By Jane Han
Staff Reporter
Fifteen years after Seoul and Beijing forged diplomatic ties, a recent survey shows that the majority of Chinese companies paint an overall positive image of Korea, but think they've caught up in the field of technology, and that the ``hallyu'' or Korean wave is overrated.
In a KOTRA survey of 312 firms, more than 50 percent said Chinese technology is ahead or equal to that of Korea, while 47.4 percent said they were still behind.
IT-related goods and automobiles were highlighted as the top two products that first came to mind when they think of Korea, followed by home appliances, clothing, cosmetics and food.
As for the quality of goods, 69.3 percent rated them high, while less than 1 percent marked them as poor.
Although local products are performing well in the neighboring country, the China Team director of KOTRA Lee Song said, ``Korean companies must rapidly hone their competitiveness in China as domestic firms are coming on fast and strong as major competitors.''
A similar June survey of 600 local firms doing business in China indicated that 25.5 percent said their biggest hurdle is the sense of losing their technological upper hand to China, which is now Seoul's No. 1 trading partner.
And contrary to popular belief, the most recent poll shows that the hallyu boom doesn't seem to be helping either, as almost half of the respondents (44.6 percent) said the wave is nonexistent or is already going downhill.
Instead of celebrities, 33.7 percent singled out Korean food as the first thing that pops up in their mind about Korea, while celebrities came second and patriotism was third.
Additionally, more than 60 percent said local companies' localization efforts in China seemed just ``average,'' implying that they should work harder to mesh and blend with the local people.
The trade group poll also said that an overwhelming majority (77.2 percent) of Chinese firms named Samsung as the country's most representative company, followed by Hyundai and LG.