Korean content is influencing various industries, including consumer goods and distribution.
At the ‘Netflix Insights’ event held in Anderson C, Seongsu, Seoul, on December 23, 2025, Lee Seung-eun, deputy head of the product distribution strategy team at the National Museum of Korea Foundation, and Lee Sang-yun, the Korean Wave PM at the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), shared their insights on the expanding influence of the Korean Wave beyond content to consumer goods, distribution, and export industries.
According to Lee, by the end of October 2025, the cumulative number of visitors to the National Museum of Korea exceeded 5.01 million for the first time, and sales of museum goods ‘MU:DS’ surged 85% year-on-year, surpassing 30.6 billion won, with ‘open runs’ and ‘early morning queues’ continuing.
The foundation identified the global success of Korean content as a major factor. A representative example is the ‘MU:DS’ sales doubling in July, right after the release of the Netflix film ‘K-Pop Demon Hunters,’ compared to June.
A virtuous cycle has formed where museum visits to see artifacts featured in content (such as the Joseon Dynasty folk painting ‘Tigers and Magpies’) naturally lead to purchasing goods.
In addition to efforts to popularize the museum, the foundation employs a strategy of ‘recontextualization’—adding storytelling and wit to transform artifacts into modern lifestyle products, rather than direct replication.
The internal design team is directly involved from design to production to maintain the standard and tone of ‘MU:DS,’ while external workshops and small companies are selected through competitions to provide distribution channels. This ensures consistency in messaging and quality (internally) as well as diversity and high quality (externally), enhancing both consumer choices and satisfaction.
The foundation analyzed that purchases by overseas consumers occur when narratives and stories derived from Korean cultural content are combined with the quality trust of Korean-made products.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and KOTRA held their first Korean Wave Expo in New York this November. According to KOTRA, the New York Korean Wave Expo attracted about 20,000 visitors and resulted in export contracts and business agreements worth a total of 11 million dollars on-site.
The Korean Wave Expo combines the Korean Wave with export marketing to promote consumer goods export market diversification overseas and enhance overseas consumer and buyer awareness of small and medium enterprise products. This year marks the 25th edition.
KOTRA held the expo in North America, in tune with the Korean Wave’s peak exemplified by the Netflix film ‘K-Pop Demon Hunters,’ to enhance synergies and a premium image between K-Culture and the overseas expansion of consumer goods.
KOTRA revealed, “Recently, in North America, the popularity of K-Culture and consumer goods is rising. Amid the K-content craze, in 2024, K-Beauty topped the cosmetics import market in the U.S., with manufacturing companies of cosmetic ingredients and finished products expanding. The U.S. is also the largest export market for K-Food, with food exports like ramen and seaweed soaring by an average of 10% annually over the past decade.”
Furthermore, KOTRA also held Korean Wave Expos in Cambodia and Kazakhstan in the first half of this year. Subsequent events in New York in November and Kuala Lumpur in December aimed to enhance Korea’s image as a cultural powerhouse and achieve export market diversification for K-consumer goods. The aim is especially to expand marketing opportunities that combine Korean stars and cultural elements, which are difficult for small businesses to pursue alone.
Image source: Netflix
