Public Diplomacy, Gentle and Long Lasting Fragrance : What Cultural Boom and Its Sustainability Are Telling Us

Public diplomacy, gentle and long lasting fragrance : What cultural boom and its sustainability are telling us.

Boyon Kim 김 보 연

Opening

The definition of the term ‘Culture’ fluctuates across fields and people. It may refer to the appreciation and understanding of literature, art, and music. However, it may even refer to growing bacteria for a study. Therefore, brief definition for national culture should be shared before starting this essay. The culture of a nation is said to be the expression of the characteristics that a nation connotes. It is shaped and molded by its people, their languages and beliefs. It includes numerous ways that people express themselves in words, movement or music. These expressions shape the value which is shared in a nation and establishes its identity and image.

Recently culture has been gaining its importance as country’s sustainable competency. Its importance is becoming more explicitly observable across the industries from tourism and even to manufacturing. This thus elevates its importance as an agenda for diplomacy. Simply put, this is because once certain amount of cultural interest is situated in one’s mind its influence tends to be projected through one’s lifestyle(; opinion, interest, activity) sustainably. However, this is not the same for every national culture. The sustainability of cultural impact varies across its origin. Furthermore, this can be controlled, if not absolutely, by government’s action. This turns the spot light on ‘Public Diplomacy’. Country’s public diplomacy can help maintain the continuous impact that its culture has on people.

This essay starts with development of culture as country’s competency and an explanation of its ‘sustainability’. This leads to the importance of public diplomacy as a way of building up its durable and positive influence on people’s mind. Examples of distinctive public diplomacy model of France, Germany will be followed. In conclusion these models will guide to the insight for Ko- rean Public Diplomacy model.

40｜Yonsei European Studies Vol.1 Issue 2 Culture, as national competency

Once there was a time when people using products of our proud MNCs (Multi National Company) assumed that Samsung and LG are either American or Japanese companies. While this is still the case in some regions, there have been some changes since then. It became hard to miss articles, and news about these companies phrased as “South Korea’s giant Samsung..”, “..South Korea’s global conglomerate LG..”. Most smartphone users, if they have at least some interest about technology that smartphone accompanies, know where Galaxy series come from. This is not limited to Korea. Huge companies from developing countries such as China or India is increasingly gaining its power. As Charles A. Kupchan said in his book ‘No One’s World’, 1the world we live in is not run by a single country. Number of groups which vary in size and nationality col- laborates across the industry at least in certain level. In result, everything from human resources, product and even to culture flow in multi direction. In this context, country’s image is becoming more and more crucial for its companies since it plays a big role in building successful network, not to mention successful promotion in commercial market. Countries image starts from its culture. Therefore communicating country’s strong and positive culture became pivotal for its national competency.

Another reason why culture gained its power is due to the development of media. Media works as a powerful distributional channel since its influence is instant, broad and deeply nestled within everyday lives. As it overcame limitations in time and space, culture is now ubiquitously consumed around the world. Increasing tourists in Korea are one of the explicit proves of media’s impact. With expected annual tourists of 10million people in 2012, Korea has been increasingly charmed tourists especially from neighboring countries. K-pop and Korean drama that flew to these countries via media are said to be the biggest trigger for this phenomenon. Korea’s image made by these contents generated lucrative results not only in tourist industry but also in overall entertainment, cosmetic and fashion industry. Another recent example that shows power of media is the ‘Psy sensation’. With some exaggeration, the world spotted huge whirlpool that Psy cre- ated. To the world, he came out of nowhere but ‘you tube’. As shocking the speed and scope of his impact was, it suddenly became a significant milestone in the era of digital media. 723,556,061 you tube hits of Psy’s music video brought massive and unexpected success to Psy. His pandemic impact rolled out faster than any other contents even than the ones that were deliberately made to spread out to promote Korea. Media is now, without a doubt, the most influential distribution

1 ‘No One’s World’ Charles A. Kupchan

연세유럽연구 제1권 제2호｜41 channel that the whole world has to pay attention to. In result, it has surely empowered culture to generate tremendous competency to pose impact on people around the world.

Sustainability

Despite this unbelievable phenomenon, many critics, showed concerns about Korean culture’s sustainability as the country’s competency in the world we are facing. ‘How long can he keep the world interested?’ The concerns are not of course limited to Psy sensation or boom of the Korean wave. It is also about the overall presence of Korean culture and country’s image that it forms. Director of Korean cultural center Lee Jong Soo points out2 that Korea lacks well orga- nized and approachable contents both in and out of the country. To keep foreigners fascinated for longer period of time, it has to be fully prepared to satisfy their interest in deeper level. In fact, this is not a question thrown very recently; Choi Jun Ho, former director of Korean cultural center in France, also had similar concerns3. His worries originated from his own experience in France. The mega events such as big K-pop concerts triggered foreigners’ interest in Korea but they easily lost their interest because it was hard to keep in touch with Korea’s culture. Partly, it is also related with poor investment from government. In just one month, they had to turn down more than 100 people who wanted to learn Korean simply because they lacked enough room in the center. In most major cities around the world, in contrast, people have easy access to language institute of France, operating in close relationship with French cultural center. At least for the moment, Korea seems to be losing its chance to have a concrete ground to earn hospital sentiment from foreigner, not to mention a chance to leverage their affection to build national competency. This leads to the necessity of Public Diplomacy.

Public Diplomacy

To start with the definition, Public Diplomacy is defined by the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs4 as a way of diplomacy that approaches the people not the government of the partner country. This approach extensively takes advantage of intangible medium such as art, knowledge, media or language that can be bundled under the category of ‘culture’. The core goals of Public Diplomacy is to generate active communication with the mass in other countries, promote 2 Interview: Director of Korean cultural center Lee Jong Soo , Korea National Tourist Organization http://kto.visitkorea.or.kr/kor/notice/news/tnew/tourNews/view.kto?artNo=AKR2012100104070005 3 Interview: Choi Jun Ho, former director of Korean cultural center in France, http://blog.naver.com/korea_ brand?Redirect=Log&logNo=10129495523 4 Public Diplomacy is defined by the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs, http://www.mofat.go.kr/trade/ cultural/public/index.jsp?mofat=001&menu=m_30_170_100

42｜Yonsei European Studies Vol.1 Issue 2 mutual understanding and enforcing country’s positive image as so called the ‘Soft Power.’ The emphasis is on laying down the cornerstone, prospecting its sustainable impact in the long run. Therefore it is a steep out of previous diplomacy where large amount of capital was invested to throw sporadic events that generates merely ostensible result.

In order to make the culture of one country viable in another country, it needs to be melted in people’s lives. It should be easy to find access to explore the culture. Needless to mention its literal excellence, works of Shakespeare have significant presence until now because people easily heard about it and could easily have access to it. In terms of sustainability, forced form of ‘government to government’ strategy only have limited and short term effect comparing to voluntary network formed by the people on the basis of shared interest. As no culture can be transferred over a night, Korean government should focus more on long term investment for basic infra- structure to touch the mass, which is again, why public diplomacy is necessary.

Different models of Public Diplomacy; France, Germany

Public Diplomacy relies heavily on the cultural context, industrial structure, global power of the nation. It is therefore never possible to bench mark one model from another country. Espe- cially Korea has unique strengths and weaknesses in terms of such factors. Considering this situation, Korea should assemble only suitable and viable features from models of other countries. This will help construct concrete Public Diplomacy model that will generate sustainable strategy for Korea. Thus, here it introduces two comparable models from representative EU members; France and Germany. Each model helped the countries to keep its own strengths sustainable in its own way.

Starting with France, public diplomacy model of France can be largely characterized by strong network within each department of French government and also between government of France and foreign partner. The history of this tight network starts from internal tradition. Hav- ing a long history in culture of centralized government, it was always crucial for each department to be closely interrelated. This was to empower the central government of powerful influence over the departments. Recently in 2010, as part of the Public Diplomacy, France established “In- stitut Français” to add more efficiency in its network. This mainly acts as efficient intermediary between existing two pivot; Alliance Française and Campus Français. It also connects these two pivots located abroad with the central government of France. This tendency stretched out abroad for its public diplomacy model. When France started active public diplomacy, huge amount of

연세유럽연구 제1권 제2호｜43 effort was put in to reach out for collaborations with local partners in various levels. Such efforts have been mainly projected to strategies surrounding French, the elegant and historical language.

France prides herself as being the locus of politics, diplomacy and culture for the European continent. This pride extends its scope to the language, as the one and only language of diplomacy before English. On the basis of this mind set, France puts significant importance on the language as part of the public diplomacy. This explains consistent effort of Institut Français to draw more and more interest and affection towards French. The director of Institut Français Korea, Daniel Ollivier says “We are not hoping for French to be used as widely and deeply as English. Our focus is on sustainably keeping the charm of French throughout countries.”5 As part of the promotions for its language, various shows are introduced to the students at French language institutes. The majority of shows introduced are Opera, Musical or Play. These types of performances are not only interesting and admirable itself but also it triggers more interest to the language. Above all things, strong network is needed for successful promotion. For instance, Institut Français work in close relationship with major local theatre, cultural venues and local organizations of cultural affairs. Only with this strong network-based model, can the country gain power to roll out its strategy sustainably. While the partners itself or the way of negotiating the partnerships may vary, the positive effect and significance of this method will remain viable throughout the world.

Moving on to Germany, its current public diplomacy model focuses on transferring ‘state-of- the-art’ image that the country has; leveraging the image of famed German car manufacturers. It is a distinct and creative concept considering the main focus of cultural institutes of other Euro- pean countries is within the scope of our classical perception of art; literature, music and painting. Origin of this characteristic dates back to the Second World War which deeply afflicted the image of Germany. The war leaved no choice for Germany but to put enormous effort to build up positive image in order to gain hospital sentiment from people of other countries. To avoid negative effects from country’s degraded image, German ministry of Foreign Affairs had to be presented independent from the central government. In this vein, Goethe institute has been traditionally acting independent from the government. While turning its back to the afflicted image, however, Germany’s public diplomacy has always been touting its global high-tech and top-notch image.

There is a recent example that deserves some attentions. The Goethe-Institute New York suc- cessfully inaugurated MINI/Goethe-Institute Curatorial Residencies which is a collaboration be-

5 Interview: Daniel Olivier, Blog of the France Chamber of Commerce & Industry (2012.02.20) http://blog.naver.com/francebiz?Redirect=Log&logNo=110131319045

44｜Yonsei European Studies Vol.1 Issue 2 tween the institute and BMW. This gives the opportunity for prospective students from Germany to have unprecedented international experience by programing the residence. Also from per- spective of New York citizens, this program is Goethe-Institute New York communicating and sharing value with local people about the contemporary design. Thomas Girst, head of BMW Group’s cultural communications, adds: “Together with the Goethe-Institut, BMW Group has engaged in close cultural cooperation with manifold international projects for well over a decade now. The great success of MINI’s involvement with the Ludlow 38 contemporary art space has been of such scale that we are proud to announce our continuous long-term support.”6

Recently in Korea, Goethe Institute has sponsored an exhibition of Peter Shereyer, the world- famed car designer. This was a huge success in terms of both number of the visitors and the strengthened image of Germany. Under the category of activities of Goethe Institute, IT sector are proudly positioned. The activities rolled out in this sector is exhibitions or forums that in- duces a huge number of local people especially university students and businessmen. This model was possible particularly due to the positive image of German companies. In other words, it is not an applicable model for all the countries around the world. However, the core lesson is to find out which image the country has to spread out to the world and focus on that image.

Korea’s Public Diplomacy model

Public Diplomacy is not a brand new, ground breaking strategy in Korea. In fact, fostering positive global perception of Korea has been one of the most common issues over several years. It has even been mentioned as one of the key presidential election pledge by candidates for next presidential election in December 2012. Also there have been some internal changes over several years. We easily come across many campaign signs such as “Your smile makes Korea a better place” with picture of a Korean and a foreigner shaking their hands. This is a good start for public diplomacy as it mainly takes place in individual level. Korea’s external strategy, however, is strug- gling. Its excessive focus on leveraging the impact of K-pop can be ill-oriented. There have been many articles touting about the grand size of the mass that K-pop concert gathered. However, these articles are criticized by realists and the truth hurts. Shamefully, the flash mops which were supposedly intended by the local people in France and Poland turned out that it was actually plotted by Korean government department. This is just one example out of many that shows how we are led to misperception. To turn Korea’s public diplomacy model into sustainable strategy, the government has to stop leaning on mega-event oriented promotion. As solution, these are 6 http://www.e-flux.com/announcements/minigoethe-institut-curatorial-residencies/

연세유럽연구 제1권 제2호｜45 some applicable lessons from other countries.

According to Jan Melissen, the author of the book “The New Diplomacy”, Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is criticized for its elitism and closed network and this can act as a barrier to unfold efficient public diplomacy as it blocks opportunities to partner with local parties.7 This is where public model of France can intervene. The lesson from French model is clear. Establish strong network and take full advantage of participants when necessary.

Maintaining the security is still crucial for efficient diplomacy with no doubt. However this does not mean that it has to be fully concealed and closed. Government departments for foreign affairs have to work in transparency to some extent and with open-minded approach. This is especially true when it comes to strategies of public diplomacy which are related with service for the mass. The priority is to intimately approach foreign people. Therefore continuous effort is necessary to build network with local civil society, NGO or even with players in the private sector. Networking with local partners is of course not an easy job. It is always a challenge to approach through harmonization among different organization. However looking at the successful example especially the model of France, Korea’s public diplomacy model should have its ground on the platform made by participants of the network. This will provide concrete stepping stone for Korea to gain sustainable competency by promoting its image. For sure, Korean government would not want to be dependent on the blinking light from K-pop cons dering the longevity of its impact. Rather it should start its journey toward successful transportation of overall identity of Korea that the government wants to spread out.

Another lesson for Korea’s public diplomacy model is utilizing the core strength of our global image. While luxurious car manufacturers are the star players for Germany, handset manufacturers such as Samsung and LG are some examples of our global conglomerates. Making good use of their image gives some differentiated advantage to Korea compared to our neighboring countries; China and Japan. Historically, Chinese and Japanese culture is relatively well known in most of the countries around the world. Together they have been representing the ‘Asian Culture’ with their food, traditional clothing and so on. In this situation, Korea had hard time finding the niche market between the two. It seemed as if culture from the two countries is enough to fulfill the westerner’s fantasy or interest in Asian culture. Recently however Korean multi-national companies are gaining its reputation especially in Europe and this can be used as differentiated strategy.

7 Jan Melissen : The New Public Diplomacy 2005.11.09 Palgrave Macmillan

46｜Yonsei European Studies Vol.1 Issue 2 In fact, Europe is the only continents where Samsung is showing better performance than Apple. Many said it is partly due to Samsung’s extensive cultural marketing rolled throughout the continent, not to mention the well manufactured and sophisticatedly designed product with high technology. In this vein, Korean government can collaborate with these companies to have continuous events, associating companies’ beloved top-notch image with country’s image. The essential prerequisite for this strategy is the mutual understanding between the government and the companies. Both have to be aware that this is not a short-term project. It will be a long journey requiring patience of both parties and consistent effort.

Conclusion

Public diplomacy is yet not a perfect model. The main problem of public diplomacy is that it can be considered as threats with aggressive epidemic effect. People on this side argue that public diplomacy can blur the invaded country’s identity, slowly encroaching upon the culture. This cre- ates a whole new series of endless controversy. However, this essay stands on the side with oppo- nents of public diplomacy. People on this side insist that many cultures can and should co-exist to nurture a world with diversity. They value the opportunity to appreciate various cultures. Also they believe no one culture contradicts or harm the other. When there are some people chasing culture flown from another country, there are always others who cherish their own culture. In cultural sense, the world we are and will be living is facing a truly borderless world. As mentioned from the start, media and multinational corporations are growing as never before. Uncountable number of people will have easier access and will enjoy the dynamism that these cultures from all over the world create. Therefore when it comes to the cultural wave, it starts from nowhere in the world but can suddenly be flowing all around the world.

Again, public diplomacy is not a perfect model but nor any other model is. Therefore, in this ever-changing world, country has to fully understand the global situation before constructing its diplomacy model. What message does our culture has to carry when it is transferred to other country? Which way should we take to keep our culture sustainable? What can possibly be the right model to enforce our competency? At the end of the long and thorough reflection, there is a high chance that public diplomacy will appear as highly potential alternative.

연세유럽연구 제1권 제2호｜47 Reference

Charles A. Kupchan, 2012,‘No One’s World’

Lee Jong Soo(Director of Korean cultural center), 2011 Interview;Korea National Tourist Organization http://kto.visitkorea.or.kr/kor/notice/news/tnew/tourNews/view.kto?artNo=AKR 2012100104070005

Choi Jun Ho(Former director of Korean cultural center in France), 2010 Interview, http://blog.naver.com/korea_brand?Redirect=Log&logNo=10129495523

Sung Hwan Kim(Minister of Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs), 2010, Speech for Inauguration of Korea public diplomacy forum http://www.mofat.go.kr/webmodule/htsboard/template/read/korboardread.jsp?typ eID=6&boardid=235&seqno=327804&c=&t=&tableName=TYPE_DATABOAR D&px=&dc=&wc=&lu=&vu=&iu=&du

48｜Yonsei European Studies Vol.1 Issue 2