Silent K-Wave: What India's Search Data Reveals?
India Today
Korean culture in India surged during Covid and never fully receded, embedding itself into daily habits through dramas, music, language, food, and beauty ideals.
The death of three sisters, who died by suicide after jumping from the ninth floor of an apartment in Ghaziabad, has turned attention toward a different, more troubling dimension of cultural immersion. One that raises questions about emotional attachment, especially among young minds still learning to distinguish between reality and fantasy.
To understand that depth, India Today’s Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) team examined Google trends data to track how Korean culture has grown, evolved, and quietly woven itself into the daily habits and public discourse of India.
Data shows a sharp spike in searches for the keyword “Korean” between 2020 and 2022, coinciding with the Covid pandemic, as audiences increasingly immersed themselves in Korean dramas. Search interest surged alongside the popularity of shows such as Crash Landing on You, Squid Game, and It’s Okay to Not Be Okay, all of which recorded substantial search interest during this period.
Not just K-dramas, Korean slang gained ground in India during the same period with terms like “Oppa” and “Saranghae” recording the highest spikes. Google Trends data reviewed by India Today shows how elements of Korean lifestyle, from skincare and food to fashion, rapidly moved into the mainstream for Indian audiences in the post-Covid phase.
The fascination with Korea, however, extends far beyond television for many. It spills into fantasies of Korean skin, flawless, luminous, almost unreal, shaped by screens, filters and meticulously choreographed routines that blur the line between achievable care and curated perfection.
Before 2020, interest in Korean culture in India was clearly growing but exploratory. Searches climbed steadily, driven by curiosity and occasional viral moments. Covid changed the nature of that interest. The Google trends graph shows a plateau-like spike at a high level, especially between 2020 and 2022.
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