Essay Contest Result

Introduction: South Korea's Global Status Quo

South Korea, a land rich in cultural heritage and blessed with a flourishing economy currently enjoys global recognition under the spread of the Hallyu wave with a multi-million viewership base that consumes and appreciates Korean entertainment. South Korea is also home to some of the prominent multimillion conglomerates like Samsung, LG, Hyundai to name a few, prospering worldwide, leading the league in global competition. In terms of providing quality education, as per the Quacquarelli Symonds ranking, 6 Korean universities rank amongst the top 100 universities in the world making the country a notable study destination for foreign students. These Korean universities proudly boast of having been the alma maters to renowned personalities like Mr. Ban Ki Moon the eighth Secretary General of the United Nations.

Economically speaking, South Korea also attracts global attention in terms of providing thriving business opportunities to not just domestic entrepreneurs but also international contenders. As per the World Bank, South Korea secured the 5th rank globally in ease of doing business and ranked first in the global entrepreneurship index 2020, thus becoming one of the leading choices for potential business establishments. In 2016 South Korea ranked first in the Global Safety Index competing with 117 countries thus also becoming a prioritized travel destination which explains the massive tourism surge that the country has seen in the past few years. The statistics presented previously highlight the economical and global significance that South Korea has entrenched.

Apart from these statistics, the country has loads to offer to those who wish to lose themselves in the magic of Korean life. First and foremost, South Korea is the heaven of technology, with mind boggling advancements in Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality, resulting in the massive developments in information technology in the economy, provision of the fastest internet connectivity in the world and a strong network of free public Wi-Fi for the people to enjoy. South Korea also boasts of a well-established delivery system when it comes to provision of E-commerce services which makes it convenient to order almost everything online, pretty much explains how the country despite having a high population density was able to curb the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic phenomenally. Last but not the least is Korea's well developed public transportation system that not just connects each part of the country but also provides for a cheap and extremely convenient way to travel.

With this pretext at hand, one must have had a clear idea of how South Korea in many and various ways stands as an epitome of a well-functioning economy. Nonetheless this also justifies the tremendous surge in the global popularity of the country.

Representation of Korea in the Global Media: The Good, the Bad and the Missing

The power of wholesome representation via media bridges the barriers of language and culture to let one have an in-depth insight into any part of the world. When one talks of the online image of Korea it is pivotal to assess it form the point of view of the community that resorts to internet to improve their understanding about the country. With this in mind let us analyze the results of two recent surveys conducted to encompass how foreigners and Koreans view the cultural aspects of Korea.

First, we shall follow the results of the annual survey announced by the CICI-Korea CQ Forum on June 4, 2019 at the French Embassy in Seoul which surveyed 341 Koreans and 265 foreigners including diplomats and officials from leading Korean enterprises. Amongst the many significant data points the most relevant to our study is the following response: when asked about the most competitive Korean content in the international market 66.4% of the respondents chose Korean food while 20% chose K-pop as the answer.

Secondly the Korean Cultural and Information Service on Feb 4, 2019 released the results of its online survey conducted amongst 8000 foreigners from 16 countries. The survey revealed that K-pop was chosen as the strongest factor contributing to the positive image of the country however only 14% of the respondents chose cultural heritage as a known form of representation of the national image. Moreover, only a dismal 10.5% of the respondents chose cultural heritage as a medium through which they had experienced Korea.

From the above two surveys the online image of Korea amongst foreigners is well clarified. Although, Korean food and Korean pop music topped the list of the world's understanding of Korea, the cultural heritage that paved way to the former seems to be lost and ignored in global representation. Thus, the online image of Korea fails to give adequate representation to its magnificent and glorious cultural heritage.

The Importance of Adequate Global Representation of Korean Culture

To anyone who has had the opportunity of living in Korea or being acquainted with Koreans, it is quite evident that Koreans carry a deep sense of affection and rootedness to their culture and traditions. In order to live, work or study in Korea, acquainting oneself with Korean culture is absolutely essential. However, the importance and magnificence of 'Korean Culture' fails to make it big when it comes to the country's representation in global media which explains why a lot of people remain unaware of this treasure that Korea possesses in the form of its ancient traditions. Therefore, it becomes pivotal to discuss as to why such a huge section of the global audience remains in the dark when it comes to Korean culture.

One of the reasons for lack of representation in these terms is connected to the lack of content availability and generation for the global audience. For example, even though Korean dramas and movies enjoy a huge fanbase today, if one asks the ardent viewers which movie they enjoyed, the most probable answers would be the most recent ones let's say the Oscar winning Parasite or the Korean dramas from the past decade. This is not to undermine the quality of these absolutely mind-blowing productions but to show how the content accessed by the international viewers is limited to the productions of the most recent decade only. Many still are ignorant of golden movies like the King and the Clown, the Coachman, A Hometown of the Heart and many others ancient classics that display ancient Korea to the public. History is the gateway to access the understanding of the culture of a country however due to lack of accessibility to the required content many still are not even aware of these classics. Although some of these movies are now slowly being brought back to light via streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime, the international audience is still deprived of the joy of enjoying these movies either due to lack of knowledge about them or due linguistic barriers posed by lack of subtitles in various languages or region wise restricted access to the content.

The second reason is lack of hype around the literature related to Korean history and culture. Certainly, there are great novels that can give one an insight into the culture of Korea, however, there are very rare mentions of the same when it comes to the online image of Korea. It is evident that books open windows to a country's traditions in its purest form. There are certain stunning novels by Korean authors which are also published and translated in various languages, however many people who are interested to gain more knowledge and insight into Korean culture are unfortunately oblivious to these classic novels. Some of these novels which deserve a mention include Please look after Mom by Kyung-Sook Shin throwing light on the 'family culture' of Korea and an originally English novel The Interpreter by Suki Kim revolving around the struggles of Korean immigrants. Although these masterpieces should have been the face of Korea when it comes to global representation, they hardly gain any attention.

The Way ahead: Korea's Culture as the Face of It's Global Image

Now that we have garnered enough information as to why Korea's cultural heritage needs to be given more spotlight when it comes to the representation of the country. It is important to discuss on the steps that can be taken to amend the existing issue.

1. First is to shed more light on and bring back old Korean classic movies that give an insight into the country's beautiful traditions and the struggles of the past. It would definitely be a great initiative to dedicate a website that acts as a window to provide access to the global community to enjoy these movies irrespective of the language they speak. Hence provision of subtitles in various languages for these movies would make a great impact and the world together with Korea would be able to enjoy these classic movies once again.

2. Garner more attention towards Korean novels by publishing book reviews and articles on these masterpieces online to bring cognizance to the public. Availability of translations of these novels in various languages will help people from around the world enjoy these books whilst also gaining understanding of the Korean culture. Currently the number of people learning Korean all around the world is increasing at an exponential rate hence translating these texts would definitely not be an onerous task for the country and the Ministry of Culture to invest upon.

3. Lastly, since we are talking of a country with an enormously developed technological sector, virtual reality as a means to let the global audience enjoy the grandeur of Korean culture is worth a mention. A similar initiative is taken by the Visit Korea website where it gives virtual reality tours to historic and famous Korean tourist sites through the conveniences of one's laptop or smartphone screens. In our case, initiatives can be taken to give virtual tours of Korea's art and cultural museums and other places of cultural or historic significance for the global community to enjoy. This solution is quite beneficial especially during these times of a pandemic when travel-based tourism has been replaced by virtual tours, Korea can welcome people from all around the world into the splendor of its culture and history. Following is a screenshot from the virtual tours of Injeongmun Gate and Yeongyeongdang Hall at the Visit Korea website.

To sum up. Korea's culture forms a huge part of the Korean lifestyle, however, not so when it comes to its online image. In order to have a wholesome taste of Korea, it's important to know, understand, appreciate and imbibe in the beautiful traditions that were laid since times immemorial. As relevant and important the present is, so is also the magnificence of the past that paved way to the present, as is rightly said 'The Past is the Key to the Present'. Hence the international audience would definitely take fond interest in delving into Korea's culture through the enhanced exposure made available on the internet, thus improving Korea's global image in double measure.