The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (Minister CHAE Hwi-young, MCST), in cooperation with the Korea Culture Information Service Agency (KCISA), released the “2025 Global Hallyu Trend Analysis Report Based on Foreign Media and Social Data.” The report collected and analyzed approximately 1.5 million foreign media articles and social media data from 30 countries between October 2024 and September 2025.

The analysis’s scale nearly doubled that of the previous year (680,000 items). The dataset comprehensively included 5,608 articles from over 460 major foreign media outlets (3,708 after refinement), secured through collaboration with 35 Korean cultural centers in 30 countries and 7 cultural promotion centers in 7 countries. In addition, approximately 1.49 million Hallyu-related posts (1.06 million after refinement) were collected from platforms such as YouTube and X (formerly Twitter). The report consists of six publications: one annual integrated report, four quarterly reports, and one in-depth analysis report focusing on Japan and Thailand.

Asia leads Hallyu coverage (44%), while the regional Hallyu landscape diversifies and Korean cuisine gains a global spotlight through Hallyu content

Foreign media coverage of Hallyu in 2025 was highest in Asia (44%), followed by Europe (20.8%) and North America (16.9%). While K-Pop accounted for the largest share in most regions, including Asia, Europe, North America, and Latin America, “K-Literature” ranked highest in Africa, and “K-Film” in Oceania, demonstrating that Hallyu is expanding beyond music into literature, film, and television dramas.

By country, the United States recorded the highest volume of coverage, followed by India, Argentina, and Vietnam. Areas of interest varied by country: “K-Literature” was prominent in Japan, “K-Drama” in Vietnam, and “K-Film” in Brazil. By sector, the global popularity of “K-Food” was particularly notable. In addition to popular and traditional Korean cuisine keywords such as kimchi, soju, ramyeon, and bibimbap, new associated keywords such as “chef” and “Squid Game” emerged. This was analyzed as the result of Korean food being prominently featured in the Korean culinary entertainment program Culinary Class Wars and the drama Squid Game on over-the-top (OTT) streaming platforms, drawing renewed global attention to Korean cuisine.

As for the major content developments in 2025, the Netflix animated film KPop Demon Hunters achieved record-breaking success in both film and music, with its theme song, “Golden,” reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and the film surpassing 300 million views on Netflix, creating a global sensation. The film’s success was attributed to its seamless integration of Korean elements, including traditional cultural motifs such as the Grim Reaper and dokkaebi, as well as Korean foods such as gimbap and ramyeon. The ripple effects of the content extended to tourism and consumer spending, including an increase in foreign visitors to the National Museum of Korea and a surge in bookings for “K-Culture” experience programs.

The drama When Life Gives You Tangerines (Director KIM Won-seok), set in Jeju, was analyzed as having generated international resonance through its title strategy tailored to the local sentiment of Jeju and its universal narrative of family love. Following its release on Netflix, tourism demand for Jeju increased, and voluntary social media trends such as the “My Own Gwan-sik Challenge” spread online, earning the drama recognition as a successful case of globalizing regional content.

Squid Game maintained its global influence after Season 3, reaching No. 1 in 93 countries. Although critic scores declined somewhat with each successive season, the series continued to command strong public interest, affirming the brand value of “K-Content.” The analysis found that its industrial ripple effects also persisted, including global brand collaborations, awards at major US ceremonies, and expanded OTT investment.

Following author HAN Kang’s Nobel Prize in Literature, the share of “K-Literature” coverage increased by more than 30%p compared to the previous quarter, with works such as The Vegetarian and Human Acts receiving intensive spotlight. Foreign media emphasized the symbolic significance of HAN Kang being the first Asian woman to receive the award and evaluated the achievement as opening a new chapter for Korean literature on the world literary stage.

Active support for the strategic advancement of Hallyu policy utilizing international big data

This report is significant as a comprehensive quantitative analysis of international big data, integrating foreign media articles and social media data to cover reporting volumes by continent, country, and content type, keyword trends, sentiment analysis, and network maps. It provides empirical evidence of Hallyu’s expanding structure.

The MCST and KCISA have been conducting quantitative analyses of 100–150 foreign media articles on Korean culture and Hallyu each week, and have also published a “Weekly Culture and Hallyu Foreign Media Trends” report for policy stakeholders within the government and affiliated partner organizations, with the aim of establishing sustainable Hallyu policies through foreign data analysis on Korean culture and Hallyu. As a result, since signing a business agreement in 2022, the reports and data posted on the platform have recorded the highest number of downloads for three consecutive years. The six reports, including the “2025 Global Hallyu Trend Analysis Annual Report” and the “Quarterly Hallyu Foreign Media Trends Reports,” are available on the Culture Big Data Platform (www.bigdata-culture.kr).