Globalization turning the tables

K-pop has been establishing a New World Order for the past few years, infiltrating youth culture across the globe with easy to recreate group choreography, anorexia inspiration, fashion less freaky than Harajuku girls, and daring men’s hairstyles that capture 90s goth girl chic.

Korea Herald covers news from RBS TV in Brazil

In Mongolia, boys get haircuts (and dye-jobs) to look like Korean stars, and girls memorize lyrics and dance moves to perform chart topping songs. Politicians and culture keepers here bemoan the proliferation of K-pop and all it brings with it. They say the dramas (there’s bound to be a show dubbed in Mongolian airing on at least three tv channels at any given time) have negative themes about family and the fashions are objectionable, but they’re probably just sick of hearing their grandkids play the same Girls Generation song on their Samsung Galaxy over and over and over.

Outside of the Asia-Pacific region, Brazil has taken to K-pop in a big way, fueled by the internet and international Korean television channels. Pre-dating PSY, K-pop has been a profitable South Korean export that’s helped keep the domestic music industry afloat. Massive concerts, fan conventions, and websites worhsipping K-pop and its ever-changing favorites are growing in number.

The Korea Herald shares this story about a Brazilian K-pop fan who just carried out the inevitable, undergoing plastic surgery to look like his “Oriental” idols.

In your reconstructed FACE, Korean cosmetic surgery industry!!