Korea to Upgrade Global Image

By Na Jeong-ju
Staff Reporter

The government aims to raise Korea's standing in the Anholt-GfK Roper Nation Brands Index, one of the most widely accepted measurements of a country's global image, from the current 33rd among 50 countries to 15th place by 2013.

To attain the goal, Korea will increase its contributions to the international community, develop its technological prowess and nurture its culture and tourism industries, the Presidential Council on Nation Branding said in its first report to President Lee Myung-bak Tuesday.

The government also plans to promote policies for foreigners and international families here and strengthen education of globally accepted norms and etiquette among citizens, according to the council.

``Korea is the world's 13th largest economy with some $20,000 in per capita income, but ranks only 33rd in the global brand index. This is a big problem,'' President Lee said during the meeting with council members and representatives of foreign communities at Cheong Wa Dae.

Korea launched the presidential council in January to address misunderstanding of Korea's economy and culture in the world and enhance its global reputation. Euh Yoon-dae, former president of Korea University in Seoul, chairs the council, which will play a central role in reorganizing the government's branding campaign and report its activities to President Lee every three months.

Under a 10-point action plan, the government will unify Korean language institutes across the world and launch a project to promote the country's most popular martial art, taekwondo, to improve the country's national brand.

To better manage the growing number of foreigners wanting to learn the Korean language, the government plans to unify the name of its language academies to ``King Sejong Institute.''

In addition, the council will launch next month the ``Korean Supporters,'' a Peace Corps-like program that dispatches over 3,000 volunteers overseas every year, the second largest after some 8,000 from the United States.

Some 2,000 South Koreans go abroad as volunteers every year, already the third largest group after Americans and Japanese, but their services are rarely linked to the country as they are dispatched by individual organizations.

The image campaign also calls on Seoul to actively share its development experience with developing nations to launch what it calls the ``Korean wave,'' named after the spreading popularity of Korean pop-culture across Asia.

A new scholarship program, ``Global Korea Scholarship,'' will be established for foreign exchange students to help improve the country's image among foreign students and scholars.

A separate program, CAMPUS Asia, through which South Korea will seek to develop and recruit young, outstanding workers and academicians, will target students from neighboring Asian countries.

jj@koreatimes.co.kr

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