But Squid Game isn’t a total anomaly. The Korean series is one chapter in a larger story with its own name and history: a seismic, ongoing shift in the global entertainment landscape known as Hallyu.

Korean-made series have continued to dominate viewership on Netflix, following on from the breakout successes of “Squid Game” and “Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha” in 2021. For ten of the 13 weeks in the first ...

I was on the verge of failing Mandarin, when a last-second pivot caused me to utterly fall in love with Korean culture, and send me in a totally new direction ...