The Cultural and Religious Confict between Korean Wave and Islamic Values Konfik Budaya dan Agama antara Gelombang Korea dan Nilai Islam Wan Kamal mujani Rou Seung Yoan Keum HYun Kim ABSTRACT Korean popular culture, such as movies, TV dramas, and pop music, is overwhelmingly powerful and TV dramas are especially remarkably popular in terms of obsession of fans and audiences. They also bring considerable proft to South Korea. The Korean Wave (Hallyu) brings a different level of Korean fever in certain East Asian countries, including Malaysia. By introducing new story materials, and using hi-tech skills in shooting, K-Dramas continue to gain popularity especially in the genre of historical drama that provides newly interpreted viewpoints about many historical stories. These continuous efforts in the felds of K-Pop, K-Food and K-Fashion expand areas and brighten the future of Korean Wave. The universality of cultures and values, which is the strength of the Korean Wave, is a unifying force to draw the minds of the people around the world and to make them enthusiastic about the Korean Wave. At the same time, there is also a possibility of confict between Korean Wave and Islamic values, including in Malaysia. Muslim Korean Wave lovers are suffering from cultural and religious confict between Korean and Islamic values and even experiencing anomie and dilemma such that they are not free from the criticisms of their own communities. Keywords: Korean wave; Hallyu; impact; Malaysia; culture; Islamic values ABSTRAK Budaya Korea yang popular seperti flem, drama TV dan muzik pop ‘sangat berkuasa’ dan drama TV merupakan salah satu budaya popular yang paling luar biasa. Budaya tersebut bukan sahaja popular dari segi penonton dan peminat yang fanatik, tetapi ia juga sebenarnya mendatangkan keuntungan yang besar kepada pendapatan Korea Selatan. Gelombang Korea (Hallyu) telah membawa kepada tahap ‘Demam Korea’ yang berbeza di Asia Timur termasuklah di Malaysia. Dengan memperkenalkan bahan cerita yang baharu, dan menggunakan kemahiran berteknologi tinggi dalam penggambaran, K-Drama terus meraih populariti terutamanya dalam genre drama sejarah yang memberikan ruang untuk interpretasi baharu tentang banyak cerita sejarah. Usaha dan inisiatif berterusan yang dilakukan dalam bidang K-Pop, K-Makanan dan K-Fesyen juga telah meluaskan pengaruh dan mencerahkan masa depan Gelombang Korea. Aspek kesejagatan budaya dan nilai yang merupakan kekuatan Gelombang Korea, telah menjadi daya penggerak untuk menarik minda masyarakat di seluruh dunia dan membuatkan mereka jatuh cinta kepada semangat Gelombang Korea. Namun, dalam pada itu, terdapat juga kemungkinan berlaku konfik antara Gelombang Korea dan nilai Islam di Malaysia. Para pencinta Gelombang Korea yang beragama Islam bukan sahaja mengalami konfik budaya dan agama antara nilai-nilai Korea dan Islam, malah merasai perasaan anomi serta dilema dan mereka juga tidak terlepas daripada kritikan masyarakat. Kata kunci: Gelombang Korean; Hallyu; impak; Malaysia; budaya; nilai-nilai Islam ISLĀMIYYĀT 44(1) 2022: 193 - 201 (https://doi.org/10.17576/islamiyyat-2022-4401-17) INTRODUCTION Hallyu refers to the phenomenon of Korean popular culture which became vogue in Southeast Asia and mainland China in late 1990s. Hallyu is very popular amongst young people who are enchanted with Korean music (K-pop), dramas (K-drama), movies, fashion, food, and beauty in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Vietnam, etc. This cultural phenomenon has been closely associated with multi-layered transnational movements of people, information and capital fows in East Asia (Ing et al. 2018). Since the 15th century, East and West have been the two subjects of cultural phenomena. The East-West dichotomy was articulated by Westerners in the scholarly tradition known as Orientalism. During the Age of Exploration (1400–1600), the West did not only take control of the East by military force,