Today, South Korean technology, products and culture can be found in every corner of the globe -- a dramatic change from centuries past, when Koreans tended to shun the outside world. Edward M. Graham, senior fellow at the Institute for International Economics; Ted Hughes, assistant professor of Korean Literature at Columbia University; Michael Huh, vice president for marketing and strategic development at ImaginAsian TV; and Emanuel Yi Pastreich, editor-in-chief of Dynamic Korea gathered at a young professionals forum to discuss how this transformation occurred and what it augurs for the future.

Pastereich was the first to speak. The outward orientation that South Korea has taken to in recent decades isn’t just novel, it’s something fundamentally new for the country. During the hundreds of years of Chosun rule, Korea was a static agricultural society where stability and tradition were prized. Today, Pastereich said, innovation and exploration are prized. “If you look to where [trends in music, movies and styles] come from...it’s drifting to Seoul.”

Korea’s explosion onto the world scene has been propelled by its booming, export-oriented economy. According to Edward Graham, however, the South Korean economy’s impressive performance may be hiding unpleasant surprises. Following the 1997 IMF crisis, Korean regulators were quick to assure global investors that they had scrubbed out all the unsound business practices that had lead to the crash. Indeed they had, but only in the financial sector. Structural problems in the corporate sector remain unaddressed, and recent revelations that the Korean government directed banks to bail out chipmaker Hynix indicate that the old business habits haven’t been completely banished.

Turning from business to culture, Ted Hughes told the audience that far from being the “hermit kingdom” it was often portrayed as, Korea has historically been a place where outside cultures mingled. Indeed, the very pillars of Korean culture are imported: Buddhism, from India, and Confucianism, from China. And while Koreans today embrace their own language and traditions, they’re influenced by art, literature and entertainment from around the globe.

Closing the panel presentations, Michael Huh spoke about how his network is trying to bring Korean pop culture, already a hit in Asia, to the U.S. market. Huh said that ImaginAsian has found that Korean TV dramas are particularly popular, even drawing large audiences of non-Asian Americans. Korean culture will eventually make its way into the American mainstream, perhaps sooner rather than later: Huh noted that Korean singer Rain had recently sold out the theater at Madison Square Garden in New York, and less than half of the audience was Korean American.