Japan and South Korea’s Implication of Soft Power: Cultural Aspects, Education, and Foreign Aid Diplomacy

Kadir Aden Dirir

doi:doi:10.11648/j.hss.20221004.20

| Peer-Reviewed

Japan and South Korea’s Implication of Soft Power: Cultural Aspects, Education, and Foreign Aid Diplomacy

Kadir Aden Dirir

Published in Humanities and Social Sciences (Volume 10, Issue 4)

Received: 14 July 2022 Accepted: 1 August 2022 Published: 29 August 2022

Views: Downloads:

Download PDF

Share This Article

Twitter
Linked In
Facebook

Abstract

Over the past years, the concept of hard power has been overtaken by a new approach “Soft power”. As a result, many countries compete to take advantage of this new power at their disposal by implementing in their foreign policies. For instance, numerous countries such as India (Bollywood), and the U.S (Hollywood) have extensively benefited from their soft power, as both countries’ cinemas are considered the most potent cultural export. The following paper explores how the Japanese and South Korean government have been exploiting their soft power by coinciding with their national interest. Both countries were selected based on their limited military intervention despite dedicating a decent budget amount for defense. Especially when looking at Japan’s firm stand policy that adheres to a non-military approach, therefore, increasing the probability of seeking other alternatives to expand its state’s strength. In addition, the selection was carried out by taking into consideration the strong influence they hold in the region in the context of cultural aspects. Furthermore, we address how these tools of “Soft power” such as cultural diplomacy, education, and foreign aid have transformed both countries’ images, especially Japan which had been criticized for its past imperialistic days. The article is qualitative in nature, we referred to the sufficient available relevant works of literature and papers to present soft power and its implication by focusing on two East Asian countries. Finally, we conclude that both countries deploy cultural diplomacy and education for diplomatic purposes and national branding while in the context of foreign aid diplomacy we suggest that it is more than of its humanitarian claims.

Published in	Humanities and Social Sciences (Volume 10, Issue 4)
DOI	10.11648/j.hss.20221004.20
Page(s)	261-270
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Soft Power, Japan, South Korea, Foreign Policy, Public Diplomacy, Foreign Aid, Culture, Education

References

[1]	ASEAN. (2015). https://asean.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Table19_as-of-6-dec-2016.pdf. ACCESSED 29-06-2022.
[2]	Atkinson, C. (2010). Does soft power matter? A comparative analysis of student exchange programs 1980–2006. Foreign Policy Analysis, 6 (1), 1-22.
[3]	Ayhan, K. J. (2019a). The boundaries of public diplomacy and nonstate actors: A taxonomy of perspectives. International Studies Perspectives, 20 (1), 63-83.
[4]	Ayhan, K. J. (2022b). Exploring Global Korea Scholarship as a Public Diplomacy Tool. Journal of Asian and African Studies, 57 (4), 872-893.
[5]	Buhmann, A. (2016). Measuring country image. Fribourg: Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden.
[6]	Burnell, P. (1997). The changing politics of foreign aid—Where to next? Politics, 17 (2), 117-125.
[7]	Chien, Y.-Y. G. (2016). After six decades: Applying the U-curve hypothesis to the adjustment of international postgraduate students. Journal of Research in International Education, 15 (1), 32-51.
[8]	Cho, Y. Y. (2012). Public diplomacy and South Korea’s strategies. The Korean Journal of International Studies, 10 (2), 275-296.
[9]	Chu, Y.-w. (2009). Eclipse or reconfigured? South Korea's developmental state and challenges of the global knowledge economy. Economy and society, 38 (2), 278-303.
[10]	De Haan, A. a.-P. (2010). Can new aid modalities handle politics? Foreign Aid for Development, Issues, Challenges and the New Agenda, 197-221.
[11]	Dowd, T. J. (2011). Globalization and diversity in cultural fields: Comparative perspectives on television, music, and literature. American Behavioral Scientist, 55 (5), 519-524.
[12]	Fumagalli, M. (2012). South Korea’s engagement of Central Asia from the end of the Cold War to the" New Asia Initiative". Journal of Northeast Asian History.
[13]	Gannon, J. (2011). JET Program 25th anniversary commemorative symposium commemorative address: A triumph of soft power. Japan Center for International Exchange, New York.
[14]	Gesing, P. a. (2019). STEM student mobility intentions post-graduation and the role of reverse push-pull factors. International Journal of Educational Development, 65, 227-236.
[15]	Hae-Joang, C. (2005). Reading the “Korean wave” as a sign of global shift. Korea Journal, 45 (4), 147-182.
[16]	Harris, R. J. (2012). Ambassador Doraemon: Japan's pop culture diplomacy in China and South Korea. Georgetown University.
[17]	Istad, F. E. (2021). Global Korea Scholarship students: Intention to stay in the host country to work or study after graduation. Politics & Policy.
[18]	Iwabuchi, K. (2002: 201). "Recentering globalization." In Recentering Globalization. Duke University Press.
[19]	Jang, G. a. (2012). Korean Wave as tool for Korea’s new cultural diplomacy. Advances in Applied Sociology, 2 (03), 196.
[20]	Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. (2006). “A New Look at Cultural Diplomacy: A Call to Japan’s Cultural Practitioners.”
[21]	https://www.mofa.go.jp/announce/fm/aso/speech0604-2.html Accessed on June 25 2022.
[22]	JASO. (2017). Japan Student Service Organization, “International Students in Japan. https://www.jasso.go.jp/en/index.html Accessed July 2, 2022.
[23]	Jeong-ju, N. (2013). Eximbank to finance' hallyu' businesses. The Korea Times., viewed on June 2th, http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2013/02/602_130133.html.
[24]	Kahn, B. W. (1999). Changing attitudes toward cultural interchange in postwar Japan. Asia-Pacific Review, 6 (2), 65-77.
[25]	Kaneva, N. (2011). Nation branding: Toward an agenda for critical research. International journal of communication, 5, 25.
[26]	Kim, H. J. (2004). The “Asian Values” debate and New East Asian democratic values. Journal of Political Science and Sociology, 2, 13-32.
[27]	Kim, J.-Y. a. (2014). Korean pop culture: A decade of ups and downs. International Journal of Multimedia and Ubiquitous Engineering, 9 (3), 129-134.
[28]	Kinsey, D. F. (2013). National image of South Korea: implications for public diplomacy. Exchange: The journal of public diplomacy, 4 (1), 2.
[29]	Kogan, I. J. (2018). What makes a satisfied immigrant? Host-country characteristics and immigrants’ life satisfaction in eighteen European countries. Journal of Happiness Studies, 19 (6), 1783-1809.
[30]	Kuroda, Y. (1990). Japan and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Japan and the Middle East, 40-49.
[31]	Lee, H.-K. (2013). Cultural policy and the Korean Wave: From national culture to transnational consumerism. In The Korean Wave. In The Korean Wave (pp. 185-198). Routledge.
[32]	Lee, S.-J. (2012). South Korea as new middle power-seeking complex diplomacy. EAI Asia Security Initiative Working Paper, 25 (3).
[33]	Leheny, D. (2018). 9. A Narrow Place to Cross Swords: Soft Power and the Politics of Japanese Popular Culture in East Asia in Beyond Japan. Cornell University Press., (pp. 211-234).
[34]	Leonard, M. a. (2003). Norwegian public diplomacy. London: The Foreign Policy Centre.
[35]	McGray, D. (2002). Japan's gross national cool. Foreign Policy. (130), 44.
[36]	Metzgar, E. T. (2017). The Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program: 30 years of public diplomacy in practice. In International Education Exchanges and Intercultural Understanding. In International Education Exchanges and Intercultural Understanding, (pp. 113-130) Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
[37]	Ministry of Foreign Affairs, J. (2006, p. 204.). Diplomatic Bluebook.
[38]	Ministry of Foreign Affairs, J. (2006, p. 206). Diplomatic Bluebook.
[39]	Minns, J. (2001). Of miracles and models: the rise and decline of the developmental state in South Korea. Third World Quarterly, 22 (6), 1025-1043.
[40]	Nye, J. S. (1990). The changing nature of world power. Political Science Quarterly, 105 (2), 177-192.
[41]	Olbrich, P. a. (2012). South Korea as a global actor: International contributions to development and security.
[42]	Otmazgin, N. (2011). "A tail that wags the dog? Cultural industry and cultural policy in Japan and South Korea.”. Journal of comparative policy analysis: research and practice, 13, no. 3: pp 307-325.
[43]	Özçelik, S. (2008). The Japanese Foreign Policy of the Middle East Between 1904-1998: Resource, Trade and Aid Diplomacy. Humanity & Social Sciences Journal, 3 (2), 129-142.
[44]	Pamment, J. (2018). Towards a new conditionality? The convergence of international development, nation brands and soft power in the British national security strategy. Journal of International Relations and Development, 21 (2), 396-414.
[45]	Park, M. S. (2015). South Korea cultural history between 1960s and 2012. International Journal of Korean Humanities and Social Sciences, 1, 71-118.
[46]	Pettigrew, T. F. (2006). A meta-analytic test of intergroup contact theory. Journal of personality and social psychology, 90 (5), 751.
[47]	Ren, Z. (2012). The Confucius institutes and China's soft power. (No. 330): Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO).
[48]	Scott-Smith, G. (2008). Exchange programs and public diplomacy. In Routledge handbook of public diplomacy, (pp. 70-76). Routledge.
[49]	Sugiura, T. M. (2004). Nihon wo Tenjo ga Butaioritakunaru Kuni ni: Nihon no Bunkaryoku wo Takameru niha. Toward a Land the Angels Would Like to Visit: Increasing Japan's Cultural Power]. Gaikō Foramu, 191, 24-33.
[50]	Sunami, A. T. (2015). Japan's science and technology diplomacy. In Science Diplomacy: New Day or False Dawn? (pp. 243-258).
[51]	Tam, L. a. (2021). Evaluations of people, affection, and recommendation for a host country: A study of Global Korea Scholarship (GKS) recipients. Politics & Policy., 49 (6), 1292-1307.
[52]	Van Noorden, R. (2012). Science on the move. Nature, 490 (7420), 326.
[53]	Varpahovskis, E. (2020b). Generating Soft Power Through Education: How South Korea approaches Central Asia with its Education Diplomacy. Contemporary Issues of International Relations: The Problems of International Community, 377-415.
[54]	Varpahovskis, E. a. (2020a). Impact of country image on relationship maintenance: a case study of Korean Government Scholarship Program alumni. Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, 1-13.
[55]	Wagner, C. (2005). From hard power to soft power? Ideas, interaction, institutions, and images in India's South Asia policy. Heidelberg Papers in South Asian and Comparative Politics, (26).
[56]	Wilson, I. (2010, p. 64). Are international exchange and mobility programs effective tools of symmetric public diplomacy? (Doctoral dissertation, Aberystwyth University).
[57]	Yasutomo, D. T. (1989). Why aid? Japan as an" aid great power". Pacific Affairs, 490-503.
[58]	Yun, S.-H. (2014). Do international students’ direct experiences with the host country lead to strong attitude-behavior relations? Advancing public diplomacy research and beyond. International Journal of Communication, 8, 23.

Cite This Article

Plain Text BibTeX RIS

APA Style

Kadir Aden Dirir. (2022). Japan and South Korea’s Implication of Soft Power: Cultural Aspects, Education, and Foreign Aid Diplomacy. Humanities and Social Sciences, 10(4), 261-270. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20221004.20

Copy | Download

ACS Style

Kadir Aden Dirir. Japan and South Korea’s Implication of Soft Power: Cultural Aspects, Education, and Foreign Aid Diplomacy. Humanit. Soc. Sci. 2022, 10(4), 261-270. doi: 10.11648/j.hss.20221004.20

Copy | Download

AMA Style

Kadir Aden Dirir. Japan and South Korea’s Implication of Soft Power: Cultural Aspects, Education, and Foreign Aid Diplomacy. Humanit Soc Sci. 2022;10(4):261-270. doi: 10.11648/j.hss.20221004.20

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.hss.20221004.20,
  author = {Kadir Aden Dirir},
  title = {Japan and South Korea’s Implication of Soft Power: Cultural Aspects, Education, and Foreign Aid Diplomacy},
  journal = {Humanities and Social Sciences},
  volume = {10},
  number = {4},
  pages = {261-270},
  doi = {10.11648/j.hss.20221004.20},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20221004.20},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.hss.20221004.20},
  abstract = {Over the past years, the concept of hard power has been overtaken by a new approach “Soft power”. As a result, many countries compete to take advantage of this new power at their disposal by implementing in their foreign policies. For instance, numerous countries such as India (Bollywood), and the U.S (Hollywood) have extensively benefited from their soft power, as both countries’ cinemas are considered the most potent cultural export. The following paper explores how the Japanese and South Korean government have been exploiting their soft power by coinciding with their national interest. Both countries were selected based on their limited military intervention despite dedicating a decent budget amount for defense. Especially when looking at Japan’s firm stand policy that adheres to a non-military approach, therefore, increasing the probability of seeking other alternatives to expand its state’s strength. In addition, the selection was carried out by taking into consideration the strong influence they hold in the region in the context of cultural aspects. Furthermore, we address how these tools of “Soft power” such as cultural diplomacy, education, and foreign aid have transformed both countries’ images, especially Japan which had been criticized for its past imperialistic days. The article is qualitative in nature, we referred to the sufficient available relevant works of literature and papers to present soft power and its implication by focusing on two East Asian countries. Finally, we conclude that both countries deploy cultural diplomacy and education for diplomatic purposes and national branding while in the context of foreign aid diplomacy we suggest that it is more than of its humanitarian claims.},
 year = {2022}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Japan and South Korea’s Implication of Soft Power: Cultural Aspects, Education, and Foreign Aid Diplomacy
AU  - Kadir Aden Dirir
Y1  - 2022/08/29
PY  - 2022
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20221004.20
DO  - 10.11648/j.hss.20221004.20
T2  - Humanities and Social Sciences
JF  - Humanities and Social Sciences
JO  - Humanities and Social Sciences
SP  - 261
EP  - 270
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2330-8184
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20221004.20
AB  - Over the past years, the concept of hard power has been overtaken by a new approach “Soft power”. As a result, many countries compete to take advantage of this new power at their disposal by implementing in their foreign policies. For instance, numerous countries such as India (Bollywood), and the U.S (Hollywood) have extensively benefited from their soft power, as both countries’ cinemas are considered the most potent cultural export. The following paper explores how the Japanese and South Korean government have been exploiting their soft power by coinciding with their national interest. Both countries were selected based on their limited military intervention despite dedicating a decent budget amount for defense. Especially when looking at Japan’s firm stand policy that adheres to a non-military approach, therefore, increasing the probability of seeking other alternatives to expand its state’s strength. In addition, the selection was carried out by taking into consideration the strong influence they hold in the region in the context of cultural aspects. Furthermore, we address how these tools of “Soft power” such as cultural diplomacy, education, and foreign aid have transformed both countries’ images, especially Japan which had been criticized for its past imperialistic days. The article is qualitative in nature, we referred to the sufficient available relevant works of literature and papers to present soft power and its implication by focusing on two East Asian countries. Finally, we conclude that both countries deploy cultural diplomacy and education for diplomatic purposes and national branding while in the context of foreign aid diplomacy we suggest that it is more than of its humanitarian claims.
VL  - 10
IS  - 4
ER  -

Copy | Download

Author Information

Kadir Aden Dirir

Faculty of Law, Economics, and Management, Université de Djibouti, Djibouti City, Djibouti

Download PDF

Sections

Plain Text BibTeX RIS

APA Style

Kadir Aden Dirir. (2022). Japan and South Korea’s Implication of Soft Power: Cultural Aspects, Education, and Foreign Aid Diplomacy. Humanities and Social Sciences, 10(4), 261-270. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20221004.20

Copy | Download

ACS Style

Kadir Aden Dirir. Japan and South Korea’s Implication of Soft Power: Cultural Aspects, Education, and Foreign Aid Diplomacy. Humanit. Soc. Sci. 2022, 10(4), 261-270. doi: 10.11648/j.hss.20221004.20

Copy | Download

AMA Style

Kadir Aden Dirir. Japan and South Korea’s Implication of Soft Power: Cultural Aspects, Education, and Foreign Aid Diplomacy. Humanit Soc Sci. 2022;10(4):261-270. doi: 10.11648/j.hss.20221004.20

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.hss.20221004.20,
  author = {Kadir Aden Dirir},
  title = {Japan and South Korea’s Implication of Soft Power: Cultural Aspects, Education, and Foreign Aid Diplomacy},
  journal = {Humanities and Social Sciences},
  volume = {10},
  number = {4},
  pages = {261-270},
  doi = {10.11648/j.hss.20221004.20},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20221004.20},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.hss.20221004.20},
  abstract = {Over the past years, the concept of hard power has been overtaken by a new approach “Soft power”. As a result, many countries compete to take advantage of this new power at their disposal by implementing in their foreign policies. For instance, numerous countries such as India (Bollywood), and the U.S (Hollywood) have extensively benefited from their soft power, as both countries’ cinemas are considered the most potent cultural export. The following paper explores how the Japanese and South Korean government have been exploiting their soft power by coinciding with their national interest. Both countries were selected based on their limited military intervention despite dedicating a decent budget amount for defense. Especially when looking at Japan’s firm stand policy that adheres to a non-military approach, therefore, increasing the probability of seeking other alternatives to expand its state’s strength. In addition, the selection was carried out by taking into consideration the strong influence they hold in the region in the context of cultural aspects. Furthermore, we address how these tools of “Soft power” such as cultural diplomacy, education, and foreign aid have transformed both countries’ images, especially Japan which had been criticized for its past imperialistic days. The article is qualitative in nature, we referred to the sufficient available relevant works of literature and papers to present soft power and its implication by focusing on two East Asian countries. Finally, we conclude that both countries deploy cultural diplomacy and education for diplomatic purposes and national branding while in the context of foreign aid diplomacy we suggest that it is more than of its humanitarian claims.},
 year = {2022}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Japan and South Korea’s Implication of Soft Power: Cultural Aspects, Education, and Foreign Aid Diplomacy
AU  - Kadir Aden Dirir
Y1  - 2022/08/29
PY  - 2022
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20221004.20
DO  - 10.11648/j.hss.20221004.20
T2  - Humanities and Social Sciences
JF  - Humanities and Social Sciences
JO  - Humanities and Social Sciences
SP  - 261
EP  - 270
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2330-8184
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20221004.20
AB  - Over the past years, the concept of hard power has been overtaken by a new approach “Soft power”. As a result, many countries compete to take advantage of this new power at their disposal by implementing in their foreign policies. For instance, numerous countries such as India (Bollywood), and the U.S (Hollywood) have extensively benefited from their soft power, as both countries’ cinemas are considered the most potent cultural export. The following paper explores how the Japanese and South Korean government have been exploiting their soft power by coinciding with their national interest. Both countries were selected based on their limited military intervention despite dedicating a decent budget amount for defense. Especially when looking at Japan’s firm stand policy that adheres to a non-military approach, therefore, increasing the probability of seeking other alternatives to expand its state’s strength. In addition, the selection was carried out by taking into consideration the strong influence they hold in the region in the context of cultural aspects. Furthermore, we address how these tools of “Soft power” such as cultural diplomacy, education, and foreign aid have transformed both countries’ images, especially Japan which had been criticized for its past imperialistic days. The article is qualitative in nature, we referred to the sufficient available relevant works of literature and papers to present soft power and its implication by focusing on two East Asian countries. Finally, we conclude that both countries deploy cultural diplomacy and education for diplomatic purposes and national branding while in the context of foreign aid diplomacy we suggest that it is more than of its humanitarian claims.
VL  - 10
IS  - 4
ER  -

Copy | Download