Korea's 30 Most Influential Pop Culture Figures Released

CJ Entertainment Vice Chairwoman Lee Mi-kyeong has been cited as the most influential figure in Korean popular culture, according to the results of the Herald Business Daily's survey of the country's top 30 pop icons released on Thursday.

The business daily said that the survey was conducted on a professional group of 30 film producers and distributors, management company chiefs, broadcasting producers, music producers and film directors, and its own culture and entertainment reporters.

Orion Group President Lee Hwa-kyung dropped from her top spot last year to second place this year. Getting closer to becoming a world star with his successful performance in New York, Rain made the most impressive progress by jumping to third place from 12th place last year. JYP executive and music producer Park Jin-young, who has been instrumental to Rain's success, came in 8th.

SM Entertainment executive Lee Soo-man grabbed the 5th spot, and SM Entertainment's teen idol group TVXQ came in at 11th. Jeong Hoon-tak, chief of Korea's largest management and entertainment company IHQ, took 6th place. He has remained among the top 10 for four consecutive years since 2003.

The 9th and 10th spots were occupied by Kim Kwang-soo, the producing executive of music company Mnet Media, and Cha Seung-jae, the president of SidusFNH, respectively.

Others on the list included Jang Dong-gun (12th), Lee Young-ae (13th), Sin Dong-yeop (14th), and Lee Hyo-lee (16th) among pop stars, Lee Joon-ik (18th) and Park Chan-wook (22nd) among directors, and drama writer Choi Wan-gyoo (15th), who wrote the hit MBC historical drama "Jumong".