Recently, the Korea Image Communication Institute (CICI) recently conducted a poll of opinion leaders among Koreans and foreigners who have experienced Korea (residence or visit) about the first celebrity they think of when it comes to Korea. The results were officially announced on March 13.
According to the results, 94.86% of foreigners and 91.05% of Koreans listed BTS as Korea’s representative celebrity. This underlines the strength of BTS, who conquered the global music market with their music.
Meanwhile, second place goes to Son Heung-min, who is the captain of the Korea national soccer team and a member of Tottenham Hotspur. It was mentioned by 33.64% of foreigners and 59.03% of Koreans.
In third place, 18.69% of foreigners and 17.9% of Koreans chose the girl band BLACKPINK.
On the other hand, BTS leader RM recently gained attention for his response to a European reporter’s question about Korean culture.
In particular, during an interview with the Spanish media “El Pais”, RM answered a question that suggested this “Kpop and Korean culture require inhuman effort and are overkill” speaking“Western people cannot understand this. Korea has been invaded and destroyed and is a divided country. Only 70 years ago it was a country with nothing.
“This country is now attracting the attention of the whole world. How is this possible? How did this happen? It’s because our people work hard for a better life.” he continued.
CICI also published the results of answering questions about Hallyu (Korean Wave). Regarding whether they think the Korean wave will continue in the future, 94.86% of foreigners and 93.77% of Koreans answered positively.
The survey was conducted from February 15 last month to March 12 and was addressed to 471 people (257 Koreans and 214 foreigners) via email and internet links.
source: wikitree
