South Korea's national image has improved significantly around the world, except in China, following the World Cup, according to a Korea Times report Wednesday.
At the Post-World Cup Economic Effect Maximization Scheme Report to the President in Chong Wa Dae, KOTRA president Oh Young-kyo said that the national image abroad has improved by 95 percent following the tournament last June, and awareness rates of Korea overseas have surged 10 percentage points to 73 percent in July from 63 percent in May.
KOTRA surveyed 14,157 foreigners twice through its overseas offices in May and July.
The national image in foreign countries averaged 78.4 point after the World Cup, up 1.2 percentage points from 77.2 points last May. This is lower than Japan's 86.6 points but higher than 70.6 points of China.
According to KOTRA, the national image have improved in most of the regions, especially in the Oceania region, but dropped by 2.5 percent in China.
Negative images among foreigners of Korea also decreased by 2 percentage points to 5 percent, from 7 percent in May. About 35 percent of the foreigners surveyed cited the World Cup as the dominant Korean image and 25 percent first thought of Korea's advanced development. About 22 percent still recalled an image of a country torn in half, much lower than the 33 percent who conceived of Korea in that way before the World Cup.
About 54 percent said they watched tournament or news broadcasts more than 15 times during the World Cup, and 60 percent said the World Cup has had a positive influence on Korea's national image around the world.
Asked to recall the most impressive memory of the World Cup, 33 percent picked Korea's advancement into the semifinals.
Only 26 percent referred to Brazil's winning of the trophy, followed by the cheering spectacle of the Red Devils (21 percent), the opening ceremony (13 percent) and the closing ceremony (7 percent).
In addition, KOTRA said out of 2,022 foreign companies surveyed, 43 percent already working with Korean companies have expressed their interest in expanding business ties with Korean firms. Other 35 percent of companies not familiar with Korean business were found to have become more willing to open dealings with Korean companies.
It said the fact that 7 percent said they purchased Made-in-Korea products expressly because of its Korean origin, suggesting that the popularity of Korean brands has been growing in foreign markets.
However, KOTRA pointed out that improving the national image is different from merely increasing foreign awareness on Korea. It proposed a systematic management of the national image on a sustained basis.
Meanwhile, Oh said, as overseas demand for Korean products and investment attractiveness increases following the World Cup, the country must work on improving its investment environment, create a business environment that meets international standards, enhance flexibility in the labor market and improve living conditions for foreigners in S.Korea.
He added that the government must beef up its investment promotion campaigns for some 603 of the larger potential foreign investors, and hold an investment forum by inviting the heads of regional headquarters of multinational corporations.
He also recommended fostering the development of world-class brands and products, differentiating overseas marketing activities by region, and the establishment of global trade bases by utilizing the ethnic Korean networks abroad.
(People's Daily July 24, 2002)
