By Lee Jihae

A survey released on June 4 said members of the K-pop super group BTS are the Koreans both Koreans and foreigners want to meet most.

The Seoul-based Corea Image Communication Institute said it conducted the annual poll from March 25 to May 24 on 341 Koreans and 265 non-nationals through email and weblinks in a multiple-choice format.

BTS topped the list with 48.1 percent of the vote from Koreans and 65.3 percent from foreigners, followed by soccer star Son Heung-min, who got 38.7 and 19.6 percent, respectively.

Bang Si-hyuk, the head of BTS' music label Big Hit Entertainment, was singled out as the first person that comes to mind when people think of "creators," with 55.7 percent among Koreans and 40 percent among non-Koreans. The late video art pioneer Paik Nam-june was second with 32.6 and 26.8 percent, respectively, and third was Daum Kakao Chairman Kim Beom-su, whose company's Kakaotalk is the most widely used messenger app in Korea, with 9.4 and 16.6 percent, respectively.

jihlee08@korea.kr