Commentary: Recombinant Korea in Late Interdiscursivity

The papers in this special issue, “Localizing Hallyu: The Semiotics of the Korean Wave in Media and Discourse,” observe how Korea-sourced popular semiotic forms recombine anew, and are recontextualized afar, through various pathways of mediatization. The authors analyze commodified semiosis in an era of late interdiscursivity. Under the conditions of late interdiscursivity, the relationship between intertextuality and interdiscursivity is profoundly stretched: tight but simplified intertextuality intersects loose but elaborate interdiscursivity. The ubiquitous presence of Korean cultural forms around the world signals both the continuity of South Korea’s export-oriented economic trajectory, as well as its adaptation to and well-timed entry point into late interdiscursivity’s cultural-industrial conditions.