PERCEPTION AND ADAPTATION OF ‘K-POP CULTURE’ AMONG PAKISTANI YOUTH

Abstract

The Korean Wave (Hallyu) refers to the popularity of South Korea’s cultural economy exporting pop culture, entertainment, music, dramas and movies. The Pakistani youth mostly came to like K-Pop during Covid-19 when BTS’s song “Dynamite” was released on August 20, 2020. There is no research related to K-pop culture influence on Pakistani youth. The research is aimed at finding out the perception of Pakistani youth about K-pop culture and the ways in which K-pop culture is influencing the youth of Pakistan. The 
research design was a quantitative method in which questionnaires were given to people in universities, malls and parks of Rawalpindi. The sample size was 377. Purposive sampling technique was used to choose the sample. The demographics included only 
female youth, aged between 15 to 26, and residents of urban areas. Results show that the relationship between perception and influence is significant and Pakistani youth is following K-Pop culture. Results also show that there is a positive influence of K-Pop 
culture on Pakistani youth. The perception of Pakistani youth about K-Pop culture affects the influence of K-Pop culture on them. It is recommended that future researches can focus on influence and perception about only one group (musical band) or one drama to get a clear understanding.