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“The son listens to K-pop, the daughter is obsessed with K-beauty, the wife is watching K-dramas, and the dad has Korean ramen at least once a week,” says Saeju Jeong, the founder of KOOM a Korean culture festival debuting in New York City this October 16.
New festival KOOM brings together the best of Korean culture in New York City.
KOOM
His character sketch of the modern American household is not so far-fetched as Korean culture has gone mainstream. Last year, Korea exceeded France in cosmetic imports to the U.S. for the first time, totalling $1.7 billion, according to the U.S. International Trade Commission. By 2027, the global K-food market is expected to reach a value of $15.2 billion as kimchi, Korean barbecue, and viral ramen brands like Nongshim and Samyang grow in popularity. Between 2019 and 2021, marked by Parasite becoming the first foreign film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2020, the number of K-drama viewers in the United States doubled to 18 million.
The demand for Korean film and television is higher than ever, evidenced most recently by K-Pop Demon Hunters, a film which amassed 325 million views becoming Netflix’s most watched title in history. The film’s musical soundtrack topped the Billboard charts too, as K-pop dominates streaming platforms—the genre has an estimated global fanbase of over 150 million. South Korea has had such an influence on American culture in recent years—an effect known as the ‘Korean Wave’ (‘Hallyu’ in Korean)—that the term ‘Hallyu’ was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2021.
A K-Pop Demon Hunters zone at a theme park in South Korea. This year, K-Pop Demon Hunters became Netflix’s most watched title in history.
WireImage
While there has been some cross-industry collaboration (the appearance of Korean ramen in K-Pop Demon Hunters caused a surge in sales of Nongshim ramen, for example), each consumer category—K-pop, K-beauty, K-food, and K-drama—has remained in their own lane. Entrepreneur Saeju Jeong hopes to change this with KOOM, a three-day festival that will bring together the best of Korean culture in one space, Brooklyn’s Duggal Greenhouse, from October 16-18, 2025. By day, the festival is an industry summit where attendees can listen to the stories of Korean founders and tour over 100 booths offering samples of the latest K-beauty, fashion, and lifestyle products. By night, the festival transforms into a K-pop concert, with performers like Sohyang, Yves, and Sam Kim taking the stage. Attendees can taste Korean dishes from 15 New York restaurants, including Busan-inspired Ariari and acclaimed Okdongsik.
K-Pop dominates streaming platforms with an estimated global fanbase of over 150 million.
Getty Images
Saeju Jeong’s inspiration for the festival comes from his own experience as a South Korean immigrant who shares a love for both his native country and home of the United States. The loss of his father when he was 21 prompted him to drop out of school and move to the U.S. in 2005. Three years later he founded NOOM, a health and wellness platform that has become a household name valued at $3.7 billion in 2024. But it was his time at the Aspen Institute last year, supported by the Henry Crown fellowship, that inspired him to start his latest venture. Surrounded by successful entrepreneurs, he reflected on his intention with the non-profit he founded last year, United Korean Founders, through which he’s fostered a tech founder community. A festival, he realized, would be a more strategic way to connect Korean entrepreneurs with consumers across industries.
Jeong envisions KOOM as a breeding ground of inspiration for aspiring entrepreneurs. Stories from successful Korean start-up founders will give attendees ideas for how to build a global brand from scratch. In addition to 54 speakers, representing companies like Samsung, Smilegate, MCM, and Glow Recipe, KOOM will host invitation-only offsite dinners with top leaders and investors to offer opportunities for cross-industry networking. “I think this is the best way to build the business community between the U.S. and South Korea,” Jeong says. But KOOM is not all business, Jeong also intends for the festival to be a celebration of Korean culture. With a large share of ticket sales going to Gen Z and millennials, KOOM appeals to a younger generation of K-culture fans that Jeong hopes can discover something new.
Saeju Jeong theorizes the ease of accessibility has contributed to the boom in Korean culture.
getty
KOOM begs the question: what is driving the boom in Korean culture? The tech entrepreneur says technology has made Korea more accessible to a global audience. American consumers can consume and purchase Korean products with just the tap of a finger. This year, K-beauty has dominated the growth in sales on TikTok shop, growing at a rate of 132% year-over-year. “What’s fueling that growth is the power of discovery–more than 740,000 short videos featuring K-beauty brands were created in Q3 alone, a 97% increase from last quarter,” TikTok Shop’s Head of Beauty, Ajay Salpekar, tells Forbes. “That momentum is mirrored in the cultural conversation: hashtags like #Koreanskincare are driving billions of impressions and reshaping how consumers talk about beauty.”
K-dramas and K-pop are also a few taps away on streaming platforms like Netflix and Spotify. But more than the ease of accessibility, Jeong thinks the deep, rich history of Korean culture appeals to those craving something new. “Critics are impressed with the Korean food I grew up eating,” says Jeong. “You like kimchi? Oh well we have 200 types for you discover.”
KOOM will feature 15 Korean New York restaurants, including Ariari and Seoul Salon.
getty
In addition to novelty, KOOM hopes to capitalize on consumer demand for an experience. Citing the ticket power of Taylor Swift concerts, Jeong theorizes that experiences have a higher value since the pandemic. “Theatre, hotel, and restaurant rents in New York City are rising, why? People want to have an experience,” says Jeong. With New York City being, as Jeong puts it, an “epicenter of culture,” it was the most logical choice for KOOM’s inaugural location. With an expected 10,000 attendees, KOOM claims to be the first large-scale Korean festival of its kind in the United States. And it won’t be the last—Jeong hopes KOOM will become the SXSW of Korean culture. “It’s just the beginning,” he says.
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