an in-depth examination of the power and ideology surrounding it.

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