Actor Lee Min-ho ranked as the most favored Korean actor for the 11th consecutive year, according to the 2024 Overseas Hallyu Survey report released by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on Tuesday.

The report surveyed 25,000 respondents familiar with Korean culture and Korean content from 26 countries around the world.


Lee topped the most favored Korean actor survey at 6.4 percent, followed by actors Hyun Bin and Song Hye-kyo, who scored 3.4 percent and 2.7 percent, respectively.

Lee was the most favored Korean actor across all five regions surveyed and notably gained first place in the Middle East with 8.2 percent. Lee is known for starring in hit dramas and films “Boys Over The Flowers” (2009) and “The Heirs” (2013). He starred in the Apple original series "Pachinko" (2022) and will reprise his role for the show's upcoming second season. Lee is also slated to be in the film “Omniscient Reader” which is based on the web novel “Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint” (2018-2020).

BTS was the most favored Korean artist around the world, scoring a 29.1 percent score and has topped the chart since 2018. Blackpink and Psy followed with 13.1 percent and 2.9 percent, respectively.

The survey also crowned Netflix’s hit series “Squid Game” (2021) as the most favored Korean TV drama for three consecutive years, while director Bong Joon-ho’s 2019 hit film “Parasite” was named the most preferred Korean movie for its fifth consecutive year.

To find out more about hallyu, visit Celeb Confirmed!


BY CHO YONG-JUN [cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr]