South Korea works to sell its ‘brand’ worldwide
There’s more to South Korea than K-Pop and Kim Yu-Na, and Lee Bae-Yong’s mission in life is to stress that point worldwide. The former academic heads a unique body trying to burnish the image of a country which frets that its economic “hard power” far outweighs its “soft power” in the eyes of the global community. She chairs the Presidential Council on Nation Branding, established in January 2009 and dedicated to enhancing South Korea’s international standing and prestige.
This month the council is taking its message to Paris for a “Korea Week” intended, said Lee, “to link traditional and modern culture and to introduce to the rest of the world that we have more than K-Pop”. Korean pop (K-Pop) stars and TV drama series won a huge following in Asia and elsewhere in recent years in a phenomenon known as the Korean Wave, or hallyu. “We have to move beyond hallyu,” Lee told foreign reporters this week. Similarly in Olympic sport, the country, which will host the 2018 Winter games in Pyeongchang, must have more than Olympic figure skating champion Kim Yu-Na, she said. “We have to have a number of very well-performing athletes to really imprint the status of Korea on the international scene,” Lee said through an interpreter. South Korea built an economic powerhouse on the ruins of the Korean War and embraced democracy in 1987 after decades of army-backed rule.
The 1988 Seoul Olympics were seen as a national coming-out party, and the country last year took a global leadership role by hosting the G20 summit. “The task now is to take Korea’s standing to the next level,” says a council booklet, adding that soft power derived from culture and image is becoming a crucial indicator of national competitiveness. Korean culture – such as traditional housing, costume, food and dance – is central to the council’s work. Paris was chosen for the next overseas promotion “because it is the cradle of cultural cities around the world”, Lee said. The events from November 29 to December 3 will include a traditional royal wedding re-enactment, a fashion show, a performance and a banquet.