For the eighth straight year, a survey shows that K-pop is the first image that comes to mind when international respondents think of South Korea.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange said Monday that of respondents to the 2025 Overseas Korean Wave Survey who had experienced Korean Wave content, 17-point-eight percent said K-pop was the image they associated most strongly with the country.

The next most popular answer was K-food, chosen by eleven-point-eight percent of respondents with Korean Wave exposure, followed by K-dramas at eight-point-seven percent, K-beauty products at six-point-four percent and K-movies at five-point-six percent.

Information technology products and brands were not among the top five answers for the first time since 2012.

Among K-pop artists, BTS was the respondents’ top choice for the seventh straight year, with 24-point-six percent picking the band as their favorite.

On the other hand, 37-point-five percent of respondents had negative perceptions of the Korean Wave, up four-point-nine percentage points from the previous year, citing too much commercialism, North Korean threats and the need to protect their own countries' contents. 

It was the highest figure in five years. 

Twenty-six-thousand-400 respondents in 28 countries participated in the online survey between Nov. 29 and Dec. 27.