Some government agencies have conducted a survey and shared the results of Koreans and foreigners about the country's image. It showed that President Moon Jae In and BTS are considered as Korea's most representative figures around the world.
The South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and its affiliate the Korean Culture and Information Service released the results of the survey they conducted titled "2019 South Korean National Image." They just released the results on February 4, 2020.
In July and August 2019 the online survey collected the opinions of 8,000 people from 16 different countries including South Korea and the result was 76.7 percent of non-Koreans evaluated Korea's overall image positively. Korean representatives' result is a 10 percent increase from the previous year in positive evaluations of their own country's image from 54.4 percent in 2018 to 64.8 percent in 2019.
The positive evaluations of the country overall have reportedly gone down to 3.6 percent compared to the previous year. An increase in negative evaluations of Korea's image was seen in the survey in most countries surveyed, including England, the United States, South Africa, and Mexico. However, in the majority, the evaluation remains positive for almost all countries. The positive evaluations resulted in over 86 percent in countries including Russia, Thailand, Indonesia, Brazil, Mexico, India, and the United Arab Emirates.
Recently, the country of Japan has been reportedly in conflict with Korea over the Supreme Court's ruling about compensation for Koreans drafted into forced labor by Japan during the colonial period also on the issues about export regulations. The negative evaluations from Japanese respondents went up 9.8 percent in 2019 to 53.2 percent.
The respondents were also asked to give out the names of the people who came to mind when they thought of Korea. Most of them answered singers or actors, followed by politicians and athletes. About 50.8 percent of respondents stated no one came to mind.
The first place was President Moon Jae In with a surveyed score of 7.9 percent of responses, followed by BTS in second with 5.5 percent. BTS moved up from being in the No. 5 spot in 2018.
See the Top 20 list below:
1. President Moon Jae In - (7.9 percent)
2. BTS - (5.5 percent)
3. Lee Min Ho - (4.3 percent)
4. Song Hye Kyo - (4.1 percent)
5. PSY - (3.6 percent)
6. Park Geun Hye - (3.2 percent)
7. BLACKPINK - (3.1 percent)
8. Song Joong Ki - (3.1 percent)
9. Ban Ki-Moon - (2.3 percent)
10. Son Heung Min - (2.3 percent)
11. Bae Yong Joon - (2.1 percent)
12. Kim Yuna - (1.9 percent)
13. Park Ji Sung - (1.7 percent)
14. Girls' Generation - (1.6 percent)
15. Kim Dae Jung - (1.5 percent)
16. Rain - (1.3 percent)
17. EXO - (1.3 percent)
18. Super Junior - (1.1 percent)
19. Park Shin Hye - (1 percent)
20. Lee Byung Hun - (0.8 percent)
The respondents were also asked to name what came to mind when they heard "Korea." The top of the results shows K-pop or singers were the top results at 12.5 percent next is Korean food with 8.5 percent, followed by culture having 6.5 percent. The technical skills/cutting-edgy technology resulted in 4.8 percent and lastly, corporate brands with 4.5 percent.
