The Most Famous People from South Korea
Top 100 of 286 ranked · August 2026 · See today's live standing →
First issue under methodology v5.62. Movement begins with the next issue frozen under the same version.
Six BTS members and Son Heung-min carry South Korea's fame abroad
iFAMOUS Editorial Desk · 1 min read
Jung Kook leads the August 2026 list of South Koreans the world watches, with V, Jimin, Jin, SUGA and J-Hope all inside the top eleven.
Jung Kook is the most famous South Korean in the world for August 2026, with a fame score of 19.9. V, Kim Taehyung, is a fraction behind at 19.6, and the two BTS members bracket a football captain: Son Heung-min, who now plays for Los Angeles FC and leads the national side, is third at 18.5.
The shape of the top fifteen is one group and its satellites. Jimin is fourth, Jin seventh, SUGA eighth and J-Hope eleventh, which puts six of the seven BTS members inside the first eleven places. Blackpink supplies Jennie at fifth and Jisoo at fifteenth. IU, singer, songwriter and actress, is ninth, and Psy, whose name the world learned in 2012, is thirteenth. Only two names in the fifteen are not musicians: the actor Ji Changwook at tenth and Han Kang, the novelist, at twelfth.
Politics enters twice and from opposite ends of a crisis. Lee Jae Myung, president since 2025, is sixth at 15.6, and Yoon Suk Yeol, the president he replaced, is fourteenth at 12.7. Neither man is a diaspora figure; every name on this list was made in Korea and exported from it.
South Korea is one of the deepest origin lists the engine measures: 286 people, with 93 of the top hundred living. No dead name reaches the top fifteen, which is rare on a standard reading and says how new most of this fame is. The list records where the world's attention goes, and for South Korea it goes overwhelmingly to a generation of performers still in their twenties and thirties.
| Rank | Name | Score | Live |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Jung Kook celebrityAlive | 19.9 | iFANN → |
| 2 |  V (Kim Taehyung) celebrityAlive | 19.6 | iFANN → |
| 3 |  Son Heung-min celebrityAlive | 18.5 | iFANN → |
| 4 |  Jimin celebrityAlive | 17.7 | iFANN → |
| 5 |  Jennie celebrityAlive | 17.2 | iFANN → |
| 6 |  Lee Jae Myung politicianAlive | 15.6 | iFANN → |
| 7 |  Jin celebrityAlive | 14.4 | iFANN → |
| 8 |  SUGA celebrityAlive | 13.7 | iFANN → |
| 9 |  IU celebrityAlive | 13.4 | iFANN → |
| 10 | Ji Changwook celebrityAlive | 13.4 | iFANN → |
| 11 |  J-Hope celebrityAlive | 13.1 | iFANN → |
| 12 |  Han Kang celebrityAlive | 12.8 | iFANN → |
| 13 |  Psy celebrityAlive | 12.7 | iFANN → |
| 14 |  Yoon Suk Yeol politicianAlive | 12.7 | iFANN → |
| 15 |  Jisoo celebrityAlive | 12.5 | iFANN → |
| 16 |  G-Dragon celebrityAlive | 12.0 | iFANN → |
| 17 |  RM celebrityAlive | 11.7 | iFANN → |
| 18 |  Lee Kang-in celebrityAlive | 11.7 | iFANN → |
| 19 |  Cha Eun-woo celebrityAlive | 11.4 | iFANN → |
| 20 |  Lee Min-ho celebrityAlive | 11.3 | iFANN → |
| 21 |  Ban Ki-moon politicianAlive | 11.1 | iFANN → |
| 22 |  Steven Yeun celebrityAlive | 11.0 | iFANN → |
| 23 |  Park Seo-joon celebrityAlive | 10.9 | iFANN → |
| 24 |  Kim Soo-hyun celebrityAlive | 10.8 | iFANN → |
| 25 |  Lee Jong-suk celebrityAlive | 10.7 | iFANN → |
| 26 |  Bae Suzy celebrityAlive | 10.6 | iFANN → |
| 27 |  Hyun Bin celebrityAlive | 10.6 | iFANN → |
| 28 |  Bong Joon-ho celebrityAlive | 10.4 | iFANN → |
| 29 |  Ma Dong-seok celebrityAlive | 10.2 | iFANN → |
| 30 |  Park Chan-wook celebrityAlive | 10.2 | iFANN → |
| 31 |  Gong Yoo celebrityAlive | 10.2 | iFANN → |
| 32 |  Song Hye-kyo celebrityAlive | 10.1 | iFANN → |
| 33 |  Song Joong-ki celebrityAlive | 10.1 | iFANN → |
| 34 |  Lee Byung-hun celebrityAlive | 10.0 | iFANN → |
| 35 |  Park Min-young celebrityAlive | 10.0 | iFANN → |
| 36 |  Park Shin-hye celebrityAlive | 9.9 | iFANN → |
| 37 |  Son Ye-jin celebrityAlive | 9.9 | iFANN → |
| 38 |  Moon Jae-in politicianAlive | 9.8 | iFANN → |
| 39 |  Rain celebrityAlive | 9.8 | iFANN → |
| 40 |  Park Ji-Sung celebrityAlive | 9.7 | iFANN → |
| 41 |  Kim Go-eun celebrityAlive | 9.7 | iFANN → |
| 42 |  Lee Dong-wook internet personalityAlive | 9.7 | iFANN → |
| 43 |  Park Geun-hye politicianAlive | 9.6 | iFANN → |
| 44 |  Park Chung Hee politician | 9.6 | iFANN → |
| 45 |  Seo In-guk celebrityAlive | 9.6 | iFANN → |
| 46 |  Hong Myung-bo celebrityAlive | 9.6 | iFANN → |
| 47 |  Park Bo-gum celebrityAlive | 9.5 | iFANN → |
| 48 |  Kai celebrityAlive | 9.5 | iFANN → |
| 49 |  Hwasa celebrityAlive | 9.3 | iFANN → |
| 50 |  T.O.P celebrityAlive | 9.3 | iFANN → |
| 51 |  Jay Park celebrityAlive | 9.3 | iFANN → |
| 52 |  Syngman Rhee politician | 9.2 | iFANN → |
| 53 |  Jun Ji-hyun celebrityAlive | 9.2 | iFANN → |
| 54 |  Song Kang celebrityAlive | 9.2 | iFANN → |
| 55 |  CL celebrityAlive | 9.1 | iFANN → |
| 56 |  Kim Jong-hyun celebrity | 9.1 | iFANN → |
| 57 |  Faker celebrityAlive | 9.0 | iFANN → |
| 58 |  Lim Yoona celebrityAlive | 9.0 | iFANN → |
| 59 |  Kim Min-jae celebrityAlive | 9.0 | iFANN → |
| 60 |  Roh Moo-hyun politician | 8.9 | iFANN → |
| 61 |  Karina celebrityAlive | 8.9 | iFANN → |
| 62 | Jung Haein celebrityAlive | 8.8 | iFANN → |
| 63 |  Byeon Woo-seok celebrityAlive | 8.8 | iFANN → |
| 64 |  Go Youn-jung celebrityAlive | 8.8 | iFANN → |
| 65 |  Hyuna celebrityAlive | 8.7 | iFANN → |
| 66 |  Kim Woo-bin celebrityAlive | 8.6 | iFANN → |
| 67 |  JIHYO celebrityAlive | 8.6 | iFANN → |
| 68 |  Lee Myung-bak politicianAlive | 8.6 | iFANN → |
| 69 |  Lee Jung-jae celebrityAlive | 8.6 | iFANN → |
| 70 |  Doh Kyung-soo celebrityAlive | 8.5 | iFANN → |
| 71 |  Pom Klementieff celebrityAlive | 8.5 | iFANN → |
| 72 |  Kim Dae-jung politician | 8.5 | iFANN → |
| 73 |  Taeyang celebrityAlive | 8.5 | iFANN → |
| 74 |  Jang Won-young celebrityAlive | 8.5 | iFANN → |
| 75 |  Kim Ji-won celebrityAlive | 8.4 | iFANN → |
| 76 |  Kim Seon-ho celebrityAlive | 8.4 | iFANN → |
| 77 |  Kim You-jung celebrityAlive | 8.3 | iFANN → |
| 78 |  Lee Seung-gi celebrityAlive | 8.3 | iFANN → |
| 79 |  BoA celebrityAlive | 8.3 | iFANN → |
| 80 |  Han So-hee celebrityAlive | 8.2 | iFANN → |
| 81 |  Jung So-min celebrityAlive | 8.2 | iFANN → |
| 82 |  Nam Joo-hyuk celebrityAlive | 8.1 | iFANN → |
| 83 |  Shin Min-a celebrityAlive | 8.1 | iFANN → |
| 84 |  J.Y. Park celebrityAlive | 8.1 | iFANN → |
| 85 |  Lee Hye-ri celebrityAlive | 8.0 | iFANN → |
| 86 |  Chun Doo-hwan politician | 8.0 | iFANN → |
| 87 |  Dara celebrityAlive | 8.0 | iFANN → |
| 88 |  Kim Young-sam politician | 7.9 | iFANN → |
| 89 |  Jung Ho-yeon celebrityAlive | 7.9 | iFANN → |
| 90 |  Moon Ga-young celebrityAlive | 7.9 | iFANN → |
| 91 |  Hwang Hyun-jin celebrityAlive | 7.8 | iFANN → |
| 92 |  Chen celebrityAlive | 7.8 | iFANN → |
| 93 |  Byung-Chul Han celebrityAlive | 7.8 | iFANN → |
| 94 |  Daniel Dae Kim celebrityAlive | 7.8 | iFANN → |
| 95 |  So Ji-sub celebrityAlive | 7.7 | iFANN → |
| 96 |  Ha Ji-won celebrityAlive | 7.7 | iFANN → |
| 97 |  Kim So-hyun celebrityAlive | 7.7 | iFANN → |
| 98 |  Chanyeol celebrityAlive | 7.7 | iFANN → |
| 99 |  Choi Min-sik celebrityAlive | 7.6 | iFANN → |
| 100 |  Seungri celebrityAlive | 7.6 | iFANN → |
About this list
This list ranks people from South Korea by their overall worldwide fame rather than local attention, as assessed for August 2026: the top 100 of 286 names, frozen as the permanent record of that edition. This is the standard reading: everyone, living or dead, on one scale. 93 of the 100 listed are living; the Alive reading restricts the same ranking to living people.
Jung Kook is No. 1 on this list for August 2026. Behind Jung Kook come V (Kim Taehyung) and Son Heung-min.
What famous means here
Fame, in iFAMOUS, is how widely the world knows a name: how recognisable a person's name, face or work is, and how well people know who they are. It is assessed from extensive historical and current public data, some of it reaching back more than twenty years, and it is not merit, talent, importance or popularity on iFANN. The rankings model real-world global fame, not internet fame; the data is the instrument, not the subject. Activity on iFANN itself is excluded.
The month in the title is the date of this edition, not the period measured. The list is a snapshot of overall fame as it stood when the issue was frozen: a name does not lose its place because one month was quiet, and a trending moment alone does not put a name here. Trending attention is published separately on ifann.net.
How the list was ranked
The iFANN Global Fame Rankings combine worldwide Wikipedia readership across languages, worldwide news coverage and search interest anchored against stable reference names, with search history reaching back to 2004. A twelve-month baseline sits behind the current reading and short-lived surges are capped, so the list reflects durable recognition rather than one week of headlines. Rankings are computed daily on ifann.net and frozen on the second day of the following month as that month's issue; a published issue never changes.
About South Korea
South Korea is one of the countries and regions the journal ranks every month. Country lists use the same rankings and the same scale as The 100, so a name can be compared with its neighbours and against the world.
Powered by iFANN
iFAMOUS is published by iFANN and powered by the iFANN Global Fame Rankings v5.62. Today's live standing for this list is on ifann.net; the journal freezes it once a month so it can be cited permanently.
Related searches: most famous people in South Korea 2026, top celebrities in South Korea August 2026, South Korea fame ranking, most famous person in South Korea.
"Jung Kook, No. 1 on The Most Famous People from South Korea", iFAMOUS No. 1 (August 2026), ifamous.org