BTS and BLACKPINK are indeed South Korea's representative groups! In a national survey, the top 10 personalities that left a favorable image of South Korea to overseas citizens were revealed.
On January 24, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism's Overseas Culture Promotion Agency revealed the result of its "2021 National Image" survey. The results proved that South Korea has established itself as a country with high-quality cultural content.
In particular, an online survey was conducted among 12,500 people on the ages of 16 or older in 24 countries including Korea, from September 1 to 29 last year.
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What would be the answer if you grabbed an overseas citizen passing by and asked, "Do you know Korea?"
Among the foreigners who responded, young people praised Korean cultural content positively through BTS and the award-winning movie "Parasite," also commenting on Koreans as "sincere," "kind," and "reliable," which showed a positive and favorable image of Korea overall. When asked if who are the Koreans who had a positive impact on the national image of the country, influential personalities appeared.
BTS ranked No. 1 with 15% of votes. BLACKPINK was also mentioned at No. 3, earning 6.1% of votes. Among international respondents, the countries that showed major interest in them are Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, India, Thailand, mostly from Asian countries.
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The aforementioned portrayed the strong influence of K-pop on viewing Korea positively, thanks to BTS and BLACKPINK.
Meanwhile, aside from the groups, the President Moon Jae In in second (6.2%), Lee Min Ho in fourth place ( 4.1 %) and athlete Son Heungmin in fifth place ( 3.6 %).
Psy then joined the list as the only K-pop soloist at No. 6, succeeded by "Parasite" director Bong Joon Ho at No. 7, Song Hye Kyo at No. 8, Song Joong Ki at No. 9 and politician Ban Ki Moon at No. 10.
Thailand, Philippines, and More: Countries That Give Positive Ratings to South Korea
In the rankings, six out of 10 are Hallyu stars, including BTS and BLACKPINK.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism analyzed, "It has been confirmed that Hallyu stars are indeed of great help in enhancing our national image."
By country, more than 9 out of 10 people gave a positive evaluation from 7 countries including Vietnam (95%), Turkey (92.2%), the Philippines (92%), and Thailand (90.8%). In particular, in Japan, the positive evaluation (35%) rose 7.4% from the previous year, which was higher than the negative evaluation (26.6%) for the first time since the 2018 survey.
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Written by Eunice Dawson
