K-pop, food promote Korea's national image: poll

South Korea's national image is heavily affected by its cultural content, especially food and K-pop, a survey showed Saturday.

It also demonstrated the need for South Korea to further diversify the supply routes of its cultural products.

The two-month poll was conducted by the country's Culture Ministry and Korea Foundation for International Culture Exchange from October with 6,500 respondents from 14 foreign nations.

Korean food was chosen as the most popular cultural content of Korea with 46.2 percent, followed by K-pop with 39 percent, and fashion and beauty with 35.8 percent.

Asked about South Korea's image, 20.1 percent of the respondents picked K-pop as well, 12.1 percent local food and 9.7 percent the IT industry.

In a 2014 survey, the IT sector topped the list with 14.5 percent. Also, the popularity of K-pop and food rose 8.1 and 1.4 percentage points, respectively, between 2014 and last year.

Television remained the most popular access channel for dramas or movies, but YouTube was favored for K-pop in many areas.

"We have confirmed through this survey that the platform for the consumption of the Korean Wave is diversifying and, accordingly, the strategic diversification of channels is necessary," Kim Duk-joong, secretary general of the foundation, said.

He also said South Korea needs to cope more effectively with anti-Korean Wave sentiment in some nations.

As to the sustainability of the Korean Wave, 59.2 percent said it will come to an end within four years.

In particular, many respondents in Japan and Taiwan were skeptical about the future of the Korean Wave. (Yonhap)