In Korea, You Don’t Have to Explain TikTok to Your Grandma

Through videos on YouTube and TikTok that feature their lives, fashions and routines, many Koreans are challenging the idea that such media are a young person’s game.

SEOUL — In 2017 Kim Yura shot a video during a vacation she took to the Australian city of Cairns and later posted it on a YouTube channel. Like many seemingly random (and not so random) online videos, it became a mild sensation — there are 1.3 million views — and has made something of a celebrity of its co-star, Park Mak-rye, 74, who is Ms. Kim’s grandmother. Their channel, Korean Grandma, currently has 1.31 million subscribers. And although Ms. Park may be one of the better-known examples, she is not alone as an older person claiming a share of the spotlight in South Korea, where a “greynaissance” is helping reshape the culture. Koreans aged 50 and older are becoming key consumers and makers in the country’s economy, including the fashion and beauty industries.