You hate Pelosi but what we think doesn't matter. Only what the elite politicians and billionaires think really matters. Everyone at that conference was an elite politician, general or billionaire. For them to applaud Fu Ying is worth more than random girls liking Kpop.
I don't think we are looking at the same chart. China is 51% favorable, South Korea is 47%. China is also more unfavorable than South Korea. That just means more people are undecided on South Korea.
I have benefitted from the Kpop craze but that doesn't mean I think Kpop is everything or that Kpop matters to the survival of the Korean nation. BTW, many Kpop bands have Chinese members i.e. Lay (Zhang Yixin), Kris Wu, Henry Lau. I don't hate Kpop or think it is useless, it is just not useful for the purposes of political or economic power.
For all it's soft power, did you know Japan sanctioned South Korea in 2019? Which country lifted a finger to help South Korea other than China? All of South Korean allies abandoned it. Is South Korea able to convert soft power to geopolitical or economic gains? I don't see it.
PS: what industry audits mean is that nobody is trusted by default. It does not matter where you come from. Any supplier who meets audit and test requirements is trusted, otherwise they aren't, there's no room for subjectivity.