Study on Hallyu contents consumption habits according to religion was not covered as a research topic in a variety of Hallyu studies, but the acceptance of Hallyu content, of course, is a very important variable affecting the overall distribution and consumption. Therefore this study focused on literature and expert FGI in relation with the three major religions Buddhism, Islam, Catholicism and an survey research was held with Buddhism, Islam, Catholic countries such as Vietnam, Malaysia, Costa Rica, Peru, Chile. Based on this analysis, the results are discussed.
As a result of analyzing the answers of the experts participated in the FGI, 3 emerging issues and 18 sub-issues were identified. 3 main issues are the diffusion state of Hayllu content, the problems in the diffusion process of Hallyu content, and the diffusion method of Hallyu content. Expert reported Buddhist countries in and around Southeast Asia is on a maturity phase and Muslim regions focused on Turkey and the Middle East is on a growth phase. In addition, Catholic region with a focus on Latin America had been understood that the introductory period has passed but somehow entered the lower level of growth than the Islamic sphere. Specially, it was confirmed by the expert interviews that our Hallyu content was mainly spread in the Buddhist countries in and around Southeast Asian region.
The summary of the main results of the survey in Buddhist and Islamic countries people who experienced Hallyu content, ‘drama’ had the highest response and in Catholic countries, ‘K-Pop’ had the highest response. Secondly, the experience regarding Korean culture has shown to be ‘Korea food’ regardless of the religious sphere. The contacting channels of Hallyu content were through the free internet services such as youtube, P2P and etc. regardless of the religious sphere. Genre preference in Buddhist countries chose ‘Entertainment’, Islamic countries ‘drama’, Catholic countries ‘K-Pop’ as their favorites. The most preferred Korean drama genre showed to be ‘melodrama’ regardless of the religious sphere and ‘limited amount of contents’, ‘inconvenient content transfer process’ showed to be the highest response to the inconvenience using the contents. Results of examining the impact of the contents on religious image of Korea, it is recognized as a positive impact regardless of the religious sphere.
Results of examining the impact of Hallyu content on religious life, neutral response such as "it has nothing to do with religion" was the highest. This shows the Korean Culture & Content does not help, nor disturb the religious life. Interest in the Korea Culture and the craze in the popular culture throughout China, Japan, South East Asia, and the spread of Korean drama, movies, and K-Pop through Europe and South America is cultural phenomenon that is increasing. Based on this, by covering areas such as fine arts, celebrity, tourism and etc. it is expanding gradually from culture Hallyu to economy Hallyu. However, focusing on the short term economic performance on the traditional Hallyu can’t avoid the criticism. It will be able to provide new country image and brand management focusing also on social, cultural and religious values besides the economic benefits.
In particular, by analyzing the consumption based on the religion it is possible to derive sustainable growth and development of Hallyu as a cultural content, and in terms of culture communication Hallyu consumer analysis and response as strategic, politic planning. Through this study, if an in-depth study of strategic subject and action plans research is followed, policy utilization value can be even greater.

• Moonki Hong(Hansei University, Republic of Korea)
• Heebok Lee(Sangji University, Republic of Korea)