The “1st Hallyu Research Student Day” academic event was held at the IBK Communication Center, Seoul National University, from 1:00 PM to 6:15 PM on December 20, 2024. It was jointly organized by the Seoul National University Institute for Contemporary Korean Studies and the Hallyu Research Center at the Seoul National University Asia Research Institute.  

This event was organized to discover and nurture the next generation of Hallyu researchers, reflecting the reality that many students are actively producing academic texts with a keen interest in Korean popular culture and the Hallyu phenomenon. Following a call for papers targeting Seoul National University students, numerous students applied, and ultimately 11 teams were selected as award winners. The selected teams presented their research on the day of the event and engaged in discussions about their work with panelists.
The event commenced with an opening address by Professor Hong Seok-Kyeong of the Department of Journalism and Communication, Director of the Hallyu Research Center, and was structured into three sessions. Session 1 featured presentations by three teams discussing new methodologies applicable to Hallyu research, with Chaeria (Seoul National University) and Sojeong Park (Hanyang University) serving as discussants. Session 2, the K-pop session, featured presentations by four teams discussing communities, technology, and cultural hybridity within the K-pop sphere. This session was discussed by Soyoon Lee(University of Chicago) and Ko Yun-hwa (Seoul National University). 

The final session focused on dramas, with four teams presenting research highlighting the textuality/intertextuality of K-dramas. Su-ah Kim(Seoul National University) and Ji-young Seo(Seoul National University) provided commentary.
The Best Paper Award went to Min-bae Lee, a student in the Department of Journalism and Communication. His presentation, titled ‘Hallyu Dramas Represented in Peripheral Media: An Analysis of Produced by Nigerian Youth,’ deeply analyzed how peripheral media reproduce K-dramas, using the Nigerian-produced Hallyu drama as his research subject.
The Excellence Awards went to Dang Thu Trang from the Graduate School of International Studies and Seo-jeong Bae from the Department of Journalism and Communication. Dang Thu Trang presented on the topic ‘Hallyu as Cultural Hybridization: The Influence of K-pop on the Vietnamese Popular Music Industry’. Seo-jeong Bae presented on 'Understanding the Globalization Strategy of Korean Dramas in the Digital Age Based on the Concept of “Intertextuality”: Focusing on the Analysis of KBS Fusion Historical Drama “Yeonmo”.' 

This <1st Hallyu Research Student Day> served as an opportunity to confirm the diversity and potential for expansion in Hallyu research through the students' innovative studies and passionate presentations. It is anticipated that will uncover many subsequent generations of researchers and further broaden the horizons of Hallyu research.