
The recently released 2021 KOCIS (The Korean Culture and Information Service) poll of 16 overseas countries and 8000 voters gathered who foreigners think is the most influential South Korean. This poll is not limited to entertainment stars and the top vote getter was South Korean president Moon Jae In. Only four K-ent stars made the list with BTS coming in 2nd, then Lee Min Ho as the first acting star on the list in 3rd place, Blackpink landed in 4th, and Psy remains prominent in people’s minds at 5th place. The second group is soccer star Son Heung Min in 6th, jailed former South Korean president Park Geun Hye weirdly in 7th (bad publicity is better than no publicity?), Song Hye Kyo next in 8th, and then soccer star Park Ji Sung in 9th and figure skating champion Kim Yuna in 10th. Many of these are repeats and some notable moves are Blackpink going from 7th last year to 4th this year, Song Hye Kyo dropping from 4th to 8th, and Song Joong Ki not making the top 10.
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