Seoul’s leading professional network

The “Korean wave” or hallyu has seen the global popularity of South Korea’s culture rise since the 1990s.  The success of pop music and television shows is part of an overhaul in the arts and entertainment sectors to explicitly project cultural power.  As streaming services, 5G and digital transformation underpin the commercial success of K-entertainment, we discuss what businesses in other industries stand to win (or lose).

Over the last decade many pending issues between the South Korean and Japanese governments have been caused by structural change and foreign policy failure. Korea-Japan relations hit a record low under the Moon Administration.  Now, President Yoon has positioned the improvement of diplomatic ties as one of the top priorities in his agenda.  How can Korea-Japan relations change and what are the implications for businesses?

Some companies are investing heavily in “metaversal” projects, but the tangible applications are nowhere to be seen; perhaps because they are indistinguishable from automation, a more intuitive concept. How do these two things differ? What are companies doing in the metaverse and how is it working? Should companies start investing now or had they better wait and see?

As China’s self-imposed zero-covid restraint drags on, global players are shifting part of their logistics operations to other countries. “Trusted allies” of the US have been called to strengthen trade relations to shore up global supply chains, hampered by covid-19 and worsened by Russia’s war in Ukraine. How will such alliances reverberate in Japan? What lies in the balance for crucial commodities (e.g. semiconductors) and how will politicians respond?