Government to conduct worldwide image survey

The government plans to conduct a public image survey of Korea targeting citizens in major countries for the first time, Foreign Affairs Ministry officials said Sunday.

More than a thousand citizens of 10 countries in four continents including India, Germany, Canada and Egypt will be asked their impression of Korea over the course of two months.

The purpose of the survey is to collect preliminary data for the state’s goal of creating an “attractive Korea trusted by the world” by reflecting the results in foreign policy, the officials said. The results will be out around October.

The countries were selected based on the importance of fostering public diplomatic relations with them. The U.S., China, Japan and Russia were excluded as research on them was deemed to already be sufficient, they said.

The ministry will carry out the survey annually over three years in 50 countries and draw up customized diplomatic strategies based on the collected data.

The survey will be conducted by a professional consulting company to overcome the shortfalls of earlier surveys. Similar polls have so far been run sporadically by the government on a narrower scope of respondents, raising questions over its ability to amass genuine impressions of Korea around the world.

A ministry official was quoted as saying that there had been a larger range of positive feedback until now as the questions were usually asked of those who were already acquainted with the country. This time, the government is trying a new approach to get a more accurate idea of the general public’s image of Korea overseas, the official said.

By Lee Hyun-jeong (rene@heraldcorp.com)