Soft Power in North-South Korea Diplomacy
By: Saamiya Laroia
Tags: Politics, North Korea, South Korea, Foreign Policy, Soft Power

Using hard power such as military and economic action against North Korea has proved ineffective so far and the idea of soft power strategy in negotiations emerges as a cardinal option to consider. Soft power is important in this dynamic because South Korea needs to send a message that the two countries can coordinately exist in the world system to attract it to the negotiating table. South Korea’s recent strategies in dealing with North Korea focus on cooperation in many soft power domains such as sports, culture, and music rather than domains that expose serious political intension and this has successfully attracted North Korea into talks.

The continued endeavour to converse with North Korea through soft power means can play a vital role in solving the nuclear crisis. Cultural promotion in North Korea can serve as a nexus between non-political cooperation and improved, tactful negotiation attempts

The most clear-cut and corroborating case study for this is the congenial tone the two nations have been setting through cooperation in the Olympic games. In a historically seminal gesture, North and South Korean athletes walked out on the Pyeongchang Winter 2018 Olympics as joint teams, under a shared flag. This was seen as an incredibly major breakthrough in North-South relations acted as a beacon of hope for peace, unity and diplomacy.

On November 26th, 2019 Yonhap News agency reported that Unification minister Yeon-Chul called a date for North Korea to work together with South Korea for their bid to co-host the 2032 Olympic Games, as agreed in 2018 as part of efforts to boost cross-border exchanges (President Moon Jae-in and Leader Kim Jong-Un agreed to push for co-hosting the 2032 summer Olympics.

This reputed ‘thaw’ in diplomatic relations attests to the fact that soft power has potential for easing talks and bringing the nations together. Talks like the discussion to co-host the Olympic Games, normalize interaction between the two Nations. The insouciant nature of cultural collaboration also contributes to curtail the tension and antipathy that has plagued these nations throughout the years.

In a 2020 BBC article Christine Ro says, “The wave of South Korean pop culture around the world hasn’t happened by accident — it was a deliberate government plan. And it has even reached North Korea.”

Hallyu in North Korea is referred to as nampung (southern wind) and is help fighting against the government propaganda against South Korean people. Black market access of K-media has become overwhelmingly popular in North Korea and sale of USB drives containing South Korean films and TV dramas is said to bring in over a month’s worth of food.

Defectors claim that South Korean films and K-pop made them increasingly aware of what the North Korean regime wasn’t telling them, expanded their mindsets and improved their view of South Koreans.

GeumHyok Kim, a North Korean defector told the BBC that “Culture makes people brave.” It makes people curious about differences between countries and leads to questioning of government propaganda. “I realized that what I knew about North Korea was all a lie.”

In a final statement Kim said, “Culture is soft, culture is light, but culture has power to distribute information to people. I believe in the power of culture.”

The country’s dazzling fusion of music and dance- K-pop recently showed its power as a diplomatic policy tool when South Korea sent delegations of 160 artists and K-pop stars to perform a selection of concerts in North Korea as an element of an ongoing cultural exchange between the two politically tense states. Kim Jong-Un attended the first concert in East Pyongyang Grand Theatre. Reports from the North Korean state news agency KCNA claim the leader was “deeply moved” by what he saw. He reportedly even managed to “adjust his schedule” to meet members of the band Red Velvet, the sole all-female K-pop group at the event.

According to a report in NK News ― an American subscription-based website that provides North Korea news updates ― South Korea’s Minister of Culture, Do Jong-Hwan, believes K-pop has had a “considerable cultural influence” on citizens of the DPRK. At the Spring Comes concert, Kim Jong-un himself reportedly told performers from the South that the two countries “should hold culture and art performances frequently.”