For the eighth consecutive year, foreigners who have experienced Korean cultural contents choose "K-pop" as the first image that comes to mind when they think of Korea. Among K-pop singers, boy band BTS were their favorite.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange released the “2025 Overseas Hallyu (Korean Wave) Survey” on April 7, revealing the findings.

In the survey of 26,400 people who have experienced Korean cultural contents in 28 countries abroad, 17.8 percent of the respondents said the first image that comes to mind when they think of Korea is "K-pop." It was followed by Korean food (11.8 percent), TV series (8.7 percent), beauty products (6.4 percent), and films (5.6 percent). Information technology (IT) products and brands (5.1 percent) dropped out of the top five for the first time since 2012.

Among K-pop singers, BTS were the most favorite (24.6 percent) for the seventh consecutive year. Girl group BLACKPINK ranked second with 12.3 percent for the sixth consecutive year. Their individual members also made the list, including Jungkook of BTS (1.8 percent) and Lisa of BLACKPINK (1.7 percent).

As for Korean TV series, Netflix's "Squid Game" (9.7 percent) topped the list for the fourth consecutive year, followed by "Queen of Tears" (6.5 percent) and "Crash Landing on You" (2.2 percent). The most favorite Korean film was “Parasite,” directed by Bong Joon-ho (8.3 percent). In the Hallyu star category, actor Lee Min-ho (7 percent) topped the list for the 12th consecutive year.

The average monthly consumption of Korean contents per person was 14 hours, up 2.4 hours on-year. The likeability for Hallyu contents was 70.3 percent, up 1.5 percentage points from the previous year (68.8 percent). Likeability was highest across Southeast Asia, including the Philippines (88.9 percent), Indonesia (86.5 percent), and Thailand (82.7 percent).

Among the respondents, 58.9 percent said they are willing to purchase Korean products or services in the future. Some 63.8 percent said the Korean Wave has influenced them to purchase Korean products and services, up 5.9 percentage points on-year. The influence was strongest in Indonesia (82.7 percent), the Philippines (81.6 percent), and India (79.5 percent).

As the influence of Hallyu has grown, negative perception of it has also increased. About 37.5 percent of respondents said they “agree with the negative perception of Hallyu,” up 4.9 percentage points from the previous year, the highest figure in the last five years. The main reasons cited include “too commercial” (15 percent), “international threats from North Korea” (13.2 percent), and “need to protect own contents” (11.8 percent).