Mass Media Technologies and Popular Music Genres: K-pop and YouTube

오인규,이효정 한국학중앙연구원 한국학중앙연구원 2013 Korea Journal Vol.53 No.4

Sociological studies of the music industry emphasize the importance of mass media technologies in the birth of a new popular music genre. However, these studies have not fully explained the business structure of new media and new popular music. They also failed to predict K-pop’s global success via YouTube and iTunes. The emergence of Internet-based music stores and music video streaming sites, particularly YouTube, has a strong connection to Korean content as it allows Korean artists to bypass conventional music distributors who control business-to-customer music distribution channels in the United States and Europe. The emergence of the digital economy powered by PCs and smartphones, ushered in a new era of business-to-business music distribution, thus minimizing transaction costs of the global music business for Korean entertainment firms. This article argues that K-pop producers, with no alternative channels for distributing their music to global audiences for profit, actively chose YouTube for its free music distribution despite its low-profit margins from royalty fees. J-pop and American pop music distributors, however, avoided YouTube because the profit margin from YouTube was far lower than from traditional media, such as CDs and iTunes, giving K-pop primary standing in the niche market.

The Use of Feed-forward and Feedback Learning in Firm-University Knowledge Development: The Case of Japan

오인규 아시아기술혁신학회 2012 Asian Journal of Innovation and Policy Vol.1 No.1

The problem Japanese universities face is exactly the same as that of German universities: no international recognition in world rankings of universities despite their high levels of postwar economic and technological developments. This was indeed one reason why world-class Japanese firms, such as Toyota and Sony, have avoided working closely with Japanese universities for R&D partnership and new technology commercialization. To resolve this problem, the Japanese government has continuously implemented aggressive policies of the internationalization, privatization, liberalization, and privatization of universities since the onset of the economic recession in 1989 in order to revitalize the Japanese economy through radical innovation projects between universities and firms. National projects of developing medical robots for Japan’s ageing society are some of the ambitious examples that emphasize feed-forward learning in innovation. However, this paper argues that none of these programs of fostering university-firm alliances toward feed-forward learning has been successful in promoting the world ranking of Japanese universities, although they showed potentials of reinforcing their conventional strength of introducing kaizen through feedback learning of tacit knowledge. It is therefore argued in this paper that Japanese universities and firms should focus on feedback learning as a way to motivate firm-university R&D alliances.

Comparing State Economic Ideologies and Business Ethics in East Asia

오인규 한국학술연구원 2014 Korea Observer Vol.45 No.3

This special issue deals with modes of ethical persuasion in both public and private sectors of the national economy in East Asia from the periods of the 14 th century to the modern era. Authors in this volume ask how and why governments in pre-modern Joseon Korea, modern Korea, and modern Japan used moral persuasions of different kinds in designing national economic institutions. Our case studies demonstrate that the concept of modes of exchange first developed by John Lie (1992) provides a more convincing explanation on the evolution of pre-modern and modern economic institutions compared with Marx’s modes of production as histori- cally-specific social relations or Smith’s free market as a terminal stage of human economic development. The pre-modern and modern cases presented in this volume reveal that different modes of exchange have coexisted throughout human history, contrary to deterministic and Eurocentric views of economic history. Further- more, business ethics or corporate social responsibility is not a purely European economic ideology, because manorial, market, entrepreneurial, and mercantilist moral persuasions had widely been used by state rulers and policymakers in East Asia for their programs of advancing dissimilar modes of exchange. In a similar vein, the domination of the market and entrepreneurial modes in the 21 st century world is also complemented by other competing modes of exchange, such as state welfarism, public sector economies, and protectionism.

Torn Between Two Lovers: Retrospective Learning and Melancholia among Japanese Women

오인규 한국학술연구원 2011 Korea Observer Vol.42 No.2

The objective of this paper is to analyze the psychological motivation behind the retrospective learning that is integral to the consumption of popular culture produced by former colonial countries. In particular, the paper addresses the question of retrospective learning involved in the consumption of Korean popular culture called “Hallyu” by some Japanese women. A cultural genre that includes Korean TV dramas, popular music, films, food and drink,and language, Hallyu began receiving the attention of Japanese women in the mid-2000s; its consumption has now transformed into a broad-based popular trend among young and mature generations of women in Japan. I focus on retrospective learning patterns that surface only after members of a certain culture feel alienated from or frustrated with progressive learning efforts promoted earlier by Western cultures. On this basis, I argue that the motivation among middle-aged Japanese women to retrospectively learn about the somewhat nostalgic or even backward Korean popular culture is derived from their sense of lost identity as Asian women, sense of separation from their traditional Japanese values caused by the Westernization of their culture, or the feeling that they are masquerading as honorary “white” women. Rediscovering their lost identity through Hallyu allows their gendered and racialized melancholia to manifest and motivates them to engage in retrospective learning in an effort to recover their old identities.

Hallyu: The Rise of Transnational Cultural Consumers in China and Japan

오인규 한국학술연구원 2009 Korea Observer Vol.40 No.3

This paper explains the birth and development of the Hallyu phenomenon in East Asia, using power (center vs. periphery), class (proximity to vs. distance from the mode of production), ethnicity (cultural superiority vs. inferiority), age (forward vs. retrospective learning), and gender (male vs. feminine) as key factors. The study finds that class, gender, and ethnicity variables are commonly found among Hallyu consumers in Taiwan, China, and Japan, although the ethnicity variable changes constantly according to the success or failure of Hallyu. Conceived as the working class female viewers who try to find the universal East Asian entertainment content that can satisfy the desire of both forward and retrospective learning, Hallyu fans have clearly manifested their agreement that Korean dramas, films, and popular music were acceptable as a midpoint between forward and retrospective learning. The capitalist logic of producing and disseminating Hallyu is to cash in on this demand from East Asian women. This paper argues that the success of Hallyu depends on the continuity of the new role of East Asian women as transnational consumers and learners of popular culture for inter-ethnic cultural understanding. The role of middle-aged Japanese women as leading transnational consumers of Hallyu through retrospective learning is critical in this process, although incorporating the East Asian male population into the Hallyu campaign is also imperative for its future viability.

민족감정의 극복과 한류 소비현상 - 한류 드라마의 반일․반중 묘사와 일본․중국 관객의 반응 -

오인규,김인숙 한일경상학회 2016 韓日經商論集 Vol.71 No.-

The extant marketing studies on Hallyu consumption by Japanese and Chinese Hallyu fans fail to recognize the importance of gender; therefore, these studies neglect an important question of why female Hallyu fans are leading Hallyu consumption in these two countries. This article borrows previous research results in humanities and social sciences, such as the concept of “melancholia” to analyze why female Hallyu fans became victims of melancholia and how they are leading Hallyu consumption in Japan and China as victims of melancholia. We collected blog entries or other comments on the internet by female Hallyu fans in order to scan and analyze their reactions to anti-Japanese and anti-Chinese contents shown in Hallyu dramas. The result shows that Japanese female Hallyu fans carry out retrospective learning that was motivated by Hallyu and melancholia. This allows Japanese female Hallyu fans to be generous to Hallyu dramas and even motivating them to learn more about Korean history that is contradictory to their nationalism. They even think that Korean dramas are much more pro-women than Japanese dramas. However, Chinese female Hallyu fans carry out forward learning motivated by Hallyu and melanchoia, making them susceptable to nationalism. They are very critical of Hallyu dramas that show anti-Chinese contents. Therefore, Chinese fans prefer modern Hallyu dramas over historical ones and wish to visit and learn modern and present Korea and Seoul. This result indicates that there is a huge difference between Chinese and Japanese Hallyu fans, even as melancholia leads to two different types of learning and Hallyu consumption, such as retrospective and forward learning. 일본과 중국의 한류 팬들에 의한 한류 소비에 대한 마케팅학적 선행연구에서는 그들의 성적 정체성에 대한 관심이 부족하여, 이 두 나라에서 한류 소비자들의 대다수는 여성이라는 점과, 왜 여성들이 한류 소비의 주체로 나서게 되었는가에 대한 연구결과가 빈약하다. 본 연구에서는 인문․사회과학에서 진행되었던 ‘멜랑콜리아’ 연구를 빌려와, 일본과 중국의 여성 한류 팬들이 왜 멜랑콜리아의 피해자가 되었는지, 그리고 한류 드라마가 어떻게 매개체가 되어 한국의 한류 학습과 소비에 영향을 미치는가를 분석한다. 인터넷상에서 일본과 중국의 여성 한류 팬들의 블로그나 수기들을 스캔하여, 반일․반중 드라마를 시청하고 나서의 반응을 분석하였다. 일본의 여성들은 한류가 멜랑콜리아를 통해 회고형 학습을 유도하는 매개체 역할을 하여 반일 드라마에 대해서 관대하면서도, 더욱 더 한국의 역사나 문화를 배워야 하며, 심지어는 한류 드라마가 일본의 드라마보다도 더 여성의 입장에 서서 한국 사회를 묘사하고 있다고 생각한다. 반면, 중국의 여성 한류 팬들은 선진형 학습을 통해 반중 한류 드라마에 대해 비판적이며 민족주의를 극복하고 있지 못하고 있다. 그러므로 중국인이 묘사되고 있지 않은 현대극을 더 선호하며, 반중 드라마를 보더라도 현재의 서울, 현재의 한국을 방문하고 공부하고 싶다는 의견을 보여 주고 있다. 이 결과를 바탕으로 우리는 한류 소비에 있어 일본과 중국의 차이를 확인할 수 있었고, 멜랑콜리아가 선진형 학습과 회고형 학습으로 각기 다른 방향으로 문화학습과 소비의 형태를 야기하고 있다는 사실도 확인할 수 있었다.

다중 주파수 밴드 간섭함수와 스펙트럼 차감법을 이용한 음성 향상 시스템

오인규,이인성,Oh, Inkyu,Lee, Insung 한국음향학회 2019 韓國音響學會誌 Vol.38 No.4

This paper proposes a speech enhancement method through the process of combining the gain function with spectrum subtraction method in the two microphone array with close spacing. A speech enhancement method that uses a gain function estimated by the SNR (Signal-to Noise Ratio) based on the multi frequency band coherence function causes the performance degradation in high correlation between input noises of two channels. A new speech enhancement method is proposed where the weighted gain function is used by combining the gain function from the spectral subtraction. The performance evaluation of the proposed method was shown by comparison with PESQ (Perceptual Evaluation of Speech Quality) value which is an objective quality evaluation test provided by the ITU-T (International Telecommunications Union Telecommunication). In the PESQ tests, the maximum 0.217 of PESQ value is improved in the various background noise environments. 본 논문은 두 개의 마이크로폰 환경에서 다중 주파수 대역 이득함수와 주파수 차감법을 결합하여 배경잡음을 억제하는 방법을 제안하였다. 다중 주파수 대역 신호대잡음비 추정을 통해 이득 함수를 얻는 음성 향상 방법은 두 채널 간 잡음신호의 상관성이 큰 경우 잡음 제거 성능이 떨어지는 단점을 가지고 있다. 하나의 채널 에서 스펙트럼 차감법을 통해 얻은 이득함수와 간섭함수 기반의 신호대잡음비 추정을 통해서 얻은 이득함수를 결합하여 가중된 이득함수를 사용하는 음성 향상 방법을 제안하였다. 제안된 방법은 ITU-T(International Telecommunications Union Telecommunication)의 객관적인 품질 평가 방법인 PESQ(Perceptual Evaluation of Speech Quality) 시험과 스펙트로그램을 사용하여 성능 평가 되어졌고 PESQ시험에서 최대 MOS 0.217의 음질 향상을 얻을 수 있었다.

The Globalization of K-pop: Korea’s Place in the Global Music Industry

오인규 한국학술연구원 2013 Korea Observer Vol.44 No.3

K-Pop is a new buzz word in the global music industry. Korean pop singers such as TVQX, SNSD, Wonder Girls, and Psy currently attract unprecedented followers in Asia, Europe, and North America. The dominant explanation behind this unique cultural phenomenon rests on the concept of cultural hybridity or Pop Asianism (i.e., continuation and expansion of Japanese, Chinese, and Indian subcultures in the global cultural market). I argue that the globalization of K-Pop involves a much more complicated process of globalizinglocalizing-globalizing musical content that originates from Europe than what hybridity or Pop Asianism arguments suggest. Specifically,the rise of K-Pop in the global music industry involves a new technique of locating new musical content in Europe or elsewhere,modifying it into Korean content, and then redistributing it on a global scale. Furthermore, K-Pop represents an effort to network global talent pools and social capital in the formerly disconnected music industry rather than an effort to emulate and slightly modify Japanese pop culture. As such, within the global music industry,Korea occupies a structural hole that exists between Western and East Asian music industries.

A League of their Own: Female Supporters of Hallyu and Korea.Japan Relations

오인규,이충묵 인하대학교 국제관계연구소 2014 Pacific Focus Vol.29 No.2

Many researchers agree that Hallyu (the Korean Wave) has been pivotal in promoting a positive Korean national image worldwide, including in Japan, due to Hallyu’s unique cultural power, which has touched the hearts of many female fans. However, scholars disagree on the effectiveness of Hallyu as a reliable soft power for Korean public diplomacy. The attractiveness of Hallyu seems to have decidedly waned in Japan amid the emergence of the second Abe cabinet, which did not curtail routinized large-scale anti-Hallyu demonstrations in Tokyo. Simultaneously, the Abe government is strongly asserting Japan’s new identity as a normal state that could maintain a standing army, while openly engaging in territorial disputes with neighbors and denying wartime atrocities through routine cabinet-level visits to the Yasukuni Shrine. We argue, however, that Hallyu soft power has an enduring impact on the large number of female supporters of Hallyu in Japan, including Abe’s spouse, by empowering them in politics and international relations as a new feminine power group. Unlike the traditional patrimonial households, where Japanese fathers inculcate a strong sense of anti-Korea discourse in their children, the new Hallyu “moms” are now decidedly training their children to be politically neutral and culturally appreciative of Korea. We find that Hallyu, as a cultural alternative to the male-dominated Japanese pop culture, is gaining unremitting popular support among Japanese women who are disgruntled over Japan’s “lost decades.”

Knowledge Integration Capabilities of Japanese Companies

오인규,ShigemiYONEYAMA,김혁래 Inderscience 2004 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AN Vol.3 No.1