According to a recent survey, South Korea's global image doesn't quite match what Korean's have in mind. This article will focus on why this is, and here at Dojeon Media, we want to learn why there is a gap between reality and image.
How the world sees South Korea
While many Koreans believe their country is known around the world for K-pop or K-dramas, what actually comes to mind for people from other countries when they think of Korea? Coming from the UK, I have to say nobody really spoke about Korea as a holiday destination, and if you were to ask a Brit what they thought of Korea, the likely answers would either be kimchi, North Korea, or Kim Jong Un.
Of course, behind the bright lights of K-pop and K-dramas, South Korea is still under the North Korean nuclear threat, which unless it's discussed by new sanctions or Donald Trump, otherwise get's little attention.
According to the survey conducted by the Corea Image Communication Institute, 83.96 percent of foreign respondents who have visited or resided in Korea said the security threat from North Korea is the first thing that comes to mind about Korea. I was surprised when I read this, as most people I speak to these days mention K-pop, kimchi, or K-dramas such as Squid Game.
Koreans' image of themselves vary greatly than what the world sees
In contrast to this, 84.75 percent of Korean respondents said Korea would be known for its culture powerhouse status. Only 30.19 percent of foreign respondents associated Korea with the image of a cultural powerhouse, which ranked third. I mean, Korea has very little natural resources due to it's mountainous landscape, so in order to gain a global appearance Korea really does need to play the K-culture card.
These divided opinions show a significant gap between how Koreans view themselves and how the international community perceives them.
This chart is from the USnews.com website where South Korea is compared in a number of aspects on a global scale from culture, manufacturing, consumer brands, happiness and trends in terms of influence;
South Korea ranked number 7 (out of 89 countries) in terms of cultural influence which includes entertainment:
The leading countries were Italy at number one, and France which came in second. The USA was number three, and the UK came in at number six for Cultural influence and entertainment.
From our point of view
This different mindset of how Korea as a country is viewed on the global stage is interesting and for me neither one is a correct answer. Since I have lived in Korea for 4 years, I have seen a change in the amount of people interested in Korea and whenever I return to the UK, there is a growing number of Korean products on UK supermarket shelves. I have also worked closely with the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to promote Korean culture, and I truly believe that if Korea get's this right in their marketing then they could overtake other holiday hot spot favorites such as Japan and Thailand in the future.
In the meantime, I do think Koreans need to learn to become more open minded about other countries opinions of them, and also learn to be more culturally accepting and diverse like their neighboring countries have been, as this will only help them grow and develop.
Let us know what you think Koreas global image is in the comments below.
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