More people around the world have a favorable view of South Korea than at any point since the government began tracking the metric in 2018. The numbers are in, and they are not particularly close.
{img}The "2025 Korea National Image Survey," released by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, found that 82.3 percent of 13,000 respondents across 26 countries held a favorable view of Korea a 3.3 percentage point jump from the year before and the highest figure the survey has ever recorded. When asked what most shaped that positive impression, the single most common answer was cultural content. K-pop, dramas, and films were cited by 45.2 percent of respondents as the top factor.
The numbers by country are striking. The UAE came in first at 94.8 percent favorability, followed by Egypt at 94 percent, the Philippines at 91.4 percent, Turkey at 90.2 percent, India at 89 percent and South Africa at 88.8 percent. Thailand recorded one of the biggest year-on-year jumps, up 9.4 percentage points to 86.2 percent. The United Kingdom climbed 9.2 points to 87.4 percent, the first time any European country has exceeded the overall global average in the survey's history.
{img}Even China and Japan, which posted the lowest scores of the 26 countries surveyed at 62.8 percent and 42.2 percent respectively, both improved from the year before. Japan's figure was the highest it has been since the survey began.
When asked which Korean figure had the most positive impact on Korea's image globally, respondents most frequently named BTS. The rest of the top answers included Son Heung-min, BLACKPINK, and actor Lee Min-ho, followed by BTS member Jungkook.
{img}Cultural content resonated most strongly among people in their 20s and younger. In the Asia-Pacific region, 69.3 percent of Philippine respondents cited K-pop, dramas and films as a major reason for their favorable view of Korea, followed by Japan at 64.4 percent, Indonesia at 59.5 percent and Vietnam at 58.4 percent. The most common way people encountered Korean content was through video platforms, cited by 64.4 percent of respondents.
The survey also captured a more complicated picture beneath the favorability numbers. In-depth interviews with foreign students, journalists, and overseas observers found that Korea is often seen through two lenses simultaneously a dynamic cultural force, and a society built on intense competition with signs of social fatigue. Korea scored highest for being perceived as an "innovative country with advanced technology" at 80.3 points, but near the bottom for "caring for the socially vulnerable" and "embracing cultural diversity." International students described arriving with high expectations shaped by K-dramas, then encountering what they called "invisible barriers" in daily life.
{img}The perception gap is also notable closer to home. Koreans' favorability toward their own country rose 8.2 points to 60.4 percent but still sits well below the global average of 82.3 percent.