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Throughline: How Korean culture went global

Korean band BTS appears at the daily press briefing with Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, in the Brady Press Briefing of the White House in Washington, DC, May 31, 2022. SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images

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Throughline: How Korean culture went global

From BTS to Squid Game to high-end beauty standards, South Korea reigns as a global exporter of pop culture and entertainment. How does a country go from a war-decimated state just 70 years ago, to a major driver of global soft power? Through war, occupation, economic crisis, and national strategy, comes a global phenomenon - the Korean wave. This is an episode from our play cousins Throughline and originally aired September 8th, 2022.

Throughline: How Korean culture went global

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For cash-strapped South Koreans, the class conflict in 'Squid Game' is deadly serious

South Korean cast members (from left) Park Hae-soo, Lee Jung-jae and Jung Ho-yeon in a scene from Squid Game. The series is a globally popular South Korea-produced Netflix show that depicts hundreds of financially distressed characters competing in deadly children's games for a chance to escape severe debt. Youngkyu Park/AP hide caption

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Youngkyu Park/AP

Asia

For cash-strapped South Koreans, the class conflict in 'Squid Game' is deadly serious

The ultraviolent scenario is made up, but there are economic themes in the hit Netflix survival drama that are all too real in South Korea.

For cash-strapped South Koreans, the class conflict in 'Squid Game' is deadly serious

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Squid Game: Debt, decisions, and the paradox of thrift
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The Indicator from Planet Money

Squid Game: Debt, decisions, and the paradox of thrift

In the Netflix show Squid Game, 456 desperate players compete to the death in a series of children's games for millions of dollars. How did their debt impact their decision making?

Squid Game: Debt, Decisions, and the Paradox of Thrift

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What 'Squid Game' gets right and wrong about Pakistani migrant workers

The character Ali Abdul (portrayed by actor Anupam Tripathi) is a Pakistani migrant worker in South Korea whose boss hasn't paid him in months. Ali joins a secret competition called Squid Game to earn money for his family. Noh Juhan/Netflix hide caption

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Noh Juhan/Netflix

Goats and Soda

What 'Squid Game' gets right and wrong about Pakistani migrant workers

One of the characters in the global Netflix hit is Ali Abdul, a Pakistani migrant working (and exploited) in South Korea. Pakistanis are weighing in on the character — and the casting.

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