Every year since 2009, Forbes Korea has compiled its Power Celebrity Index. The country’s best-loved and best-known personalities are ranked according to their achievements, their influence, their popularity and their earnings.
This is a country whose young population is currently utterly obsessed with the K-Pop phenomenon which seems to be taking over the world; the top five of the Forbes list reflects that, with groups such as Blackpink, BTS, current and former members of Wanna One, and Red Velvet represented.
Only one sports star has managed to pierce the popular consciousness. And that sports star is Son Heung-min.