VOA标准英语2009年-South Korea Creates Council to Help Improv

By Jason Strother
Seoul
05 November 2009

Some South Koreans think their nation has an image problem. While it ranks as one of the world's top economies, international surveys show that South Korea's brand value - how others perceive the country - is low. Now the government is trying to improve its reputation abroad.
 
 
South Korean vacationers take advantage of fair weather at Haeundae beach in Busan, south of Seoul (File) 
A television ad airing all over East Asia is aimed at luring¹ tourists to South Korea. It showcases both traditional and modern glimpses of the country and ends with a catchphrase.
 
But sparkling is not always the image of South Korea that is shown in international media.
 
Like in the summer of 2008, when demonstrations² against American beef imports made the front pages of newspapers around the world.

Image change
 
Lee Chan-boum aims to change that image.
 
"If these are the only images of Korea being seen around the world, yes, I think that, that may negatively affect the image of Korea," he said.

Lee is the director general of the Presidential Council on Nation Branding, tasked with enhancing South Korea's prestige abroad.
 
The council has taken recommendations from Simon Anholt, an international consultant³ on brand value and advisor⁴ who coined the phrase "nation brand".
 
"The nation's brand is basically its image, its reputation," explained Anholt. "Whether you are talking about getting tourists, or getting investors⁵, or getting talent or getting respect, attention, and so forth⁶. The way your country is perceived is just as important as the way it really is. And often there is a big gap between the two and South Korea is a good example of that."

Brand value
 
To help determine what a country's brand value is, Anholt created the Nation Brands Index, a survey that ranks 50 countries on how they are perceived overseas. South Korea comes in 31st.
 
Anholt says effect of poor images is that nations cannot command high prices for their products. And for South Korea, where exports are the backbone⁷ of the economy, being well regarded abroad is all the more important.
 
But some foreigners living here say one factor that hurt's South Korea's reputation is the difficulty many international companies have doing business here. Some say public sentiment is often manipulated by those with protectionist or other political agendas.

The North Korea factor
 
Tom Coyner is president of Soft Landing Consulting in Seoul.
 
"If the image of the company is not satisfactorily strong in the public sentiment's mind it's easy for agents to whip up community outrage⁸ through the Internet through e mail, what have you, so the newspapers pick it up and say the foreign company is out to take advantage of Korea," Coyner said.
 
Another difficulty for democratic South Korea's global image is that it is often overshadowed by North Korea, one of the most repressive governments in the world.
 
Consultant Anholt calls it a serious problem.
 
"Whenever Korea is mentioned, whether you say South Korea, Korea, or Republic of Korea, unfortunately, their more famous neighbor plays into that one way or another," Anholt said. "According to my research, people actually are not sure of the difference between South and North Korea. And that's part of the reason why South Korea scores badly in the index."

Creating a positive image
 
Anholt points out that South Korea has succeeded in creating a positive image with its films, television shows and music, which are highly acclaimed⁹ throughout East Asia.
 
He says if South Koreans want to really boost their global profile, they need to make greater contributions to international causes, such as poverty reduction or climate change.
 
And that is one area where Lee at the Branding thinks South Korea can show strong leadership.
 
"Fifty years ago, Korea used to be one of the poorest countries in the world," Lee said. "Today, Korea is not a poor country anymore. It's made the successful transition to a highly industrialized, democratic country. So when we extend our assistance to those countries that are still developing, we have a unique perspective that says we know what you are going through, we have been there before too."
 
The Seoul government has recently consolidated¹⁰ several agencies to train young adults to do volunteer work in developing countries.
 
And last month, President Lee Myung-bak pledged tens of millions of dollars in development aid to Vietnam and Cambodia.

1 luring   

吸引，引诱（lure的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• Cheese is very good for luring a mouse into a trap. 奶酪是引诱老鼠上钩的极好的东西。
• Her training warned her of peril and of the wrong, subtle, mysterious, luring. 她的教养警告她：有危险，要出错儿，这是微妙、神秘而又诱人的。

2 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。

3 consultant   

n.顾问；会诊医师，专科医生

参考例句：

• He is a consultant on law affairs to the mayor.他是市长的一个法律顾问。
• Originally,Gar had agreed to come up as a consultant.原来，加尔只答应来充当我们的顾问。

4 advisor   

n.顾问，指导老师，劝告者

参考例句：

• They employed me as an advisor.他们聘请我当顾问。
• The professor is engaged as a technical advisor.这位教授被聘请为技术顾问。

5 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

6 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

7 backbone   

n.脊骨，脊柱，骨干；刚毅，骨气

参考例句：

• The Chinese people have backbone.中国人民有骨气。
• The backbone is an articulate structure.脊椎骨是一种关节相连的结构。

8 outrage   

n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒

参考例句：

• When he heard the news he reacted with a sense of outrage.他得悉此事时义愤填膺。
• We should never forget the outrage committed by the Japanese invaders.我们永远都不应该忘记日本侵略者犯下的暴行。

9 acclaimed   

adj.受人欢迎的

参考例句：

• They acclaimed him as the best writer of the year. 他们称赞他为当年的最佳作者。
• Confuscius is acclaimed as a great thinker. 孔子被赞誉为伟大的思想家。

10 consolidated   

a.联合的

参考例句：

• With this new movie he has consolidated his position as the country's leading director. 他新执导的影片巩固了他作为全国最佳导演的地位。
• Those two banks have consolidated and formed a single large bank. 那两家银行已合并成一家大银行。