, <\/em>examines China\u2019s 2016 ban on Korean television shows, pop idols, and entertainment exports.<\/p>\nAlthough the sanctions were never formally declared, Chinese firms cancelled co-productions, suspended Korean celebrity appearances, and halted the import of TV dramas, films and K-pop concerts.<\/p>\n
As a result, Korean TV exports to China collapsed by 99% between 2016 and 2018, and dozens of projects were abandoned mid-production.<\/p>\n
Dr Kim conducted in-depth interviews with 35 producers, investors, broadcasters and policymakers in the Korean television industry. Their experiences revealed the extent to which global entertainment depends on fragile diplomatic ties.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany producers described feeling \u2018blindsided\u2019 by how quickly a political dispute wiped out their largest overseas market,\u201d said Dr Kim.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeveral companies went bankrupt, while others shifted toward Western partners such as Netflix and Disney+, reshaping the global flow of Korean content.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Korean Limitation Order shows that globalization hasn\u2019t erased national borders in media.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cWhen politics and nationalism collide with culture, production networks can collapse overnight. This was not only an economic crisis for Korea but a reminder that diplomacy still decides what the world watches.\u201d<\/p>\n
The study highlights how China\u2019s use of cultural trade as leverage – what scholars often call \u2018soft coercion\u2019 \u2013 exposed deep vulnerabilities in the Korean Wave (Hallyu), the global popularity of Korean pop culture.<\/p>\n
It also prompted Korean producers to rethink their dependence on foreign markets and diversify their partnerships to reduce political risk.<\/p>\n
Many participants in the project started questioning China as a reliable market, with one producer saying, \u201cAs long as politics decides who can buy our shows, the Chinese market might as well not exist.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beyond the Korean case, Dr Kim\u2019s findings raise wider questions about cultural globalization.<\/p>\n
Despite the rise of global streaming platforms, media flows remain tightly bound to diplomacy, nationalism, and state power.<\/p>\n
For policymakers and the creative industries alike, the study offers a clear message: political stability and cultural openness remain essential for sustainable international collaboration and for promoting creative industries, considering the level of market integration and the fundamental role of culture as a political instrument for the state.<\/p>\n
The paper has been published in the journal, Media, Culture & Society<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\nENDS<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n
Notes for editors<\/h2>\n
Press release reference number: 25\/154<\/p>\n
\n
Loughborough is one of the country\u2019s leading universities, with an international reputation for research that matters, excellence in teaching, strong links with industry, and unrivalled achievement in sport and its underpinning academic disciplines.
It has been awarded five stars in the independent QS Stars university rating scheme and named the best university in the world for sports-related subjects in the 2025 QS World University Rankings \u2013 the ninth year running.<\/p>\n
Loughborough has been ranked seventh in the Complete University Guide 2026 \u2013 out of 130 institutions.<\/p>\n
This milestone marks a decade in the top ten for Loughborough \u2013 a feat shared only by the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, LSE, St Andrews, Durham and Imperial.<\/p>\n
Loughborough was also named University of the Year for Sport in the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2025 – the fourth time it has been awarded the prestigious title.<\/p>\n
In the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021 over 90% of its research was rated as \u2018world-leading\u2019 or \u2018internationally-excellent\u2019. In recognition of its contribution to the sector, Loughborough has been awarded seven Queen Elizabeth Prizes for Higher and Further Education.<\/p>\n
The Loughborough University London campus is based on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and offers postgraduate and executive-level education, as well as research and enterprise opportunities. It is home to influential thought leaders, pioneering researchers and creative innovators who provide students with the highest quality of teaching and the very latest in modern thinking.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n
\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.lboro.ac.uk \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 2016, China banned South Korean television shows, pop idols and entertainment exports after Seoul allowed US missile systems on its territory. The move, known as the Korean Limitation Order, collapsed the market in China, costing the industry millions of dollars. China\u2019s growing influence on global culture has now become a key tool of diplomacy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2171742,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2171741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/When-Korea-defied-Chinas-security-demands-it-targeted-its-entertainment.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2171741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2171741"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2171741\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2171743,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2171741\/revisions\/2171743"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2171742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2171741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2171741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2171741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}