Public diplomacy of South Korea

The term public diplomacy was first coined and used by Edmund Gullion in 1965 and the concept developed gradually. More recently, the definition of public diplomacy differs according to different authors. Taehwan Kim in his article "Paradigm Shift in Diplomacy: A Conceptual Model for Korea's "New Public Diplomacy"" defines it as "a diplomatic practice or field of academic research which includes non-conventional actors (such as NGOs or civil societies) to promote diplomacy of the people". As the importance of public diplomacy increases, South Korea is putting more efforts to engage in the new trend of diplomacy. Muzaffar S. Abduazimov in his article "Public Diplomacy: Reappraising the South Korean Case through an Evolutionary Approach" presents four evolutionary periods of South Korean public diplomacy: origins (late 1940s-late 1980s), diversification (early 1990s), polycentrism (early 2000s), and institutionalization (2011-present).

Diverse realms of public diplomacy exist within South Korea including knowledge diplomacy, cultural diplomacy, Korean studies diplomacy, corporate diplomacy and sports and tourism diplomacy.

Knowledge diplomacy is a sub-category of public diplomacy which utilizes a nation's successful policies, institutions, and values, accumulated and formulated through its own historical development, as soft power assets. As information becomes the most important asset for people in the 21st century, there exists a race to acquire more information which is dispersed in massive quantity with diverse methods. Under the given circumstances, it is imperative to note that abundant information is likely to contribute to miscommunication and misunderstanding which can further lead to potential conflicts. Thus, disseminating correct information and knowledge through communication is essential. When South Korea attempts to practice knowledge diplomacy, its dissemination of Korean Values should not conflict with the universal values.

The creators of Hallyu or the Korean Wave attempt to create it so that people from other countries will like it is by focusing on the commonalities between Korea and other countries.  The thought process behind that technique of packaging is the fact that the Koreans feel if people from other countries see them as similar people they are more likely to have a positive opinion of Korea and Korean culture/pop culture; Kuwahara calls this technique of focusing on similarities "psychic distance".  Another goal of looking the psychic distance is the attempt to make the products more easily marketable.  The Koreans want to get rid of any obstacle or tentativeness that people from other countries may have about Korea and they see the use of Hallyu as a way to accomplish that goal.  The Korean government also had the goal of impacting other countries through these uses of their pop culture.

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