A birthplace of the Korean wave(Hallyu).

[조영희]

Do you know a K-pop singer Psy?
He is a famous Hallyu(Korean wave) star.
His song ‘Gangnam style’ is a symbol of the Korean wave(Hallyu).
PSY’s “Gangnam Style” has attracted more than 2,400,000,000 views in 2012 and cultural aspects of South Korea were newly discovered by international audiences. However, the first Korean cultural wave was initiated far back than that.
The founder of Gangnamstyle comes from YangWhaJin Ferry by Hangang River.

It is ‘My love, don’t cross that water’(Gongmudohaga 공무도하가).
This is known as the oldest Korean song about love back in Gojoseon Dynasty.
The story is like this;
One day a guy was trying to cross a river drunk so his wife was trying to stop him.
His name is Baeksoogwangbu(백수광부). He was known to be a crazy man who had always been drunk.
She cried so sadly saying ‘Please, please, do not cross a river…’
However her husband did not listen to her and died at last.
The woman committed suicide by following her husband after singing this song and it was Gongmudohaga. 

The soldier saw this. His name is Gakrijago(곽리자고).
He told his wife Yeuo Ok(여옥) what he saw and She made a song based on her husband’s memory of the tune.

The story and the song spread among many people and became popular at that time.
My dear, Please don't cross over the river
Dear, my sweet heart crossing over the water
Ah, you are drowning with flow, died at last
Ah, what can I do for you
This song is known as a Korean classical song and a founder of the 'Hallyu'
'Hallyu', which is a commonly used term meaning “Korean cultural wave”, was originated in mid-1999 by Beijing journalists who were surprised at the speed of the fast-growing popularity of Korean entertainment and culture. Hallyu includes K-pop,

TV dramas, movies, and lifestyle with Korea’s high technology and also means the growing aspiration to know more

about Korean culture worldwide.
The 'Korean Wave' or 'Hallyu' is a term first coined by Chinese news media in the middle of 1998

 to describe Chinese youth’s sudden craze for Korean cultural products.