The win in the oscars 2020 brought recognition to South Korea. Its movie “Parasite” bagged four Oscars – for best picture, best director, best screenplay and best international feature. Bong Joon Ho is the director and the movie had also won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival last year. It is now the first foreign language film to win the best picture at the Oscars. Storyline of the movie in brief revolves around the perennial rich versus poor syndrome and is a combination of drama, horror and dark comedy. The award has helped the country to make its presence felt in the industry.

The social media looks at this recognition as a positive step for the entire wider Asian community to enter the international stage. The Best Picture award of Oscar 2020 going to a foreign language movie shows that the world of glitter is widening its reach.

CNN quotes Moon Jae-in, president of South Korea, as saying - "I am very pleased to see a Korean film stand shoulder to shoulder with those of other countries and mark the beginning of another 100 years of Korean filmmaking." Incidentally, in 2016, another South Korean movie "Train to Busan" made its debut at the Cannes Film Festival.

It also won awards and impressed the international markets.

South Korea has a rich culture

South Korea has close links with the United States and is its ally. American forces are present in the Korean peninsula and, obviously, the western influence is evident. The South has a rich culture and it extends to all fields like Movies, music, makeup, and fashion.

It is gradually venturing outside its boundaries. Korean pop groups are performing on well-known mainstream platforms in the United States. One of its groups BTS won a Billboard Music Award in 2017 beating many top-notch artistes.

CNN makes a mention of the beauty and makeup industry of this county.

It can claim to be one of the world's leaders and there is a global demand for its products in the West. Some renowned fashion magazines have given their seal of approval and regularly feature South Korean beauty products in their pages. The government recognizes the potential of its cultural exports. It extends full support for the cultural expansion because it goes a long way to boost the nation's reputation.

The cultural scene in South Korea

According to The BBC, in the opinion of a professor of entertainment and arts, Korean cinema has been a force in its own right for more than 15 years. Bong Joon-ho's comedy-thriller “Parasite” is now basking in the glory of being the first non-English language film to win best picture award at the Oscars 2020.

It is a cultural breakthrough and recognition has finally come. The country is a nation of moviegoers. It can boast of a film industry, which is the fifth biggest in the world in terms of box office sales. Director Bong Joon-ho has talent and he has given some memorable movies like “Memories of Murder (2003)”, “The Host (2006)”, the science fiction thriller “Snowpiercer (2013) and “Okja (2017)”. However, “Parasite” has brought him into the limelight.

Division between South Korea and North Korea

The Korean peninsula broke into two parts at the end of World War II. One of these is South Korea, which is a peace-loving nation. Its Northern neighbor has nuclear ambitions and it has developed capabilities that could pose threats to others.

The United States maintains a watch over the happenings and conducts military drills with South Korea while North retaliates in different ways. North Korea objects to the drills but the Americans go ahead with the exercises with South Korea on a reduced scale. Moon Jae-in, the president, wants to normalize relations with the North and hopes to reunify the two Koreas.
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