Culture and artillery shells wash around the world: the unlikely alliance between Ukraine and South Korea.  T

The Counteroffensive with Tim Mak

Why Ukrainians love K-pop (and Korean artillery shells)

Korea has been a great help to Ukraine during a full-scale war. And Ukraine repays it with a crazy love for Korean culture: K-pop, dramas, cosmetics and food.

Myroslava Tanska-Vikulova and Mariana Lastovyria

Sep 07, 2024

The greatest thing that K-pop has given Oleksandra and Rita is a strong friendship that has lasted for years.

First, they separately started listening to the music of the most famous Korean band BTS, then they collected postcards about Korean culture. 

Then they found each other. 

In recent years, South Korean culture, particularly K-pop, has taken deep root in Ukraine, with thousands of fans embracing not only the music but also Korean dramas, cosmetics, food, and entertainment. 

This cultural connection comes as South Korea quietly becomes one of Ukraine's key military aid partners, despite Seoul's official policy against providing direct support to countries at war. As Ukraine faces a critical shortage of artillery shells in its war against Russia, South Korea has emerged as a significant player, indirectly supplying more shells to Ukraine than the entire European Union. 

And while South Korea has taken the path of helping Ukraine, its adversary North Korea has been an active and vocal supporter of Russia. Pyongyang has sent Moscow thousands of containers that could contain about five million pieces of artillery ammunition. 

North Korea and Russia signed an agreement that includes a mutual commitment to provide immediate military assistance if one of them is attacked. 

In response, the South Korean government hinted that it may enhance its aid to Ukraine – a country where its cultural diplomacy is dominant.

Oleksandra Petukhova first tried listening to K-pop in 2013. It wasn't popular then. At first she didn't like it – she thought it was some kind of children's song.

And then she saw a photo of a very handsome guy on a website, who Oleksandra thought was a model. When she started looking for more information about him, she found out that he was Kai, a member of the Korean band Exo. 

"I thought, okay, maybe I'll listen to at least one of their songs. The video and the song were a bit strange, but for some reason, I thought it was pretty cool, it was completely different from what I had imagined," Oleksandra said. 

She continued with a laugh: "It turned out that he was not the only one [who was attractive]. After that, I started listening to them.”

A few years later, Oleksandra's love for K-pop music faded. But when the coronavirus pandemic started, she became depressed: one day, while flipping through her Tiktok, she came across a video that reminded her of K-pop. 

She wondered what had happened to her favorite bands, and came back to K-pop. 

That's how Oleksandra became a fan of the most famous Korean band BTS. She’s such a big K-pop fan that she’s traveled around the world to go to their concerts.

Meanwhile, Rita Kyruta started getting into K-pop in 2019. That's when she came across a teaser for the BTS song “Shadow” in her YouTube recommendations. 

BTS captivated Rita so much that she even got a tattoo of a phrase from one of their songs right above her heart: Love Yourself. 

"It's about self-love. You're strong, you can do it, and that's what really sustained me," Rita said, continuing: "It was a gift from my mom for my 23rd birthday. I really wanted to get this tattoo. The writing is in English and in the colors of the BTS album. 13 colors – [one] for each letter of the phrase," Rita said enthusiastically. 

Over time, Rita started listening to BTS less. Her new favorite band became TXT [Tomorrow X Together]. And that's how she developed a love for collecting Korean postcards.

"I had the best collection of TXT cards in Ukraine," Rita boasted. 

When the band has sales of albums or other merchandise, they put cards with everything. There are limited numbers, and they can only be pre-ordered for one day, and then they aren’t available anywhere else. 

Rita couldn't resist. She bought them all. 

This is how Rita met Oleksandra. Rita bought these cards from abroad and then handed them out to girls who ordered them in Kyiv. 

Now the girls dream of a trip to South Korea. In the meantime, South Korea itself is replenishing Ukraine's budget. 

In 2024, South Korea promised to provide Ukraine with a $2.3 billion aid package. Seoul also promised to provide $12 million for military rehabilitation through the NATO fund.

This includes surgery, psychological treatment, education and training for wounded Ukrainian soldiers.

Korean culture is so popular in Ukraine that K-pop fans don’t have to leave home to attend events celebrating their favorite bands. Rita and Oleksandra went to a birthday greeting for BTS idol J-Hope that was held at a Kyiv mall in 2021. A congratulatory message was displayed on a billboard for the singer. 

It was the first event of its kind in Ukraine and was organized by Alina Matsiurak, a huge K-pop and BTS fan. Dozens of fans gathered, exchanging band symbols and merchandise.

There, Alina met other K-pop fans, and together, they formed Ukraine's largest BTS fan base. They started to expand, organizing various events, including festivals and parties at home in Ukraine. 

"We wanted to take part in such events ourselves. We organized the first party because we wanted to party ourselves," said Anastasiia Kicha, co-founder of the fan group. 

The first party was scheduled for March 9, 2022. People bought tickets en masse. However due to the outbreak of the full-scale invasion, the event had to be canceled. 

After a delay, it was finally held in September 2022, attracting nearly 350 people, much less than originally expected. As a lot of people fled from Ukraine, some were afraid to go to the party because of Russian attacks.

Since then, Anastasiia and Alina have organized around ten more parties, every two or three months. At each party, the girls collect some money for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Each time more and more people come to the events.

Korean dramas have also made their mark in Ukraine. Olha Vakulko, 24, from Western Ukraine, has been watching them for ten years, calling them masterpieces for their detailed storytelling and promotion of family values and traditions.

Olha watches dramas exclusively dubbed into Ukrainian, rather than with subtitles. And she can keep up with new episodes, even after the Russian invasion. Creating Ukrainian versions of Korean shows is challenging, especially during wartime. One translation team, Bamboo, was founded by Wen (a pseudonym for security reasons) and her sister in 2014 while studying abroad.

"The lack of nightingale communication and our love for dramas formed a puzzle," said Wen, a co-founder of the community. 

Their Bamboo team translates only Korean dramas. They consist of about 80 people, some of whom are drama fans and some of whom want to popularize the Ukrainian language.

Olga, a fan of Korean dramas, says that food is a vitally important element of their culture. The characters spend a lot of time not just eating alone, but sharing a meal with others – it's part of the relationship with their loved ones.

In 2012, Ukrainian student Fedir Molchanov tried Korean barbecue while studying abroad. Inspired, he mastered the concept and opened Ukraine's first "cook it yourself" restaurant with a Seoul nightlife vibe, later expanding to multiple locations across the country.

Their dishes are almost unchanged for the Ukrainian consumer, they are authentic and specific.

Fedir believes that there is no better way to learn about a culture than through food and entertainment. 

This is especially true in Korea, where people ask "Did you have a good meal?" instead of "How are you?"

Although South Korea is located quite far from Ukraine, it remains a strong ally in its confrontation with Russia and the DPRK. 

South Korea is a highly developed technological country, and it has a powerful artillery capability that Ukraine lacks. The country is also rich in lethal weapons, and although it has not yet decided to transfer them, Russia has not been able to force South Korea to stop helping Ukraine. 

South Korea regularly imposes sanctions against Russia and Belarus. It has banned the export of goods that could potentially be used for military purposes, including metal cutting machines, machine parts and components, parts for optical instruments, and electronic sensors.

The South Korean Administration also imposed sanctions on vessels, companies, and officials from Russia and the DPRK involved in illicit trafficking of weapons, oil and petroleum products, missile development, and other activities. 

Four Russian and eight North Korean ships were added to the list in June 2024, carrying oil, petroleum products, and critical resources for the development of nuclear and missile weapons to the DPRK.

South Korea is increasingly cutting ties with autocracies. It is proving more and more that it is part of the democratic world. 

And democracies stick together. 

Stay safe out there.

Best,
Myroslava

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