"Pachinko" is sold out..."Drama" and "Novel" are hot in Spain.

 Pachinko, a drama made by Apple TV at a cost of 100 billion won, occupied the first row in the global room. The race of the "Squid Game," which occupied the world last fall, overlaps. To put it bluntly, Pachinko is an American drama made by Apple like the movie "Mina-ri," but there are many Korean fans around the world who accept it as a K-drama in that Korean actors such as Yoon Yeo-jung have appeared and captured the joys and sorrows of the Korean people.

Pachinko syndrome is becoming an amplifier for the spread of the Korean Wave. The original novel of the same name is gaining sensational popularity, with shortages occurring not only in Korea but also in Europe. Four years after its publication in the U.S. in 2017, it has become the No. 1 bestseller in Korean bookstores along with a chart reversal, and it is also sold out in Spain at the end of Europe. On top of that, foreign interest in the history of Korea and Japan, which was only accepted superficially, is also growing, creating unexpected effects.

Pachinko, a drama made by Apple TV at a cost of 100 billion won, occupied the first row in the global room. The race of the "Squid Game," which occupied the world last fall, overlaps. To put it bluntly, Pachinko is an American drama made by Apple like the movie "Mina-ri," but there are many Korean fans around the world who accept it as a K-drama in that Korean actors such as Yoon Yeo-jung have appeared and captured the joys and sorrows of the Korean people.

Pachinko syndrome is becoming an amplifier for the spread of the Korean Wave. The original novel of the same name is gaining sensational popularity, with shortages occurring not only in Korea but also in Europe. Four years after its publication in the U.S. in 2017, it has become the No. 1 bestseller in Korean bookstores along with a chart reversal, and it is also sold out in Spain at the end of Europe. On top of that, foreign interest in the history of Korea and Japan, which was only accepted superficially, is also growing, creating unexpected effects.


Chung Nuri, a Korean Wave correspondent at the Korea International Cultural Exchange Promotion Agency (KOFICE) in Madrid, the Spanish capital, recently shed light on the Pachinko craze that is blowing throughout the Iberian Peninsula. In Spain, Apple TV rarely attracts attention as its market share is not as high as Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Disney Plus, and Pachinko is gaining popularity on par with major hot topics.

According to correspondent Chung, Pachinko was released and Spanish media praised in one voice, saying, "Apple TV has released a great work to counter Netflix." In fact, the Spanish daily "La Vanguardia" praised the high level of work and completeness, saying, "Pachinko is revolutionary because of the belief that emotions are the driving force of the story rather than the genre of Julienora."

Such an evaluation is significant in that Spain stands out in the OTT (Online Streaming Service) drama market. Spain is a powerhouse in the drama series that produced the crime thriller series "The House of Paper," which was Netflix's greatest masterpiece before the appearance of the squid game. Along with the success of Paper House, interest in contents released by Netflix and other OTTs is high and the standards are difficult, but Pachinko's excellent workability has been proven this time.

Spanish viewers who saw Pachinko are rushing to bookstores. This is to read the original work by Lee Min-jin. The novel "Pachinko" was previously translated into Spanish and received favorable reviews, but recently, demand for purchases has been increasing. In line with the gradual entry of Korean literature into the European market, there were cases where people interested in Korean literature sought English translations and read them, but after the release of the drama, interest in the general public increased.

Pachinko is currently sold out at offline bookstores in Spain and can only be purchased online. "I visited Casa del Libro and Pnak, a large bookstore chain in downtown Madrid to get the Spanish novel Pachinko, but they were all sold out," Chung said. "In the end, I was able to buy them at a private English book store."

According to correspondent Jeong, as soon as the Panchenko story was brought up, the answer "It's sold out" came back at the Fnak bookstore. The pronunciation of Pachinko in his career is difficult to pronounce, and the employee immediately understood and explained it. In other words, there have been many cases of asking whether Pachinko can be purchased. An employee of Casa Del Live Bookstore also said, "As more people are looking for it, they can purchase it only when they make an order reservation," adding, "I will also read it and watch dramas because I am touched." In other words, the Pachinko craze is igniting not only the Korean Wave but also the "Korean Wave for Publishing."

However, the most notable point of the Pachinko craze in Spain is that even young Europeans who are unfamiliar with East Asian history have begun to pay attention to Korea's past. Japanese Military Sexual SlaveryWhenever Korea and Japan were in conflict on the international stage due to issues such as Dokdo sovereignty, many overseas responded that it was strange, but Pachinko openly conveyed the colonial people's views through novels and dramas, creating a new perception of Korea-Japan history.

"After reading this book, I was able to understand the intertwined history of Korea and Japan," said Ludres, a young Spanish man who read Pachinko's novel. "In the past, I thought Korea was too obsessed with the past, but I was ashamed of myself for being ignorant." La Van Guardia also expressed, "Pachinko shows the process of dissecting a family's identity when the culture of ancestors is subjugated, despised, and dispersed."

It is also a great achievement that the storytelling of "Korea" has worked in Spain. "Pachinko did a valuable job just by mentioning the Korean story during the Japanese colonial era era," Jeong said, "Spain's view of Koreans finding their identity on a tragic life is warm. Now the whole world is ready to listen to Korean stories."