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Few would doubt that South Korea outperforms China and Japan when it comes to soft power, although on the economic scale the former trails far behind its East Asian neighbors known as the world’s second and third largest economies respectively.
Now the time has come for South Korea to prove it can do better than its giant neighbors in maximizing its strength to help other nations develop, rather than simply reaping the financial benefits from its soft power.
South Korea has a bitter history with its two neighbors. Japan is its former colonial master, and until today many Korean people still cannot forgive the Japanese military brutality during the occupation era. China and South Korea established their diplomatic ties in August 1992, or 44 years after Korea declared its independence from Japan on Aug. 15, 1948. China played a part in the Korean War and has been the main supporter of North Korea from the very beginning.
Some of my South Korean friends initially laughed but then nodded when I said that South Korean people should feel grateful to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, his father Kim Jong-il and his grandfather Kim Il-sung because thanks to their wars on the South, South Korea could build its economy much faster than it should have been able to.
With the idea of Korean reunification fading, the South just wants the North to stop its nuclear threats and focus on economic development. Big powers such as the United States, China and Japan also prefer the status quo for many reasons.
South Korea should thank Japan, because its military occupation during World War II strongly motivated Korea to seek revenge, not by invading Japan back but by defeating its former colonial master, especially in the race for high technologies and culture that would enable it to “conquer” the world.
China also plays a crucial role. Its persistent defense of the North, its big brother attitude and its territorial claim have allowed South Korea to grow stronger. Now China has no choice but to accept interdependent economic and trade relations with South Korea. While China remains the strongest ally of North Korea, it is also realistic and needs an economically strong South Korea.
South Korea has invested billions of dollars to promote its traditional and pop culture products – movies, music and online games – to create the Korea Wave which has been spreading across the globe, counterbalancing the power of Hollywood and US pop cultural products. It proves that not only English-speaking countries can dominate global pop culture.
Now boy band BTS and girl band Blackpink, K-drama and K-pop have become household names, along with Samsung and Hyundai, kimchi and bulgogi. Young Indonesians now pay more attention to Korean pop culture and the number of Indonesians studying in Korea has increased significantly.
The latest fruit of Korean investment in pop culture is the television series Squid Games which just won six Emmy Awards out of 14 categories. Lead actor Lee Jung-jae created history as Asia’s first to win the best actor in a drama series. In 2020, South Korean movie Parasite won four Oscars, including best picture, the first victory for a foreign movie.
Joseph S. Nye Jr, the father of the soft power theory told a discussion group on South Korea in October last year that the world was impressed by the South’s great economic success and democratic achievement. He suggested that the South boost its soft power globally.
“But here’s an area where I think Korea could do more. I think Korea could be outstanding in terms of demonstrating through its international policies what success means. And if I were to say of the three pillars, resources for soft power, to my mind that would be the one that Korea might do more of,” said the Harvard professor.
According to him, South Korea needed to emulate Norway. which only has about 5 million people. “But with its democratic culture at home, its policies of 1 percent of its GDP given for aid to developing countries, its interest in mediating peace agreements, Norway punches above its weight, so to speak. So, there’s a small country with a lot of soft power,” said the professor.
But it seems that other countries, including Indonesia, still regard South Korea thanks to its hard power superiority. In the meantime, Seoul should move further by maximizing its abundant soft power resources not just for its economic and business interests but to magnify its global role and influence.
In the last few years, we have yet to hear South Korea offer its Southeast Asian neighbors collaboration by sharing its know-how, which would allow the 10-member ASEAN to benefit from South Korean soft power. After all, ASEAN is seeking to transform into a sociocultural community that is aware and proud of its identity, culture and heritage.
Just one month after President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol agreed to boost the implementation of the Indonesia-South Korea Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IK-CEPA) during their bilateral summit in Seoul, the House of Representatives ratified the agreement in August. The two countries first signed the economic deal in 2020.
The Jakarta Post quoted President Jokowi as saying that the agreement would boost economic ties between the two countries in industrial, infrastructure, employment and trade. Korea’s investment has helped to accelerate Indonesia’s rapid economic growth, especially in the “steel industry, petrochemicals, batteries, electric vehicles, power cable industry, telecommunication and renewable energy.
Meanwhile, President Yoon said that “concrete cooperation will be made on supply chain matters and economic security. Indonesia is rich in strategic minerals such as nickel, which is an important material for the high-technology industry of South Korea”.
To the general public, bilateral relations between Indonesia and South Korea have so far focused on investment and business. Indonesia needs to be more proactive in wooing South Korea’s investment in the creative economy as a source of soft power and foreign exchange revenue.
Indonesia cannot just stand still and wait for the generosity of other nations.
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The writer is senior editor at The Jakarta Post.
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