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What now, for Korea?

In order for South Korea to achieve a successful cultural diplomacy, several things need to be
done. Firstly, when implementing cultural diplomacy, South Korea needs to think carefully about
the objective or the purpose they are doing so. What sort of impression are they trying to give to
the world? What are the characteristics of Korean cultural diplomacy? South Korea, traditionally,
have been carrying out their diplomacy in very limited ways (promoting the ‘Korean wave’, food,
athletics, for example). In a study done by British Council in 2013, Korea ranked lowest among the
15 countries asked about the attrativeness of the countries’ cultural art. Therefore, a fundamental
reconsideration has to be done on whether Koreans should focus on promoting the nation’s
branding or competitiveness or many other things not mentioned.
Secondly, when carrying out cultural diplomacy programs, solid planning ability in line with the
main objectives in the long term is required. It is necessary that the Foreign Office strive to create
attraction that can carry them up to a higher status in terms of cultural appeal. Even if the results
do not appear right away, it is crucial for Koreans to develop a program that can give a positive
impression to the globe in the long term.
Thirdly, they need a big change in their way of diplomacy. When looking at some of the successful
cases outside Korea, few governments carry out aforementioned cultural diplomacy programs
alone. Most get some help from different organizations like NGOs. How they cooperate varies
among the nations, but the most common way of cooperating is by allowing participants to form a
network actively.
Lastly, Korea needs to escape from its ‘limited way of doing diplomacy’ as Koreans have been
doing, but instead create contents that spread their cultural diplomacy. In the case of Germany
and Britain, they utilized storytelling to promote their objectives

Kwon JunSeo (2-2)
jkwon0627@gmal.com