Tourists play in the water on Hamdeok Beach on Jeju Island on May 23, 2021. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Oct. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — As the smash-hit Korean-language drama series “Squid Game” continues to sweep the globe, foreign viewers are gaining interest in the southern resort island of Jeju, which is mentioned only once in the series.
A Google Trends worldwide search for Jeju Island delivered a full interest score of 100 between Oct. 10-16. Last year, the score was no higher than 19 during the same period.
While worldwide search interest for Jeju stood around a score of 20 over the last 12 months, the score reached 17 points between Sept. 12-18 before skyrocketing to 100 in just 30 days.
In episode 6 of “Squid Game,” main character Kang Sae-byeok mentions Jeju island as a place she’s seen on television, where it looks like a foreign land.
Kang, a female North Korean defector, caught the interest of foreign viewers by saying that she wanted to visit the island, not some other foreign destination.
After the series’ debut on Sept. 17, search interest for Jeju, which stood at a mere 17 points, rose to 36 points between Sept. 19-25, 71 points from Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 95 points from Oct. 3-9, and 100 points from Oct. 10-16.
Google Trends showed that users that searched for the term ‘Jeju Island’ also looked up the terms ‘Squid Game,’ ‘Jeju Island squid game,’ and ‘Jeju Island tourist spot.’
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)
