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Korean dramas are a hit even in Cuba

August 19, 2015

Havana teenagers, including Adelaine, left, browse the K-drama selection inside a local CD store. (Kim Sang-mok/Korea Times)

By Kim Sang-mok

HAVANA, CUBA — “Do you know the Korean actors Lee Min-ho and Yoon Sang-hyun?” was the question posed to me by a 15-year-old Havana resident inside a bootleg CD store.

As it turns out, even Cuba has embraced Hallyu, the Korean pop culture craze that has turned Asia upside down and which is now making its way westward.

“Korean dramas are really fun, so I come here once a week to check for new dramas,” Adelaine, a high schooler, said. “My mother and grandmother also watch K-dramas. After Korean dramas started airing on Havana TV, a lot of Cubans have deliberately started looking for K-dramas.”

Popular K-drama titles loaded inside bootleg CDs lined the shelves inside the store.

“A lot of people come looking for Korean dramas, so I’ve been working hard to find new dramas quickly,” the store owner said.

Canal Havana first aired the K-drama “My Fair Lady” in 2012, kicking off the demand. It’s soon looking to air “Boys Over Flowers,” the 2009 hit.

The spread of Hallyu worldwide has proved most effective via the Internet, where online communities of fans thrive on information, downloads and discussion and where their interests eventually turn to other facets of Korean culture, including K-pop, Korean goods and the Korean language. But in Cuba, where Internet access is severely limited, Hallyu has spread not through computer screens but through physical USB drives and CDs.

Patricia, 40, another Havana resident, is another Korean pop culture fan.

“People around me are trying to learn Korean after watching K-dramas, but it’s difficult to find people who can teach Korean,” she said.

LeeAnn, 25, takes Korean language classes at Centro Cultural Jose Marti. She, too, consumes Korean culture through USBs and CDs.

“I started learning Korean because of K-dramas, and my class friends even formed a K-pop singing group,” she said.

The case was no different in rural Matanzas Province about 110 kilometers east of Havana.

Pastor Kim Sung-ki, a missionary, has begun teaching Korean classes to local Cubans who requested he teach them the language.

“Cubans’ love for Korean dramas has been bigger than expected,” Kim said.