Kind of off topic, but still pertains to hockey in Korea.
When I was in Korea in February (Canadian born Korean here) they had an "event" set up outside the Lotte Department store in downtown Seoul.
Anyways, the event was shoot to score on the shooter tutor (five hole was about as wide open as you could get) if you had made a purchase at the department store and win a prize. I was with my fiancee, who has never seen me play before of course I'm not going to just sweep the ball into the net. I'm taking this seriously! I play hockey, I'm not going to curl the ball into the net....
So I snap a shot with the crappy school style plastic sticks (after bending the blade of course) and the guy there has the gall to tell me how to shoot. He sort of swept the ball into the net. I get it, you've never seen hockey before, but if I want to go 7 hole, that's my choice.
That being said, hockey is slowly starting to get more exposure in Korea. High Kick 3 had Lee Jong Suk play hockey, and now there is a new drama coming out starring Seo In Guk called High School King that centers around him being a high school hockey star. Hopefully the hockey has come a long ways since 1998's Icing hehe.
Also, when they had ice skating outside city hall, I saw more than a few kids in hockey skates (mostly CCM/RBK for whatever reason) that skated like they played hockey.
Let's see if hockey in the popular media can get some kids playing hockey there. It'll likely be too late for 2018, but maybe that'll put some kids in the system for future generations.