What is Hallyu and when did it begin? Although Korean dramas had been steadily gaining popularity in East Asia in the early 1990s, it was not until Dec. 17, 1998 when the term Hallyu, or the Korean Wave, was coined. On that day, Taiwanese newspaper Lianhe Wanbo ran an article titled “Korean Wave has come,” according to an exhibition at the National Museum of Korean Contemporary History. The exhibition, ti...