The Evolution of the Portrayal of Pequeño Seúl in the Mexican Press.

In recent years, Mexico City’s Zona Rosa has become home to Pequeño Seúl, a lively Koreatown. This paper aims to further understanding of Pequeño Seúl by examining media representations of the neighborhood over the course of the time. I begin by analyzing the historical contexts and processes in which Pequeño Seúl developed,
identifying Pequeño Seúl as a neighborhood that has established itself rapidly inside the
vibrant, yet declining, Zona Rosa during a period of increasing engagement between
Mexico and South Korea. I then conduct a content analysis of 36 articles from newspapers published in Mexico City from 2000 - 2018 that concern Pequeño Seúl. My
findings suggest a positive shift, beginning in the early 2010s, in the way Mexican
newspapers have depicted Pequeño Seúl. More specifically, I find that negative articles
framing Pequeño Seúl as a space of legal issues and cultural distance have largely been
overshadowed by a proliferation in articles characterizing Pequeño Seúl as a trendy place in which one can experience authentic Korean culture. Ultimately, I argue that this shift in tone can be attributed to Hallyu, or the global rise in popularity of Korean culture, and the Korean government’s efforts to capitalize on this phenomenon in Mexico and across the world.