Until now, only Japanese popular culture was prevented from coming to Korea by the government: movies, music, comics, Japanimation, etc. Their reason is so simple. Low quality. The government always said Japanese popular culture had many sexual and violent elements, so it could cause bad effects to Korean young people. It is true that Japanese popular culture is low in quality in some ways. But it's not only Japanese culture that is of low quality. Every country's culture consists of various elements, some parts good, and some other parts bad. That's natural. Korea's culture is no exception.
        Why has the Korean government prohibited Japanese popular culture from coming here so strictly? It's related to Korean history. Once Korea was conquered by Japan. It is so natural that the old generation hates Japan or Japanese because they experienced a cruel period. But the young generation couldn't feel the hatred which their parents had. They just learned hatred from their parents or school. If they were young, they could be indoctrinated by the old generation to hate Japan and Japanese. However, when they became middle school and high school students, they came to feel a discrepancy. Even though they MUST hate Japan, there were thousands of Japanese products around them and most of them were better than those produced in Korea. Who can insist that they use Korean products only because of patriotism? The government allowed the importation of almost everything except popular culture.
        If the government succeeded in protecting young people from the bad effects of Japanese low quality culture which is too violent and inflammatory, at least they would have justification to keep their policy. But it only bore side effects. Low quality culture is flooding Korea under the useless law.
        For example, Japan is famous for animation which is called "Japanimation." There are hundreds of thousands of examples of good Japanimation, but we can't see them legally because of the law; instead, many young people can see all kinds of sexual and violent animation in spite of the law because some merchants are importing them illegally.
        I bought three "Jpop" CDs when I went to Japan. If I wanted to buy them in Korea, I couldn't help breaking the law and paying much more money. People have strange minds. If they are prevented from doing something, their longing for doing that grows stronger and stronger. If Jpop CDs can be bought in normal record shops like western singers' CDs, people won't think that Jpop CDs are special. However, because of the government's strict regulation, people who like Japanese popular music are becoming mad for buying those CDs as it is very difficult to get them. They also feel a thrill by breaking the law.
        To solve this problem, the government should let people choose what is good and what is bad somehow. It is not a good solution only to deprive people of their rights to watch some movies or animation and listen to Japanese popular music. If the government really wants to protect young people from the low quality culture of Japan or other countries, first the government should make an atmosphere in which young people can develop their sense of value.
        No matter how much they have tried to prevent people from watching Japanese animation or listening to Jpop, people have always found ways to get them. It has the potential to destroy the country from inside not outside. Now, the policy should be changed. In case of excessive sexual or violent things, the government must forbid them because they could cause a mortal effect to the young generation. Nevertheless, that regulation should be minimized, and high quality culture which has been prohibited so far should be allowed to come in.