By Choi Ha-young
South Korea should learn lessons from the recent fiasco involving the Washington, D.C.-based U.S.-Korea Institute (USKI) to overhaul its public diplomacy, a prominent Korean-American activist said Tuesday.
Kim Dong-suk, executive committee chairman of Korean American Civic Empowerment, called the USKI case demonstrates the plight of the country's public diplomacy, especially in the United States.
The USKI was one of two D.C.-based Korea-related institutes that have received funds from the Korean government via the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy. However, it decided to shut down after Seoul cut off its funding, citing a lack of accounting transparency there and poor research output.
The other one, the Korea Economic Institute (KEI), will remain as a beneficiary. The USKI was founded in 2006 while the KEI was established in 1982.
"While working as a civic activist for decades in Washington, D.C., I have met numerous researchers dealing with pressing issues about Korea and Korean-Americans. But I very rarely ever met anyone from the USKI or the KEI," Kim said in an email interview with The Korea Times.
Kim is renowned for his efforts in getting House Resolution 121 passed in 2007 which urged Tokyo to apologize to the victims of its sexual slavery before and during World War II. His story was made into the 2017 movie "I Can Speak." Kim also contributed to the U.S. adoption of a visa waiver program for Koreans, and is promoting Korean-American interests concerning the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement as well as territorial disputes between Seoul and Tokyo.
"For me, the USKI was not a think tank which is dedicated to providing policy papers, academic theses and survey outcomes. I still don't know if there were any professional researchers at the two think tanks," Kim said. "What I knew about the USKI was that some former Korean lawmakers defeated in elections stayed there."
Kim said he desperately needed academic support, particularly when he struggled to pass Resolution 121. "If the Korea-funded think tanks had operated normally, they should have published academic papers in support of human rights and historical truth. I was furious to see they kept silent while I was trying every possible means."
In the National Assembly of South Korea, Rep. Kim Kyung-hyup of the Democratic Party of Korea echoed the point in a National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee meeting, February. Rep. Kim pointed to rampant talks about a pre-emptive strike against North Korea, even raised by Seoul-funded researchers, as evidence of the nation's "lousy" public diplomacy.
Such inefficient investment contrasts to Japan-funded think tanks, Kim said. "The influence of Japan-affiliated lobbyists is like a wet sponge. Though it is invisible, Japan's power pours out like water not only in academia but also in politics and media," he said.
The Nippon Foundation, established by suspected war criminal Ryoichi Sasakawa, implements enormous donations annually to global think tanks, which have successfully led U.S. diplomatic policies in favor of Japan, according to Kim.
In this respect, Kim expressed his regret over the shutdown of the USKI. "The USKI leadership should have made efforts to persuade the Korean government, even though they had to resign. It was such a precious organization for public diplomacy."
Kim called for renovation of Seoul's public diplomacy strategy on the occasion of the incident. "Influential newspapers reported Korea lost pro-Korean experts in the U.S. after the controversy. Obviously, there're no such experts here. So far, the government managed to mobilize a handful of Asia experts by short-term funding."
To break away from such lax management, the nation needs a long-term plan, he said. "In doing so, the government should sternly berate the disputed think tanks. Why did they remain inactive while being funded by Korea? In the long term, a consensus should be rooted among D.C.-based lobbyists: a successful outcome of Korea-related issues leads to rewards."
However, Kim believes a "grassroots" model would be more competitive than the Japanese model. He has rallied Korean-American eligible voters who have leverage in U.S. politics.
"Citizens' participation through grassroots democracy could pass Resolution 121, without hiring lobbyists and funding think tanks."
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| Kim Dong-suk |
Kim Dong-suk, executive committee chairman of Korean American Civic Empowerment, called the USKI case demonstrates the plight of the country's public diplomacy, especially in the United States.
The USKI was one of two D.C.-based Korea-related institutes that have received funds from the Korean government via the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy. However, it decided to shut down after Seoul cut off its funding, citing a lack of accounting transparency there and poor research output.
The other one, the Korea Economic Institute (KEI), will remain as a beneficiary. The USKI was founded in 2006 while the KEI was established in 1982.
"While working as a civic activist for decades in Washington, D.C., I have met numerous researchers dealing with pressing issues about Korea and Korean-Americans. But I very rarely ever met anyone from the USKI or the KEI," Kim said in an email interview with The Korea Times.
Kim is renowned for his efforts in getting House Resolution 121 passed in 2007 which urged Tokyo to apologize to the victims of its sexual slavery before and during World War II. His story was made into the 2017 movie "I Can Speak." Kim also contributed to the U.S. adoption of a visa waiver program for Koreans, and is promoting Korean-American interests concerning the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement as well as territorial disputes between Seoul and Tokyo.
"For me, the USKI was not a think tank which is dedicated to providing policy papers, academic theses and survey outcomes. I still don't know if there were any professional researchers at the two think tanks," Kim said. "What I knew about the USKI was that some former Korean lawmakers defeated in elections stayed there."
Kim said he desperately needed academic support, particularly when he struggled to pass Resolution 121. "If the Korea-funded think tanks had operated normally, they should have published academic papers in support of human rights and historical truth. I was furious to see they kept silent while I was trying every possible means."
In the National Assembly of South Korea, Rep. Kim Kyung-hyup of the Democratic Party of Korea echoed the point in a National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee meeting, February. Rep. Kim pointed to rampant talks about a pre-emptive strike against North Korea, even raised by Seoul-funded researchers, as evidence of the nation's "lousy" public diplomacy.
Such inefficient investment contrasts to Japan-funded think tanks, Kim said. "The influence of Japan-affiliated lobbyists is like a wet sponge. Though it is invisible, Japan's power pours out like water not only in academia but also in politics and media," he said.
The Nippon Foundation, established by suspected war criminal Ryoichi Sasakawa, implements enormous donations annually to global think tanks, which have successfully led U.S. diplomatic policies in favor of Japan, according to Kim.
In this respect, Kim expressed his regret over the shutdown of the USKI. "The USKI leadership should have made efforts to persuade the Korean government, even though they had to resign. It was such a precious organization for public diplomacy."
Kim called for renovation of Seoul's public diplomacy strategy on the occasion of the incident. "Influential newspapers reported Korea lost pro-Korean experts in the U.S. after the controversy. Obviously, there're no such experts here. So far, the government managed to mobilize a handful of Asia experts by short-term funding."
To break away from such lax management, the nation needs a long-term plan, he said. "In doing so, the government should sternly berate the disputed think tanks. Why did they remain inactive while being funded by Korea? In the long term, a consensus should be rooted among D.C.-based lobbyists: a successful outcome of Korea-related issues leads to rewards."
However, Kim believes a "grassroots" model would be more competitive than the Japanese model. He has rallied Korean-American eligible voters who have leverage in U.S. politics.
"Citizens' participation through grassroots democracy could pass Resolution 121, without hiring lobbyists and funding think tanks."
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