Currently, those joining clubs intended to enjoy Korean culture together are estimated at around 21 million. The office launched by the culture ministry said that it will push to raise the number to 40 million by the end of this next year.

   The office, which is made up of government and industry experts, also put out an objective to raise the economic impact of Korean culture and its spread in the world could reach around 20 trillion won ($16.9 billion) next year, compared with 17.3 trillion won estimated at the end of last year.

   In June, the hallyu promotion office was launched to lead efforts in drawing up measures to keep up the Asian-wide boom of Korean pop culture.

   The office said that it will focus its efforts on spreading hallyu in particular, in central and western parts of China where hallyu is not as popular as the other regions of the country, while also increasing awareness of Korean pop culture in the Middle East and Latin American countries next year. (Yonhap)