Well, I've actually always believed so. But I feel a bit vindicated and validated in having been invited to sit on the Presidential Council on Nation Branding (국가브랜드위원회). It being mostly composed of government bigwigs, heads of corporations, academics with Ph.D.'s finished (ahem), and other major hitters, I feel inevitably a bit outgunned. However, I do feel that the council made a good decision in trying to select not just the standard top-down approach to dealing with the "branding" problem, but has decided to include a few people who are on the streets, in the mix of things where the real "branding" of opinion happens.
The council is composed of many non-Koreans as well, which I understand to be a first. I do intend to present some concrete ideas that I'd be best able to carry out, and I'd like to hear from you, my readers, as much as possible. One of my concerns about "nation branding" is that much of it is done informally, on the street, by word-of-mouth, from person to person. One point that was good to see brought up in discussion was that branding cannot happen in a controlled, top-down way.
The way I see it, much of Korea's nation branding is affected by unfair or unreasonable hagwon owners or school vice-principals who send many who've worked in Korea hurt or angry. Korea's attitude is questionable in a media environment that has become positively hostile and suspicious of non-Koreans for no compelling reason, i.e. the crime rate amongst non-Koreans actually being higher than that of Koreans, which then might warrant the almost single-minded attention given to foreigners involved in drug crimes or the virtually non-extant cases of sex offenses against children, etc.
And one idea I've always had was to research a way of tracking -- both anecdotally and statistically -- what I believe to be a rise in the incidence of physical harassment/violence against foreigners. Given that this has been a mere observation of mine, I'd like to see a more systematic look that would yield a more useful answer to the question: Is this a real problem, and if so, what can be done to reduce the incidence of incidents, as well as the impact on the national "brand?"
Because actions don't just speak louder than words -- they are worth a million. For every cartload of cash the government spends on tourism campaigns or formalized nation brands, the bitter and angry people who have nothing good to say about Korea in their home countries, personal networks, and other affiliation groups cancel that out.
IF -- and this is still and IF -- there is an overarching pattern of negative coverage of foreigners in the print and broadcast media, then identifying that AS a problem will itself be hugely important and useful. One thing I notice about my anecdotal reporting of harrassment and violence against foreigners to Korean colleagues and friends is that they all tend to disbelieve me, and/or assume there was a "misunderstanding" or that the foreigner in question must have acted first. What is not seen as a possibility -- even as a possibility -- is that there might be a relationship between the overly hostile media environment and real-life actions. It isn't such a jump to make such a link, and it might help explain why I never really heard about such incidents amongst my professional and private networks that involve large numbers of foreigners visiting Korea until relatively recently, over the past few years.
If there is such a problem, and it can be publicly identified AS such, as the US State Department recently did in its warnings that are simply based on patterns of reported incidents, then it can serve the very useful purpose of perhaps placing some expectation of BALANCE in reporting on foreigners in news media, on both the sides of journalist and consumer.
In any case, we'll see how it goes. Last week was the first meeting, and although I can't report specifics, I can say that I get the feeling that the people up top really want to fix what's broken. And the fact that they've invited me and many other people on the council means that they must be serious. I think they want to listen. And that council reports directly to the president. And since I sit on it, what you report to me becomes a part of my input. Not too shabby, eh?
I've been invited AS a blogger, media producer, young scholar. So this is how I'm gonna start the ball rolling, by listening to the audience that has encouraged me to blog, podcast, and all that. And it's a new motivation to do a better, more focused job of it.
So let the comments rip -- what would you like to see changed about "nation branding?" What do you think of Korea's particular "brand?" What are points about Korea, life here, the culture -- that you'd like to see included in the conversation about Korea? Basically -- what's important for you here as someone who either lives, has lived, or has traveled here, and what should other people know about that?
Let's get a conversation started, then. I want to get a sense of what people are saying on the ground before our next meeting in June. You wanted constructive criticism of Korea? You got it! Now, let 'er rip!