K-pop remains top driver of global Korean wave: gov't report

▲ Girl group BLACKPINK is seen in this photo provided by YG Entertainment. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

▲ This photo provided by Netflix shows a scene from "KPop Demon Hunters." (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

Kpop-govt report

K-pop remains top driver of global Korean wave: gov't report

SEOUL, Feb. 25 (Yonhap) -- K-pop continues to drive the global boom of Korean cultural content, capturing the largest share of international media attention across all major regions, according to a government report released Wednesday.

The 2025 report on the "hallyu" trend, released by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and its affiliate the Korea Culture Information Service Agency, analyzed roughly 1.5 million media reports and social media posts from 30 countries between October 2024 and September 2025.

The data showed K-pop accounted for the largest portion of the phenomenon's media coverage globally: 31.8 percent in Asia, 24.5 percent in Europe, 32.3 percent in North America and 38.1 percent in Latin America.

The girl group BLACKPINK led the category with a 14.2 percent share of global K-pop media coverage. It was followed by the boy band BTS at 7.3 percent and the girl group NewJeans at 3 percent. The report also highlighted strong interest in BLACKPINK's solo projects, with its members driving significant individual coverage: Rose at 9 percent, Jennie and Lisa at 5 percent each, and Jisoo at 2.6 percent.

The United States generated the largest number of foreign media reports on hallyu with 725 articles, followed by India, Argentina and Vietnam. In the U.S. market, K-pop dominated Korean content coverage at 33.8 percent, surpassing movies at 21.8 percent, television series at 12.7 percent and K-food at 11.6 percent.

Among individual titles, Netflix's global animation sensation "KPop Demon Hunters" was the most popular piece of Korean cultural content. The report attributed its success to a creative fusion of traditional Korean folkloric elements, like grim reapers and goblins, with familiar food symbols, such as "gimbap" and ramen.

Other major contributors include "When Life Gives You Tangerines," which boosted tourism to Jeju Island following its Netflix release, and "Squid Game" Season 3, which topped streaming charts in 93 countries upon its release.

Korean food also saw growing traction, as popular and traditional culinary terms, including "kimchi," "soju," "ramyeon" and "bibimbap," trended alongside keywords like "chef" and "Squid Game." The report analyzed the surge as a direct result of the cuisine's exposure in globally popular Netflix titles, specifically the culinary variety show "Culinary Class Wars" and the drama "Squid Game."

"As hallyu has evolved beyond a simple pop cultural trend into a key strategic national asset that drives the national brand and industrial competitiveness, we will use these findings to help design policy and support more tailored strategies for overseas promotion," said Lee Eun-bok, the director of the overseas public relations policy at the ministry.

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