K-pop is no longer a cult phenomenon in the U.S.

Here I am a week after leaving Korea for the great American adventure, in a sports arena filled with 15,000 fans screaming “Gee Gee Gee Gee” at the top of their lungs. The rather large male Caucasian standing in front of the stage has been waving a sign saying Tiffany, one of the singers in the K-pop group Girl’s Generation, practically for the last two hours.

Attending KCON 2014, a two-day Korean pop culture extravaganza put on by CJ Group in L.A. was a way to placate my two teenage daughters who I have been dragging around the city apartment-searching for the past week. And since L.A. is not downtown Seoul, I could not send them alone and had to chaperone.

But finding myself in the center of the K-pop craze, in the heart of L.A., I wonder, “Is K-pop my U.S. salvation?”

Already the signs are there. Looking around for a good middle and high school for my girls, a resident tells me that even though they speak almost no English, they should have no trouble at all. “Just last semester, a seventh-grader from Korea became one of the most popular kids in school because he personally knew one of the singers in a K-pop group,” she says. Uhmmm ... Maybe all the hours the girls spent practicing their K-pop dance moves instead of studying may pay off after all.

During my years as president of Arirang TV and Radio, I have been surprised over and over again by just how globally popular K-pop has become.

When Arirang launched a live K-pop request show, just over a year ago, using Google Hangout, Facebook and Twitter to reach fans around the world, we wondered nervously if anyone would bother to interact. Turns out, we had nothing to worry about. During the first year, we broke many records, once being informed by Twitter that for our live show with the K-pop group EXO, it recorded the highest traffic that was not related to a natural disaster.

Finally, Arirang had to add on an extra show at a different time of the day, not only because they could not accommodate the traffic, but also because they were keeping young fans in certain parts of the world up until all hours of the night, as they tried to converse online with their K-pop groups.

And yet, I forgot how powerful a tool this could be. Adjacent to the K-pop concert area, KCON also had a marketplace, where all things K-pop- and Korea-related were being sold. Along with the idol posters and the ridiculously overpriced T-shirts were the Korean popular snack of tteokbokki, (spicy hot rice cakes) and sundae (Korean-type sausages). And of course bulgogi (beef marinated Korean style) hamburgers, hotdogs and tacos.

Even during the concerts, most of the K-pop singers not only thanked the fans for loving their songs, but also “loving Korean culture,” to quote the BTS (Bangtan Boys) lead singer.

Now, many people, mostly adults, shun the influence of K-pop, and say it won’t last long. This may be true, but K-pop, in whatever form, has now been around for more than a decade. And with Psy’s mainstream breakthrough, it is no longer a cult phenomenon.

Teenagers around the world who fell in love with H.O.T. are now in their 20s falling in love with all aspects of Korea. They are learning Korean and heading to Korean universities. They could well be consumers who will appreciate Korean culture and buy Korean products.

It is not a matter of waiting for the K-pop craze to end, but figuring out what to do with it while it is still strong.

So shouldn’t Koreans, or even non-Koreans who have firsthand exposure to one of this generation’s hottest global trends, be thinking of ways to make use of K-pop and Korean popular culture to endear themselves and further whatever they hope to do outside of Korea?

Shouldn’t Korean companies already be doing just that?

But I am afraid that except for a few Korean companies like CJ, hardly any have really brainstormed and implemented marketing and advertising campaigns that utilize the various possibilities that K-pop has to offer. One PR executive working for a Korean cosmetics company lamented on the lack of aggressive marketing that her client had the potential to do. “They just don’t want to take the risk of aligning themselves too closely with K-pop.”

For my part, the Hispanic bartender at the KCON lounge (my sanctuary during this trying period) said her son was a major K-pop fan. What did she think? “I like it,” she says. “They are happy songs. And so much better than the other things they could listen to,” she says as she pours an extra shot of vodka.

Uhmmm ...

Right then and there, the decision was made. I was planning to throw a house-warming party after we found a house. Now, definitely the music will be K-pop. “Gee, Gee, Gee, Gee.”

By Sohn Jie-ae

Sohn Jie-ae is a visiting scholar at the University of Southern California as well as a visiting professor at Ewha Womans University. She was formerly the president of Arirang TV and Radio. ― Ed.