ABSTRACT
Cultural diplomacy – or, rather, pop culture diplomacy – is a hot topic in East Asia.1 Indeed, a 2004 summit meeting between President Roh Moo Hyun of the Republic of Korea (ROK) and Prime Minister Koizumi Junichird of Japan began with a conversation on pop culture and its edifying influences on relations between the two countries. Koizumi told Roh that the Korean television drama Winter Sonata (KySul ySn’ga) had gained a tremendous following in Japan, becoming “something of a social phenomenon” and sparking wider interest about Korea. Roh responded that Japanese pop culture is increasingly accepted in Korea amid ongoing lifting of import restrictions. To this, Koizumi noted his desire that liberalization policy be fully applied to Japanese animation (anime) products. They went on to declare that official efforts to resolve “issues of the past” and fashion a “future-oriented relationship” ultimately rely on a foundation of mutual understanding and shared values built through people-to-people interactions in cultural and economic realms.2
