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Foreign fans of ‘hallyu’ mostly associate S. Korea with K-pop: report

April 7, 2025

Foreigners who have experienced South Korean pop culture associate the country with its popular music, dubbed K-pop, more than any other form of content, a government report showed Monday.

The annual report by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and its affiliate, the Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange, showed that 17.8 percent of respondents with prior exposure to Korean pop culture said they first thought of K-pop when thinking of South Korea.

This was the eighth consecutive year in which K-pop topped the category.

Korean cuisine, or hansik, ranked second with 11.8 percent, followed by K-drama at 8.7 percent.

The chart-topping boy group BTS ranked as the favorite K-pop act for the seventh straight year with 24.6 percent of support from respondents, with the girl group BLACKPINK coming in second place for the sixth straight year. Jungkook, a member of BTS, ranked sixth.

This June 24, 2024, file photo provided by BigHit Music shows Jungkook, a member of the K-pop group BTS. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

This June 24, 2024, file photo provided by BigHit Music shows Jungkook, a member of the K-pop group BTS. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

The report was based on an online survey of 26,400 people in 28 countries from Nov. 29 to Dec. 27, including China, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, the United States, Canada and South Africa. The ministry said the Philippines and Hong Kong were included for the first time.

“Squid Game,” a popular Netflix series, ranked as the favorite Korean TV series for the fourth straight year. The Oscar-winning film “Parasite” claimed the top spot among films for the fifth straight year.

Nearly 60 percent of the respondents said they were willing to purchase Korean products or services after experiencing the country’s cultural content.

Also in the report, 70.3 percent of respondents viewed Korean pop culture content favorably, up 1.5 percentage points from a year ago, with countries such as the Philippines (88.9 percent), Indonesia (86.5 percent) and India (84.5 percent) doing the heavy lifting.

On the flip side, negative perceptions of the global boom of Korean culture, known as “hallyu,” also went up, from 32.6 percent last year to 37.5 percent this year. People cited excessive commercialism (15 percent) and North Korean threats (13.2 percent) as reasons.