Foreigners See Koreans as Tech-Savvy
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
Russians have the most positive image about Koreans among people in 25 countries, followed by Canadians, Saudi Arabians, Mexicans, Filipinos and Italians, according to a latest poll Monday.
The survey found that Koreans, meanwhile, were less popular in the United States, Japan, Germany, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
The survey of 4,214 people, conducted by the Presidential Council on Nation Branding in collaboration with the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, found that strong technology capability were cited by 12 percent of foreigners overseas, including the United States, Germany and Vietnam, when thinking about Korea.
The survey aimed at assessing Korea's national brand and image overseas was conducted from last November through January.
In the poll, foreign respondents said that Korean food (10.7 percent), soap operas (10.3 percent), the Korean people (9.4 percent) and economic growth (6.2 percent) came to mind as well.
Respondents also said that they gathered information or were informed about Korea by accessing the Internet (18.7 percent), watching television news programs (14.3) and dramas (11.5 percent).
The survey implied that made-in-Korea products were undervalued in markets in the United States, Japan and Germany by 30 percent, compared with their quality.
The result supported the previous findings of empirical studies on the national brand and its effect on Korean products.
A local brand expert Han Choong-min found in his study released in the late 1990s that the selling price of a Samsung wide-screen television set was 20-30 percent lower than the price estimated based on product quality by industry experts on international markets.
The study, meanwhile, found that Japanese brand Sony's wide-screen television set was sold at 30 percent higher than the price estimated based on product quality.
The author concluded people living in neutral countries feel that Japan is more attractive than Korea, and that their perception is reflected in the deep price gap between the products of the two.
Brand experts say North Korea's bellicose acts, militant labor unions and violent protests played a role in undermining Korea's image abroad.
hkang@koreatimes.co.kr
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yistory@koreatimes.co.kr
