Six out of 10 people overseas who have consumed Korean popular culture content reported that it brought a positive change in their perception of South Korea, and 3 out of 10 people shared that they have a negative perception!
According to a report released by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Foundation for International Cultural Exchange (KOFICE), and based on an online survey conducted last November among 25.000 people based in 26 countries and accustomed to Korean content such as K-dramas and films, 66,1% of respondents reported a favorable impact of this content on their perception of the country. This rate marks an increase of 5,8 percentage points compared to the 60,3% obtained in 2022.
However, around 30% of participants indicated that the content had no influence on their perception, while 3,8% even reported a negative change in their opinion.
In addition, 68,8% of respondents said they liked Korean content, an increase of 3,7 percentage points from the previous year. Korean cultural contents have enjoyed particularly high popularity in Asian countries such as Indonesia (86,3%), India (84,5%), Thailand (83%), Arab Emirates United States (83%) and Vietnam (82,9%).
More than 89% of respondents responded that their interest in Korean content has increased (45,9%) or remained the same (43,5%). That said, the negative perception of the Korean wave, or “hallyu” in Korean, has also gained ground with 32,6% of respondents saying they are in this situation, up 5,5 percentage points from the previous year. ‘last year. For them, Korean content is “excessively provocative” (24,9%), “uniform and boring” (22,0%) and “excessively commercial” (21,1%).
Respondents who consume this content spent an average of 11,6 hours per month on it in 2023. By country, India had the highest consumption time, at 18,6 hours, with Thailand coming in close behind with 18,4 hours. Indonesia placed third with 17 hours, followed by Vietnam with 16,4 hours.
The Netflix series “Squid Game” (2021), which was a huge success worldwide, was chosen as the favorite Korean television drama for the third year in a row. Following behind were “The Glory” (2022-2023) and “King the Land” (2023). “Squid Game” enjoyed great popularity in Europe (23,7%) and America (8,3%), while “The Glory” was the most popular series in Asia-Pacific (5,4%). ).
Among Korean films, “Parasite” (2019) and “Last Train to Busan” (2016) occupy the top two places. “Parasite” was the favorite Korean film in Europe (10,7%) and the Americas (12,6%), while “Last Train to Busan” was the most popular film in Asia-Pacific (8,2. XNUMX%). The report attributed the continued popularity of these years-old series and films to the lack of recent content capable of surpassing them.
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