An interview with me about Korea’s nation branding appears in the Friday 8 May edition of The Korea Herald. You can read it in full by following this link:

http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/NEWKHSITE/data/html_dir/2009/05/08/200905080014.asp

Overall, the article is a very accurate account of what I said to the reporter during the interview. However, for the record, I would like to point out that the following sentence is not an accurate description of what I said: “Dinnie believes the lack of interest in nation branding by the preceding administrations were the key cause of Korea’s dismal visibility on the global stage”. That sentence is inaccurate in two ways. First, I did not and do not blame the preceding administrations for a lack of interest in nation branding. Second, I do not believe that Korea’s visibility on the global stage is ‘dismal’. Korea’s visibility on the global stage could certainly be better than it is, but it would be a gross exaggeration to label it ‘dismal’.

Apart from that, the article is well written and the reporter was an interesting person to talk to. And the photo is not as horrendous as I thought it might be.

At the invitation of the Korea Foundation I visited Seoul to give a talk April 29th at Underwood International College, Yonsei University. The event was to mark the publication of the Korean translation of my book, ‘Nation Branding - Concepts, Issues, Practice’.

The level of interest in nation branding within Korea is extremely high. The Korean media carries frequent articles on nation branding and there is ongoing debate about the country’s nation branding strategy amongst political, academic, and business figures. During my stay in Seoul I visited the offices of the newly established Korean Presidential Council on Nation Branding, where I made a brief presentation to members of the Presidential Council followed by an interesting roundtable discussion on the way forward for Korea’s nation branding strategy.

The very existence of the Presidential Council on Nation Branding is a tangible sign of the commitment of Korea to enhance its nation brand. It will be intriguing to see how Korea’s strategy for promoting its nation brand evolves over the coming years.