South Korea is now the world's 12th-biggest economy – not bad for a country that was sunk in abject poverty until the 1950s. But over the last decade, Korea has become known for more than the cars and electronic goods that helped speed this small nation to economic success. Since the late 1990s, the 'Korean Wave' of popular culture has won great prominence and popularity across East Asia.

Rana meets South Korean pop producers, noise musicians and TV directors, to find out what has been driving the Korean Wave.

And he discovers how, as freedom and wealth bed down, South Koreans are breaking from the conformity that helped them pull off an economic miracle towards a more raucous, more individualist culture.

(Photo: Fans cheer during a public K-Pop concert in Seoul, 2015. Credit: Ed Jones/AFP) Show less