Upgraded National Image to Make Koreans Feel Proud, Happy
By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
Economic indicators show South Korea to be a global economic powerhouse. To foreigners, however, the nation's economy is most often associated with the poverty-stricken North Korea and the Stalinist country's nuclear defiance.
Such a discrepancy between reality and impressions is a key cause of the "Korea Discount."
Choi Jung-wha, an advisor to the Presidential Council on Nation Branding, says a historic moment that can help reduce the discrepancy to a greater degree is just nine months away.
"The fifth G-20 summit, which is to be held in November in Seoul, will provide great opportunities to bring the country's image back on track," Choi stressed in an interview with The Korea Times.
"Thorough preparation and fine-tuned strategies are required to host the global event successfully and boost the national image to the level we anticipate."
The president of a non-profit institute for national branding, the Corea Image Communication Institute (CICI), said that now is the time to use all means available to prepare for the summit, where the group of 20 advanced and emerging economies will convene to address global economic issues.
"More than 5,000 overseas reporters are expected to visit to cover not only the summit but also what's happening here. Countless news reports they churn out during the meeting will become a great tool to promote the country in the right direction to citizens from major nations," she said.
"What we should do first is to find unique sources that can exclusively be seen in Korea and carry a positive impact on the national image."
Choi, who is Korea's first accredited simultaneous French-Korean interpreter, advised the government to launch a nationwide campaign to raise public awareness of how important the meeting is for improving the national image.
"Most influential foreigners I've contacted point out the G-20 summit as a critical juncture in upgrading the national brand. But not many Koreans share this view," she said, citing results of a survey conducted by CICI.
In fact, nearly 70 percent of 115 foreign opinion leaders surveyed in October saw the upcoming G-20 meeting as a golden opportunity for boosting the country's national brand, while only 38 percent of 142 Koreans backed the idea.
"A national branding campaign should be carried out in bottom-up manner, not top-down," she said, adding that immediate and time-efficient measures are necessary to help citizens understand the importance of the G-20 summit.
Her dedication to upgrading Korea's image outside the country started in early 2000, when North Korea's nuclear threat drew unprecedented international attention to the two Koreas.
"As an interpreter, I have so far visited dozens of states around the world and met countless foreigners. At that time, the foremost image associated with Korea was the1950-1953 Korean War and North Korea. Nobody recognized that South Korea was home to high-end technologies and an Internet powerhouse," she said.
"Furthermore, I found nobody immediately recognized me as a Korean. When international guests asked my nationality, South Korea always came next to China, Japan and even Vietnam whose economic power stays far behind us. Such bitter experiences motivated me to establish CICI in 2003."
She stressed this year is a golden time to raise the national brand, citing the proverb, "Strike while the iron is hot."
"International attention will be focused on the Korean peninsula throughout the year," Choi said. "The upcoming G-20 meeting may be one reason. And the other is North Korea. Unfortunately, the latter is because of its provocative acts, but we should study how to capitalize on it for our purpose. I believe we can take the Stalinist state as a nice tool to promote our national image in the right direction. Now global attention on Korea is heating up, we should hammer it down and shape it to the form we seek."
She says her devotion to upgrading Korea's image is to pursue the "happiness" of Koreans outside the country.
"For instance, few Americans may have the experience of being brazenly ignored by those from other countries. As such, a national brand virtually determines the status of its citizens and products selling outside its borders. The campaign is wholly for the happiness of Koreans."