Forget BTS, South Korea has other talents to attract tourists

The Ambiguous Dance Company dancing at a tourist spot in Mokpo. — Photos: YouTube

I want to go to South Korea. Not because of BTS, or Squid Game or whatever K-drama is hot right now.

I want to go because I saw a series of very cool and engaging advertisements by the Korea Tourism Organisation (KTO) while browsing YouTube one day.

I have been to South Korea twice, and even though I loved both visits, I was never in a hurry to return for a third trip before the pandemic.

It’s a different story now, though. Coupled with my desire to go on a long-haul flight – to anywhere – this yearning for a trip to South Korea becomes stronger each time I come across any of the promotional clips. On average, the clips run for 90 seconds, and I never skip them even after the first five seconds.

Yes, they are that cool, partly because of the hip-hop music featured in them.

Over the years, KTO’s advertisements have transitioned from dry documentary-style and infotainment videos to long scripted vlogs and later, short and vibrant clips much like a TikTok post or Instagram story.

On the KTO YouTube channel called Imagine Your Korea, you can find playlists and clips that date back to 2012, but they are nowhere near as fun as the ones released in the past two years.

A lot of the older clips feature Hallyu stars like Song Joong-ki and EXO (the BTS of yesteryear), while the newer ones feature Yoona, Itzy, 2Days & 1Night, Leenalchi, and the Ambiguous Dance Company.

The official TV commercial with Song – at one point, Korean showbiz’s most popular actor – hit 44 million views on YouTube. But Song only filmed for a single 60-second video, which was then cut into a handful of teaser clips. If you watch the commercial now, you probably won’t be too inclined to make that trip to the republic.

Regular folks were roped in to star in the Seoul video featuring a re-imagined version of the Korean folk song Arirang.

Meanwhile, the video series called Feel The Rhythm Of Korea (Season One) featuring singer Leenalchi, and the Ambiguous Dance Company, has an average of 45 million views. There are seven videos altogether in this season.

This series was launched in July last year and highlights cities like Busan, Andong, Mokpo and Jeonju. In each video, the dance group shows off some quirky moves (not unlike Psy’s “horse dance” in Gangnam Style) to the beat of a Pansori, a traditional Korean storytelling style, that has been remixed with some funky beats.

The second season with eight new clips was launched in September this year, and it has an average of 22 million views per video. This series features some of Korea’s hottest R&B and hip-hip stars today, including Woodie Gochild, pH-1, Gemini, Jay B, Trade L, Woo, BIG Naughty and Sogumm, with producer GroovyRoom working his magic in all the tracks.

What’s interesting about the music in Season Two of Rhythm Of Korea series is that they are all either classic or traditional Korean songs, reworked to fit the new artists’ musical styles, as well as today’s music trends.

These modern reinterpretations are extended to the clothes worn in the videos too. While they don’t all resemble the Korean hanbok, some of the costumes are updated versions of those seen in Korean period dramas.

Like in the first season, each video highlights either a province, city or district in the country that may be of interest to tourists, both foreign and domestic.

One of these places is Seosan, a coastal city in the country’s west, where you can find one of the world’s biggest mud flats. In the video, a large group of farmers driving their cultivators converge on the mud flats Mad Max-style (minus the violence, obviously).

If you watch the “making of” clips for Rhythm Of Korea – there is a special one for Seosan – you will understand why the production quality for both seasons is so good.

Of course, Seoul has a number of videos dedicated to it, although I for one don’t remember experiencing the city quite like that.

Other new series on the Imagine Your Korea channel include Kingdom Friends, Suzy’s Diary, Luxury Korea and Oddly Satisfying Korea, which would delight fans of ASMR videos.

At the end of all the videos in the newer series are the taglines “cheer up the world” and “meet you soon”. Yes, hopefully, we will.