National Identity in Nation Branding: The Case of South Korea

Abstract

　Popular cultural content is transnational, as it is produced across national

borders. However, it is used as a tool to represent national image and identity

for branding, which is contradictory. Therefore, two issues will become the

subject　of discussion: signifying the processes of policy makers and the

effects of　these discourses on people’s national identity. This study examines

these issues　through document analysis of Korean government publications

concerning　Korean popular music（ K-Pop）.

　The study shows that K-Pop signifies two different things in these

documents.

Documents written in English say that it is “hybrid and transnational

music” for external branding, whereas those in Korean claim that it has

“original　content, inheriting Korea-ness from traditional culture” for internal

branding.

In addition, the government’s view of national identity and cultural

nationalism　shown in internal branding is not considered by the Korean

people in their　reactions to discourse about the Korean wave or change of

governance. This　rejection of this reconstructed national identity differs from

the circumstances　shown in previous studies.