Hey everyone! Richard here. ☺

I’m sure by now that any of you reading this know me as Stephanie’s husband. I edit the majority of what you see on Hallyu Back. (But not everything! Steph does know how to edit, and has edited a some of the TOADS you’ve might have seen.) I love making the videos with Steph, and a combination of my love for making videos, her love of dramas and our life style in Korea has brought us to where we are today.

South Korea is a place like any other, filled with people who mostly just want to have a happy life with their loved ones along with working hard and providing for their families. This is a place where, along with my home country of the United States, people can really make something of themselves if they work hard enough and never stop trying. Sure, it has its hang-ups like any other. We enjoy what this country has to offer, and as foreigners we find that we have a unique perspective regarding Korean culture.

When one really thinks about it, Korea is known for many things, so many that you just can’t name them all here. If you’re a fan of Hallyu Back already, then you might be thinking that Korea is most definitely known for its dramas! Kdramas have exploded with subtitles onto the web for anyone who is interested, and this has helped boost Korean TV in places where it never used to be available. Korean dramas are now exported to most Asian countries, and are aired on television there. Places like the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, and others are becoming big fans of Kdramas for this reason.

But when I think about it even more, there is only one trump card left in Korea’s media export that is larger than even dramas, and you all know what I am talking about: Kpop. Just ask Eat Your Kimchi.

Korea may be very well known all over the world at this point for electronics, nice cars, smart phones, etc. as well as dramas, but nothing gets the heart pumping in youngsters around the world from this great nation more than Kpop. This is an aspect of Korea, that, until recently, I have largely avoided getting to know. Sure, I’m one of the billion people that have seen Gangnam Style, and like anyone else that lives in Korea I hear it often on sidewalk stoops as I walk down the street. But, I’ve never snuggled up close with Kpop like so many people who love it have.

Until now.

Steph and I recently met and collaborated with Megan Bowen aka Chonunmigooksaram as she is known on YouTube. While she was in our home filming and hanging out, we got to talking about Kpop and my interested was peaked. I did a bunch of listening after she left that evening, and was instantly pleased with what I saw, and shocked that I had never taken a closer look at the stuff before. That was about a week ago now.

So there’s the story. I’m interested in checking out this Kpop thing a bit more, in depth if you will, and giving some commentary on it. I’m not claiming to be a full-fledged fan of Kpop. Heck, at this point I still hardly know anything about it! But I’m willing to learn, and have fun in the process. That’s what this is, it’s fun.

Got a singer, a group or a set of videos you’d like me to check out? Drop me a note in the comments! ^^ Thanks everyone for checking out my first ever Kpop vlog, the first of many I’m suspecting. See ya!