For the eighth consecutive year, “K-Pop” was chosen as the most prominent image that foreigners associate with South Korea. This further solidifies K-Pop’s position as a leading cultural icon representing the country.
According to the “2025 Overseas Korean Wave Survey” (based on 2024 data) released by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Foundation for International Culture Exchange on April 7, 17.8% of respondents who had experienced Korean Wave content said that K-Pop is the first thing that comes to mind when they think of Korea.
Other top associations included Korean food (11.8%), drama (8.7%), beauty products (6.4%), and films (5.6%). Information Technology (IT) products and brands (5.1%) fell out of the top 5 for the first time since 2012.
Among K-Pop artists, BTS ranked first as the most preferred group for seven consecutive years, with 24.6% of respondents. BLACKPINK came in second for the sixth consecutive year with 12.3%. BTS’s Jungkook (1.8%) and BLACKPINK’s Lisa (1.7%) also ranked high individually.
The favorability toward Korean Wave content increased to 70.3%, up 1.5 percentage points from the previous year (68.8%). The favorability toward “Korean” as a category, newly included in the survey, was notably high at 75.4%, above the overall average. Southeast Asian countries, including the Philippines (88.9%), Indonesia (86.5%), and Thailand (82.7%), showed especially high levels of favorability.
The average time spent consuming Korean content per person was 14 hours per month, an increase of 2.4 hours compared to the previous year. In terms of content, drama (17.5 hours), variety shows (17 hours), games (15.4 hours), and webtoons (14.5 hours) were the top categories. Countries like the Philippines (24 hours), Thailand (20.1 hours), and the United Arab Emirates (19.2 hours) had particularly high consumption times.
Netflix’s original drama “Squid Game” (9.7%) continued to be the most preferred Korean drama for four consecutive years. It was followed by “Tears of the Queen” (6.5%) and “Crash Landing on You” (2.2%). New releases in 2024, such as “Jump Over the Fence,” “The Judge from Hell,” “Mom’s Friend’s Son,” and “Marry My Husband,” also ranked high, gaining attention. “Squid Game 2,” released on December 26, 2024, was excluded from this survey.
The most preferred Korean film was Bong Joon-ho’s “Parasite” (8.3%), which ranked first for five consecutive years, followed by “Train to Busan” (6.5%) in second. Among new releases, “The Burial” (4.1%) gained especially high popularity in the Asia-Pacific region, securing third place.
In the Korean Wave star category, actor Lee Min-ho (7.0%) ranked first for 12 consecutive years. In the music category, BTS (24.6%) maintained their first-place ranking for seven years, with BLACKPINK (12.3%) in second. Individual members, such as Jungkook (1.8%) and Lisa (1.7%), also made it to the top ranks.
58.9% of Korean Wave experiencers expressed an intention to purchase Korean products or services in the future, an increase of 8.2 percentage points from the previous year. This was particularly high in Middle Eastern and Asian countries such as Saudi Arabia (80.7%), Egypt (79.4%), India (78.8%), and the UAE (77.3%). The top preferred products and services were food (66.2%), Korean tourism (64.1%), restaurant meals (64.0%), and cosmetics (57.1%).
63.8% of respondents agreed that the Korean Wave influences their decision to purchase Korean products and services, marking a 5.9 percentage point increase from the previous year. This influence was particularly strong in countries like Indonesia (82.7%), the Philippines (81.6%), and India (79.5%).
As the influence of the Korean Wave grows, negative perceptions have also increased. 37.5% of respondents agreed with the statement “I have a negative perception of the Korean Wave,” up 4.9 percentage points from the previous year, marking the highest level in the past five years. Major reasons cited included “excessive commercialization” (15.0%), “North Korea’s international threat” (13.2%), and “the need to protect local content” (11.8%).
This survey was conducted through an online questionnaire from November 29 to December 27, 2024, targeting 26,400 individuals from 28 countries who had experienced Korean cultural content. The Philippines and Hong Kong were newly included in the survey.
Based on the results, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism plans to establish a legal foundation for promoting the Korean Wave industry with the implementation of the “Korean Wave Industry Promotion Act.” Additionally, three comprehensive Korean Wave exhibitions will be held, and a permanent Korean Wave promotion center will be set up in Dubai, UAE.
