Shanghai, China (CNN) -- At the end of May, it was announced that a South Korean band called Super Junior would perform at the Shanghai World Expo. Free tickets would be released for those who arrived early on the day of the performance, which was scheduled for the evening of May 30.

On May 29, hundreds of fans, mostly young Chinese women, began lining up for tickets. By the next morning, that number had swelled to nearly 10,000, resulting in a scene so chaotic that police could barely control what turned into a stampede of thousands of girls clamoring for a chance to see one of the most famous boy bands in Asia, arguably even the world.

Super Junior is but one example of South Korean cultural exports, including popular music (called "K-pop") as well as television dramas, movies and video games, that have become wildly popular among young people across Asia.

According to Sung Tae-Ho, a senior manager in the Korean Broadcasting System's content business office, part of the reason why the country's culture industry is so successful abroad stems from the fact that the content is high quality and also cheap, at least compared to entertainment that could be bought from other, particularly Western, markets. The Korean Broadcasting System, or KBS, is one of the country's four major television networks.

Culture also plays a role. Korean content, especially dramas, is as, if not more, popular than Western series because, simply put, Asians relate to it more.

"Even though the languages are different, we share an Eastern mentality. We respect the father and mother and a very hierarchical society and Confucianism," Sung told CNN.

"So based upon that cultural background, we exchange our emotions, what we think and what we feel. There is a low cultural barrier to crossover with our content. It is kind of a syndrome. Asian people love to enjoy Korean stuff."


Korea's success as an entertainment exporter began in the late 1990s when its TV series began to be broadcast in Japan, China and Southeast Asia. The government has also backed the expansion of the country's culture industry abroad, seeing it as a vehicle for soft power -- a tool to boost Korea's reputation in the region.


"They start watching Korean drama on television and then after that come the pop songs from the boy bands. All of it has influence in Thailand," said Vorasuang Duangchinda, a professor at Sripatum University in Bangkok."After that, they become fans of everything Korean -- Korean food, Korean culture. Many of my students can even speak Korean because of [the entertainment]."