According to a survey released yesterday by the Institute of International Education at Kyung Hee University, over 30 percent of the 751 students from 46 countries surveyed said culture and arts are what makes South Korea great. (Image: Yonhap)
SEOUL, May 17 (Korea Bizwire) – Most international students studying in South Korea believe culture and arts are the country’s biggest strengths, a new survey revealed.
According to a survey released yesterday by the Institute of International Education at Kyung Hee University, over 30 percent of the 751 students from 46 countries surveyed said culture and arts are what makes South Korea great.
Students who picked culture and arts as South Korea’s strongest points cited the international popularity of hallyu (the ‘Korean wave’), the growing number of foreign visitors, Hangul (the Korean alphabet), and traditional Korean culture.
Journalism and the media followed, accounting for 15.5 percent, while tourism, and science and IT accounted for 13.2 percent and 10.2 percent, respectively.
The survey was conducted by the Institute of International Education at Kyung Hee University and Yonhap News at the 20th World Korean Language Speech Contest for Foreigners, prior to the main event.
In line with this year’s speech topic, taboos, the survey also asked respondents about some of the taboos and myths in Korea that are hard to understand.
Over 20 percent said fan death, a well-known misconception that running an electric fan while asleep in a closed room could lead to death.
“Through this survey, we found foreign nationals have great interest and love for many aspects of South Korean society,” Jo Hyun-yong, the director of the institute of International Education said.
Ashley Song (ashley@koreabizwire.com)
