“National MC” Yoo Jae-seok and BTS were named in the list of 2022 People Who Made Great Movements In Korea
Yoo Jae-seok topped the list of most influential people in Korea in 2022 selected by people in the broadcasting and entertainment industry.
The survey of “People who made great movements in Korea” is conducted by Kantar Public, a polling agency, every year. Until now, it has been done on a total of 1,000 people in about 10 fields, including administrators, professors, journalists, legal workers, politicians, financials, social organizations, cultural artists, and religious people. For the first time this year, a total of 500 people, 50 people in each of 10 fields joined the survey and another survey conducted on 500 ordinary people was added. This year’s survey lasted from June 30th to July 18th.
“Yoo Jae-seok’s power” has gotten bigger within a year
Yoo Jae-suk topped the list with an overwhelming 76.6%, rising 12.5% from 64.1% recorded last year. He has been taking the lead for three consecutive years since 2020.
Apart from “Hangout with Yoo”, Yoo Jae-seok is at the center of the most popular entertainment programs at the moment, such as “Running Man” and “You Quiz on the Block”. His influence outside established broadcasting companies is also amazing. Kakao TV’s original “Play Yoo”, starring Yoo Jae-seok, succeeded in attracting attention and recorded 17 million cumulative views. Many OTT entertainment programs featuring Yoo Jae-seok, including Disney+’s “The Zone: Survival Mission” and Netflix’s “Korea Number One” are also set to air soon.
Yoo Jae-seok is focusing on protecting his position and status and he is also praised for his efforts to behave according to his influence. The way he reacted during the Winter Olympics short-track event in February when a Korean athlete was disqualified touched the viewers. While talking to the cast about the unreasonable practices in the entertainment industry, Yoo Jae-seok confessed, “We also have to change a lot. We’re changing and we must change”. That was a remark that Yoo Jae-seok could make in his position. In addition, his appearance of always caring for surrounding people and taking the lead in donating draws admiration from many people.
Ha Ha, a close junior broadcaster of Yoo Jae-seok, once said, “I can’t live like Yoo Jae-seok”. In other words, no one can follow the sincerity of Yoo Jae-seok, who leads a healthy life of waking up at 6 a.m. every morning, reading the morning newspaper, learning baduk, exercising for 3 hours, and studying foreign languages. Senior comedian Jo Hye-ryeon said, “He’s our hope”, referring to Yoo Jae-seok as a person who dramatically raised the status of comedians. Yoo Jae-seok has maintained his position in the broadcasting and entertainment industry for more than 20 years as a top comedian and national MC. Therefore, fans only want Yoo Jae-seok to be healthy and stay at his place for a really long time.
Despite temporary group activity suspension, BTS is still BTS
After Yoo Jae-seok, BTS ranked second in the broadcasting and entertainment category. Their nomination rate is 36.2 percent. Following last year (31.0%), they maintained the same ranking this year. The 3rd BTS International Academic Conference was held at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies from July 14th to 16th. It was an academic conference that not only studied the phenomena created by BTS and their fandom ARMY but also highlighted actions of ARMYs, who speak out directly to change the world.
Currently, BTS’ influence is spreading all over the world, centering on ARMY. That influence does not only come from BTS’ musical achievements and their status as a global artist. What drives people around the world is BTS’ message to not tolerate inequality and violence, but to love yourself and work together for a better world. ARMYs are at the forefront of many issues such as politics, environment and discrimination. This is why research on BTS and ARMY is conducted regardless of country. Culture critic Ha Jae-geun explained, “Stars with this level of influence are rare even in the West. Although BTS announced that they would temporarily suspend their group activities, their influence at home and abroad is still ongoing.”
Source: sisajournal
