'The Netflix effect': Why Western women are heading to South Korea in search of love
Popular K-dramas are inspiring young women from the US and Europe to travel to South Korea.
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The appeal of Korean men
Grace Thornton, a 25-year-old gardener from the United Kingdom, traveled to Seoul in 2021 after watching K-drama "Crash Landing on You" on Netflix.She was struck by how men in the show did not jeer at or catcall women on the street, as happens in her home country.
In her eyes, Korean men are "gentlemen, polite, charming, romantic, fairytale-like, chivalrous, respectful." She said it also helps that Korean men dress well and groom themselves.
"(English men in comparison) are half drunk, holding a beer, holding a dead fish," she said -- a reference to what she said was the prevalence of fishing pictures in British male dating app profiles.
And the appeal is not entirely about the men.
As Thornton puts it: "In England, I'm very common looking and sound the same as everyone else. In Korea, I'm different, exciting and foreign. People pay attention to me. I felt special."
Mina, a 20-year-old student from Morocco, said K-pop and Korean TV shows influenced her decision to come to the southern city of Busan in 2021.
The men she saw on TV were depicted as "respectful, good looking, rich men who are protective of you," she said.
At the same time, there has been an explosion in social media content centered on couples featuring Korean men with women from abroad.
Money spinner
Hugh Gwon, a consultant specializing in YouTube channel management, is one of the original creators of "international couple" content.He said creators of couples channels who have more than a million subscribers can earn between 30 to 50 million won ($23,000 to $38,000) for each sponsored video.
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