Uzbekistan, which became independent from the Soviet Union in 1991, lacks the technology and resources to produce quality TV programs and currently depends mostly on Russia for entertainment. Korean companies who made inroads into the Uzbek market decided to use their advertising budget to buy a license to air Korean dramas in Uzbekistan through local broadcasters, and this sparked a little Korean Wave there.

It has also ignited demand for Korean-language classes. The Korean Education Center in Tashkent opened in 1992 with the aim of teaching Korean to the descendents of ethnic Koreans living there. But now 58.5 percent of 1,370 students there are Uzbeks, outnumbering the 41.5 percent ethnic Koreans.

In the past, most students wanted to find a work in Korea, but now the number of those who hope to study in Korea has risen sharply. Kim Jeong-seok, the director of the center, says, "Korean language departments have been established in nine major universities in Uzbekistan, and 24 universities now run Korean classes."

Korean TV dramas are not the only source of Uzbeks’ infatuation with the country. When Daewoo Motor and Kabool Textiles set up branches in the 1990s, they gave Uzbeks a taste of the high quality of Korean products. The Daewoo plant is now owned by Uzbekistan, but Daewoo’s Tico, Matiz and Nexia produced there dominate the roads.