ed New national slogan

‘Creative Korea’ fails to resonate with foreigners

The government announced “Creative Korea” as the new national slogan. Culture Minister Kim Jong-deok explained Monday that the new slogan was chosen because it embodies the values of “creativity, passion and harmony” that Korea pursues.

It is disappointing the culture ministry, led by a design expert not a career ministry official, did not do a better job in creating a new national brand that is instantly inspiring and convincing.

It is too early to make a proper assessment of the effectiveness of the new slogan, but initial response to it has not been favorable. Most of the experts that spoke to The Korea Times about it in our Wednesday edition were negative about the new slogan’s effectiveness in representing Korea to the outside world.

We believe that the slogan has failed to reflect Korea’s identity and ambition. It also does not serve the key function of a national slogan to spice up Korea’s reputation as a cosmopolitan business and tourism hub.

The lesson for policymakers from the development of “Creative Korea” is that they should pay more attention to collecting the opinions of foreign experts, particularly those who have worked and lived in Korea, when creating a national slogan. Such slogans are useless if they fail to resonate with the global community.

After years of embarrassing slogans like “Korea Sparkling” or “Korea Be Inspired,” it is undeniable that Korea badly needed a new national motto. The need to develop a more effective slogan is also pronounced when considering Korea has been ranked low on the Nation Brands Index (NBI), placing 27th out of 50 countries.

The government spent long time and put much effort into to coming up with the new slogan, but the end result has triggered doubts on whether it properly researched successful catchphrases in other countries, such as “Malaysia, Truly Asia” or “Definitely Dubai.” The main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea raised a suspicion that “Creative Korea” plagiarized a similar motto used in France.

Developing and promoting a national slogan is a costly and time-consuming project. That is why the government should have been careful about replacing “Dynamic Korea,” a slogan developed around the 2002 World Cup but has been used only sporadically in recent years.

One of the biggest reasons for public’s resentment to “Creative Korea” is that it is likely to be short-lived. It is immediately reminiscent of President Park Geun-hye’s “creative economy,” a core national strategy that has failed to materialize. “Creative Korea” sounds more like motto for the Park administration rather than one for the country. Such a one-dimensional slogan is unlikely to be maintained beyond her administration. Lack of continuity will undermine a slogan’s effectiveness in promoting Korea internationally.

There is no guarantee that President Park’s successor will stick to “Creative Korea,” developed in the twilight of Park’s term. It will be the job of the next administration to replace “Creative Korea” if it turns out to be ineffective. But that should be avoided as much as possible because it will be wasteful to create additional slogans.

For now, the government’s job is to actively disseminate the slogan within and outside Korea, particularly through major events such as the Olympic Games in Rio and Pyeongchang, so that it can be switly established as a new slogan for Korea internationally.