Park Bo-gum, to Serve as '2025 Korea Tourism Honorary Ambassador'

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization announced on the 24th that they have appointed Park Bo-gum from the drama 'Poksak Sogassuda' as the '2025 Korea Tourism Honorary Ambassador' to promote Korean tourism this year.

The two organizations have previously appointed top Hallyu stars such as BTS (2022), Lee Jung-jae (2023), and NewJeans (2024) as 'Korea Tourism Honorary Ambassadors' to launch global tourism campaigns.

Park Bo-gum, who will lead this campaign, is an actor who received great love through the Netflix hit 'Poksak Sogassuda', which resonated with audiences worldwide. He plans to genuinely convey the charm of Korean tourism over the next year through his strength in delicate acting.

In the teaser video released on the Korea Tourism Promotion YouTube channel 'Imagine Your Korea' on this day, Park Bo-gum invites viewers to Korea with the message, "Will you be the protagonist of this story?" announcing the start of the 'Never Ending Korea' campaign.

Additionally, the Ministry and the Corporation will release two main advertisements and a cookie video featuring Park Bo-gum as the main character on the 29th. The two advertisements are produced in the form of a short film and music video, showcasing both actor Park Bo-gum's main job and his second character (Bukae), and the theme song of the music video, 'On My Way', was also sung by Park Bo-gum.

The two organizations have also partnered with global OTT Netflix to produce Korea tourism promotional videos using K-content such as 'Squid Game' and 'All of Us Are Dead', which are gaining worldwide popularity. The 'Squid Game' episode, already released on the 3rd, has recorded over 8.4 million views as of the 23rd, and the 'All of Us Are Dead' episode is scheduled to be released on August 7. 

The Ministry and the Corporation plan to broadcast these videos on landmark billboards in 16 major cities, including New York in the United States, Tokyo in Japan, Beijing in China, and Bangkok in Thailand, until November, and also promote them through YouTube and Netflix.

A policy official from the Ministry said, “This year’s Korea tourism overseas campaign advertisements, totaling eight, were filmed over 85% outside of Seoul, aiming to contribute to regional tourism revitalization by discovering and introducing hidden tourism resources that are not yet well known to foreigners.”

jsm64@fnnews.com Jeong Sun-min Reporter