"Enriching Korea Public Diplomacy: Evaluating the Impact of Foreign Aid and Culture as Soft Power Resources"

[Audio] Haeun Hong is looking to use foreign aid and culture as soft power resources to enhance Korea's public diplomacy and evaluate its effects for her thesis defense. She aims to explore the background behind why this topic was chosen, the objectives and methodology used, and the difference between this and other studies. In addition, her research will assess the implications of the research and explore further questions. This analysis includes a contribution to the existing body of knowledge on the topic, as well as statistical methods which examine gender, age and regional factors..

[Audio] Haeun Hong's thesis defense examines the efficacy of foreign aid and culture as soft power tools to enhance South Korea's public diplomacy. Her research covers the background, intent, research methodology, implications, and research questions related to the topic. Employing data from gender, age, and regional categories, she uses statistical analysis to draw her conclusions. Additionally, she gives insights into how her research can be utilized in practical applications. The results of her thesis inform the study of public diplomacy by assessing the strategies South Korea can use to promote its international standing..

[Audio] Haeun Hong's thesis investigates how foreign aid and culture can be used as resources to enhance South Korea's soft power and public diplomacy. It covers the background of the topic, its purpose, research methodology and core findings, as well as taking into account Korea's distinctive position and the applicable existing theories and research. This thesis examines the effects of foreign aid and culture on South Korea's soft power and provides an understanding of how countries can exploit this resource to enhance their public diplomacy and brand in the global arena..

[Audio] Haeun Hong's thesis looks to utilize foreign economic resources and cultural resources to enhance public diplomacy in South Korea and to measure its influence. The research was specifically focused on a middle power, making it a one-of-a-kind and complicated study. The aim of the research was to uncover new ways of utilizing soft power resources in public diplomacy and to analyze its effectiveness. To examine the effect of foreign funds and culture on public diplomacy, surveys, interviews, and statistical analysis were conducted. The research findings showed that when a project is well-targeted, consistent, effective and noticeable, foreign funds and culture can have a positive result in public diplomacy, even if the political ideologies of donors and recipients are different, particularly among certain groups of young, educated, and financially privileged receivers. On the other hand, foreign funds and culture can have a negative outcome when the recipient country is in a situation of conflict or violence. This study can be used to guide countries that are looking to use external resources for public diplomacy in their own countries..

[Audio] Haeun Hong's Thesis defense evaluates the effectiveness of foreign funding and culture as soft power resources to improve Korea's public diplomacy. Research has shown that foreign aid and culture can positively influence Korea's public diplomacy, by reducing economic and political risk, increasing awareness and preference of Korean culture, and implementing geopolitical symbolic persuasion. However, audience fatigue and encroachments on local culture are potential risks to be aware of..

[Audio] This research aims to utilize foreign funds and culture of South Korea as soft power resources and evaluate its effects. Based on research methodology, we attempt to identify research problems and derive results from them. Furthermore, we will examine recognition uniqueness and usability, difficulties etc. based on individual level understanding. In this regard, we will set forth the hypothesis that the public diplomacy of South Korea will be enhanced when foreign funds and culture are utilized as soft power resources. Especially, various contents, accessibilities to foreign funds and culture and other factors will bring out the best results in harmony with the understanding we can imagine..

[Audio] I conducted a mixed-method research to assess the efficacy of foreign funds and culture as soft power resources to bolster public diplomacy in South Korea. Participants were asked questions concerning their familiarity with Korean soft power. Phase 1 of the research chose Vietnam as a focal country due to its role as a pivotal partner for South Korea in achieving regional objectives, important consumer of Korean cultural resources and significant recipient of Korean foreign aid. In Phase 2, 3 Vietnamese experts in the field of Korean culture or foreign aid were interviewed in a semi-structured 1:1 format. Moreover, two rounds of focused group discussions with 13 university students in gatherings of maximally 6-7 members per group were conducted in August 2023..

[Audio] Haeun Hong aims to assess the effect of utilizing foreign funds and culture as soft power resources to increase public diplomacy of South Korea. The data in the table indicates that the variables Korean Aid and Korean Culture have a clear positive effect on people's feeling thermometer towards Korea and their support for the KR-VN bilateral cooperation. Models 2 and 4 further demonstrate that the familiarity variable has a positive effect on people's feeling thermometer towards Korea and their support for the KR-VN bilateral cooperation. Overall, the evidence suggests foreign funds and culture can be effectively used as soft power resources to raise public diplomacy of South Korea..

[Audio] Research found that both Korean Aid and Korean Culture had a significant effect on the increase of public diplomacy in South Korea. An OLS regression showed an effect of 12.215 for Korean Aid and 10.882 for Korean Culture. An Ordered Probit showed an effect of 11.626 for Korean Aid and 10.390 for Korean Culture. A Feeling Thermometer showed an effect of 0.424 for Korean Aid and 0.412 for Korean Culture. Lastly, a Support the KR-VN Bilateral Cooperation showed an effect of 0.386 for Korean Aid and 0.389 for Korean Culture. These results demonstrate the importance of foreign capital and cultural resources when trying to increase public diplomacy in South Korea..

[Audio] Results from this table are striking - there appears to be a strong connection between specific external resources and an improvement in South Korea's public diplomacy effectiveness. Particularly, Korean aid and Korean culture have a notable and positive effect on public diplomacy effectiveness. This exemplifies the potential influence of soft power tools in foreign policy, and underlines the necessity of such resources when it comes to public diplomacy. These results demonstrate the potential of external resources to further public diplomacy objectives in South Korea..

[Audio] The data presented for this slide suggests that Korean Aid and Korean Culture have a statistically significant effect on the Feeling thermometer towards Korea and Support the KR-VN bilateral cooperation. This provides a foundation for how policy decisions within the public diplomacy realm are able to shape public perception of Korea and its international relations. Additionally, when other variables are taken into consideration, the results still suggest that Korean Aid and Korean Culture are major factors in raising the Feeling thermometer towards Korea and Support the KR-VN bilateral cooperation. This stands as evidence for the efficacy of soft power resources in enhancing public diplomacy in South Korea..

[Audio] Haeun Hong's Thesis Defense assesses the effect of incorporating foreign funds and culture as soft power resources to bolster public diplomacy in South Korea. The table presented provides the results from the regression tests, showing that when foreign funds and culture are utilized, there is an increase in the feeling thermometer towards Korea and support for the KR-VN bilateral cooperation. This result is consistent across four different tests, indicating a positive effect of leveraging foreign resources. The data suggests that foreign funds and culture can be used to increase public diplomacy in South Korea..

[Audio] A table with research data from Haeun Hong's thesis defense is included in this slide. The research was conducted to comprehend the effectiveness of using foreign funds and cultures to increase public diplomacy in South Korea. The results of the research reveal that there is a positive correlation between Korean aid, Korean culture and feeling thermometer towards Korea regarding their support for KR-VN bilateral cooperation. 850 participants provided the data that is being used as the basis for future research in this field..

[Audio] Haeun Hong's thesis defense evaluated the effectiveness of utilizing foreign funds and cultures as soft power resources to enhance the public diplomacy of South Korea. The table below displays the results of the OLS and Ordered Probit regression studies, summarizing the correlations between Korean Aid, Korean Culture, Female, Age, Education, Living location, Monthly Income, Occupation and Familiarity to the Feeling thermometer towards Korea and Support the KR-VN bilateral cooperation indicator, with statistical significance indicated by the *** symbol..

[Audio] Haeun Hong's thesis defense aims to determine if foreign funds and culture can be used as soft power resources to further public diplomacy in South Korea. To address this, survey experiments were conducted with 850 respondents. Hypotheses M5 & 8, M6 & 9, and M7 & 10 were examined based on the survey results. The findings highlight that there wasn't a significant relationship between Korean Aid & Familiarity, but there was a positive statistically significant relationship between Korean Culture & Familiarity and Korean Culture & Gender. This suggests that Korean Culture could assist in advancing public diplomacy in South Korea..

[Audio] Our research indicates that public diplomacy in South Korea can be bolstered by utilizing foreign aid and culture as soft power resources. The data in the table demonstrates a positive correlation between Korean aid and culture and public attitudes towards foreign bilateral cooperation, familiarity towards Korea, and gender. Additionally, Korean Aid is positively linked to age, education, living location, and monthly income, while Korean culture has a positive correlation with occupation. Overall, this evidence suggests that public diplomacy in South Korea can be effectively enhanced through strategic utilization of foreign aid and culture as soft power resources..

[Audio] Haeun Hong's research uncovered the efficacy of foreign aid and culture as a soft power resource in improving the public diplomacy of South Korea. Results demonstrate that information about the country's foreign aid can be just as influential, if not more so, than that of its culture. This highlights the importance of understanding the different soft power resources that can be used in public diplomacy. Additionally, the research shows that, regardless of audience fatigue and over saturation of Hallyu, it still serves as an effective superpower resource. Though these discoveries provide insight, further investigation into the impact of various soft power resources in Vietnam and other countries is necessary to gain a more in-depth comprehension of the role of public diplomacy..

[Audio] Haeun Hong's Thesis defense seeks to utilize foreign funds and culture as soft power resources to increase public diplomacy in South Korea and evaluate its effectiveness. Her research attempts to explore the effects of these resources and provide a thorough evaluation of their efficacy..

[Audio] Haeun Hong's thesis evaluates the use of foreign aid and culture as soft power assets for strengthening public diplomacy in South Korea. The research aims to determine what makes this research stand out from other similar ones, how the potential outcomes of the study can be measured, and how the results can be implemented practically. Statistical analysis and comparison among genders, ages, and regions are employed as the research methodology. The findings show that foreign aid and culture can be used as reliable soft power tools for improving public diplomacy in South Korea. Nevertheless, further analysis is essential in order to recognize the best approaches to maximize this potential..

[Audio] This being the end of the presentation, I would like to thank all for listening. It can be said that Hong Haen's topic of "Utilizing foreign funds and culture as soft power resources to enhance public diplomacy and to evaluate its effects" was presented. We acknowledge and appreciate the creativity and logical approach taken by Hong Haen in assessing the effects of soft power in improving national image, and in explaining the more appropriate systems..