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ANNIVERSARY SPECIALWhat will Korea's public diplomacy look like in next 70 years?

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The models of Korea's public diplomacy in the past 70 years are mainly characterized with economic development, democratization and more recently hallyu and quarantine measures. Analysts said they are built one after another and interaction among them is important for the country's public diplomacy in the next 70 years. / Korea Times photo by Cho Sang-won
The models of Korea's public diplomacy in the past 70 years are mainly characterized with economic development, democratization and more recently hallyu and quarantine measures. Analysts said they are built one after another and interaction among them is important for the country's public diplomacy in the next 70 years. / Korea Times photo by Cho Sang-won

By Yi Whan-woo

Korea of the past 70 years has been an unprecedented model in the world, rising from one of the world's poorest countries to a wealthy nation.

This marks Korea's rapid economic growth and democratic transition of government as selling points when it comes to public diplomacy with developing nations.

What makes Korea's promotion of its national image to foreign publics more intriguing is its pop culture and quarantine measures, which not all industrialized nations are necessarily capable of.

For instance, China is rough in soft power strategy while the United States and Western European countries have been struggling in flattening the curve on COVID-19.

Under the circumstances, how Korea's public diplomacy will and needs to evolve in the next 70 years is a question.
Experts say, rather than pioneering new areas, each of the four existing models ― economic development, democratization, the Korean wave or hallyu and quarantine measures ― will need to make progress in accordance with global circumstances.

They said each of the four models were built one after another and that they will continue to interact, possibly two or more at the same time.

"Industrialization and democratization are two major models of Korea's public diplomacy, and without them, emergence of quarantine as a new model would not have been possible," said Park Tae-gyun, the dean of Seoul National University Graduate School of International Studies (GSIS).

He explained advances in medical technology were a part of industrialization, and the social distancing campaign and other quarantine measures were the result of a mature civil society through democratization.

Regarding the global spread of Korean soft power, Park attributed it to the government's open-door policy that allowed the entertainment industry here to learn from those of the U.S., Europe, Hong Kong and Japan and later develop its own.
"You can see how the so-called Koreanized pop culture owes to multilateralism and therefore has elements that can appeal to fans abroad," Park said.

The GSIS dean suggested a combined model of hallyu and quarantine, saying they are not poles apart after all.
"Rather than developing a fresh model, we need to build onto what we have and come up with a long-lasting philosophy and vision," he said.

Shin Yul, a political science professor at Myongji University, suggested "upgrading" the democratization model.
He noted Korea's democracy faces new challenges in that a few well-trained, eloquent debaters brand those with different political thoughts as "outdated and undemocratic" and implicitly impose their thoughts on social media and other online communities.

"I'd call it public dictatorship and this shows that Korea's democracy, although it has made remarkable achievements, is not complete yet," Shin said. "The developing economies are likely to undergo this stage when they are industrialized and fully have freedom of speech. This will be when Korea will again be able to share its experience in changing the course of democracy."

Park Won-gon, an international relations professor at Handong Global University, said the Korea's democratization model should take into account the anti-free market economy, anti-globalization movement, nationalism and other global challenges.

"Making our democratization model more sophisticated will certainly make it a better example in the future," he said.

Regarding economic development, Shin said a related model should offer solutions for sluggish economic growth as witnessed in many wealthy countries.

"This is the barrier that developing countries will eventually counter when they are industrialized and have problems in finding next growth engines," Shin said.

Public safety, justice as indicators of national power

Meanwhile, Professor Park Tae-gyun listed out four values that are essential for evolution of Korea's public diplomacy.

They are universality, pluralism, public safety and justice, with the two latter being new indicators of measuring national power.

"American democracy spread worldwide because it had elements that can be accepted universally," Park Tae-gyun said. "China, on the other hand, is not so successful in making its soft power globally because it lacks such elements."

Regarding pluralism, the professor viewed having foreigners as members of K-pop bands as "right on track."
"Such mix of Korean and international members is an appropriate step in stepping away from nationalism witnessed in Korean society," he said.

He reckoned the COVID-19 crisis revealed that national power cannot be measured according to the size of the economy, land, population or other traditional elements as in the past.

"The cases of Korea, Taiwan and New Zealand show size-related measurements of national power should be revised," he said. "How much a government cares about public safety and people's lives appears to be replacing the traditional elements."

He said unmeasurable values, such as loyalty and justice, may emerge as new international values.

On the government's role in public diplomacy, the experts urged it to "stay away from it as much as it can."

"It is true public diplomacy is partly to improve the national image. But this often causes excessive competition among bureaucrats and tarnishes the purpose," Shin said.

Park Won-gon echoed a similar view, saying, "Being selfless and putting priority on co-prosperity should always be in the center of public diplomacy."



Yi Whan-woo yistory@koreatimes.co.kr


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