The world is enthusiastic about K-pop. Korean idols are loved worldwide beyond Korea. They are loved worldwide beyond Korea. Idols have an enormous influence. Japan's idol market has been growing rapidly since 2010 and has been on an upward trend. According to a survey conducted in China by the end of 2014, the scale of the Chinese popular music market was 52 trillion won, and 79.8 percent said they like K-pop the most among genres of popular music. According to a survey of 7,800 locals from 16 countries conducted by the Korea Institute for the Promotion of International Culture in 2017, 16 percent of them chose K-pop as the most popular culture of Korea. What is the influence of Korean idols who are given attention around the world?

Idols have an enormous influence on Korean youth. Not to mention the music videos of the fans' favorite idol, fans buy an album and a penlight and try their best to go to concerts and fan meetings. In particular, to be able to go to the fan meeting, they buy hundreds of albums. Moreover, you can also see idols who are models of brands. As Korean idols gain worldwide popularity, there are cases where they become famous brand ambassadors. Taking Blackpink as an example, Jennie is Chanel's ambassador, Jisoo is Dior Beauty's ambassadors, Rosé is Saint Laurent's ambassadors, and Lisa is Celine's ambassadors. Industrially, it affects various fields such as tourism, publishing, export and distribution, and

▲ The Influence of K-pop

investment. In the tourism field, Kwon Hyuk-bin, head of the tourism business team of the Seoul Tourism Foundation, said that recently, many tourists who visit Korea prefer experiential tours, such as singing idol songs and learning dance, instead of the typical courses like going to Gyeongbokgung Palace and Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). In fact, the number of K-pop programs increased by 150 percent. As a representative example of the influence of idols in publishing, sales increased by 172 percent after Irene, a member of Red Velvet, mentioned the book "Kim Ji-young, born 1982" at a fan meeting. Books about idols like "BTS Art Revolution" have also been published. In the export and distribution sectors, overseas fans bought goods in large quantities, raising the figure by more than 150 percent in three months. In terms of investment, there are idol funds, which are funds to invest in planning companies.

▲ BTS`s speech at the United Nations

The influence of Korean idols, who are popular worldwide beyond Korea, is enormous. In addition to the above examples, BTS topped the Billboard 200 chart ranking and appeared on the stage to give their speech at the UN General Assembly. Many people are paying attention to how much influence K-pop will have in the future.

August 23, 2020, By Park Hyoin