"I Really Love Korea"... Foreigners' Favorability Reaches Highest Level Since Surveys Began

[The Financial News] A survey has found that 8 out of 10 foreigners have a favorable impression of Korea. The image of Korea in the eyes of the world was most commonly described as a "harmonious blend of history and tradition with cutting-edge technology."

According to the "2025 Republic of Korea (South Korea) National Image" survey released by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) on the 20th, foreigners' favorability toward Korea stood at 82.3%, up 3.3 percentage points from the previous year.
This is the highest figure since the survey began in 2018.
Looking at the trend in foreigners' favorability toward Korea, it was 78.7% in 2018, the first year of the survey. It was 76.7% in 2019, 78.1% in 2020, 80.5% in 2021, 79.3% in 2022, 77.5% in 2023, and 79.0% in 2024.

By country, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) recorded the highest favorability at 94.8%, followed by Egypt at 94.0%. The Republic of the Philippines (91.4%), the Republic of Türkiye (90.2%), India (89.0%), and the Republic of South Africa (South Africa) (88.8%) also showed high levels of favorability.

The countries that particularly stand out are the United Kingdom and Thailand, where favorability rose sharply. Favorability in the United Kingdom climbed 9.2 percentage points to 87.4%, while Thailand rose 9.4 percentage points to 86.2%. The United Kingdom was the only European country to show above-average favorability.
Favorability in China and Japan was relatively low. China recorded 62.8%, up 3.6 percentage points, and Japan 42.2%, up 5.4 percentage points. However, Japan's favorability has more than doubled from just 20.0% in 2018 to over 40% in this survey.
Cultural content (45.2%) was cited most frequently as a factor that positively influenced favorability. In Asian countries such as the Republic of the Philippines (69.3%), Japan (64.4%), Indonesia (59.5%), and Vietnam (58.4%), cultural content was found to have a particularly strong impact. It appears that a wide range of K-culture—from music to dramas and films—has expanded Korea's cultural influence and in turn boosted its national image.
Contemporary lifestyle and culture (31.9%), products and brands (28.7%), and the level of economic development (21.2%) were also identified as factors that had a positive impact.

In Middle Eastern and African countries, where overall favorability toward Korea is high, both cultural and economic factors contributed to raising positive perceptions.
The most common channel through which foreigners are exposed to Korea was video platforms (64.4%). Social networking services (SNS, 56.6%), internet websites (46.7%), and television and other broadcasts (32.8%) were also major channels.
On video platforms, YouTube (77.4%), Netflix (65.1%), and Amazon Prime (27.8%) were most commonly used. Among SNS, Instagram (63.7%), TikTok (56.2%), and Facebook (53.6%) were the main platforms.
The survey was conducted online from October 1 to 31 last year, targeting 13,000 people aged 16 or older (500 per country) in 26 countries, including South Korea. For the analysis of foreigners' favorability toward Korea, the responses of the 500 Korean respondents were excluded.
y27k@fnnews.com Seo Yoon-kyung Reporter