SEOUL, December 23 (AJP) -A vivid-red bowl of Korean instant noodles—slurped onscreen by a purple-braided K-pop heroine—has joined the Wall Street Journal’s list of the “20 objects defining culture in 2025,” placing Korean ramyeon alongside China’s viral toy craze Labubu and global pop phenomenon Taylor Swift.
The ramyeon moment, drawn from Netflix’s animated smash KPop Demon Hunters, ranked third on the Journal’s list, following the monster-doll Labubu—produced by China’s Pop Mart—and Swift’s engagement to NFL star Travis Kelce. The list, presented as a playful guessing game, also featured viral markers of the year ranging from Nvidia chips to matcha lattes.
At the center of the phenomenon was KPop Demon Hunters, which blended K-pop spectacle with Korean shamanistic motifs in a story about embracing one’s whole identity. Released in June, the animated film became the most-watched title in Netflix history across both film and television categories, surpassing even Squid Game.
Directed by Korean Canadian filmmaker Maggie Kang, the U.S.-produced film follows Huntr/x, a fictional girl group that battles evil spirits using the power of music. Its original soundtrack proved equally potent. “Golden,” performed by Korean American artists Ejae, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami, topped the Billboard Hot 100 for eight nonconsecutive weeks and led the UK’s Official Singles Chart Top 100 for 10 nonconsecutive weeks.
The song marked a new milestone for K-pop-linked music, seamlessly blending Western pop sensibilities with Korean melodic structures and partially Korean lyrics—an approach increasingly resonant with global audiences.
The cultural spillover was not limited to music. Riding the momentum of the anime’s global success, South Korea’s ramyeon exports surged, surpassing $1 billion as of September, underscoring how pop culture continues to translate into tangible trade gains for Korean consumer brands.
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