(Note: This transcript has been edited for readability.)

“There’s just as many Starbucks, McDonald’s, and Dunkin’ Donuts, and I’ve seen a couple Taco Bells in South Korea. Subway is pretty common. I mean, if that’s good or bad, I don’t know, but there is certainly an American presence.

“So the U.S. got heavily involved in South Korea during the Korean War, so in my eyes, there are a lot of influences from that to this day. Things today that you can see visibly are Korean beer, which very much was influenced by American beer, fried chicken—I have Korean friends who think KFC means ‘Korean Fried Chicken,’ but, as we all know, it doesn’t mean that [laughing]. Even things like music. I have a brother who works in the music industry, [and] at least for a few years—I don’t know if this is still the case right this second, but when he was doing it—at the time, it was really popular to have American writers come in and produce songs, because that was just the hot thing at the time.”