A curated selection of public diplomacy-relevant news from a global cross-section of English-language media outlets, including independent, corporate-owned, and state-sponsored sources. The stories featured don't necessarily represent CPD's views nor have they been verified by CPD.

S. Korean, Japanese Students Connect Through Dance

An event will take place this week to help students from South Korea and Japan better understand each other's culture through dancing. The organizers -- the Soorim Cultural Foundation and the Japan Global Cultural Exchange Foundation -- on Sunday said they will hold a cultural exchange program titled "Seoul-de Dance, Dance, Dance" from Thursday to Monday.

Tags: south korea, japan, music diplomacy, dance diplomacy, Cultural Diplomacy, cultural exchange, international exchange

Road to Refuge: A New Grassroots Movement Welcomes Refugees to Ithaca

The five founding members of Ithaca Welcomes Refugees might be the human embodiment of the “COEXIST” bumper sticker. They are: two protestant pastors, a Muslim American, a Jewish social studies teacher, and an aid worker who married into a Hindu family. [...] With the current Syrian crisis in mind, the city’s Common Council unanimously voted in June to declare Ithaca a welcoming community for all refugees.

Tags: refugee crisis, united states, syria, non state pd, advocacy, culture, ithaca welcomes refugees, human rights, education

A Bridge Between Cultures

Nine students and two chaperones headed off July 12 for Miyoshi City, the official “sister city” of The Dalles. [...] The objective of the visits is “to build and sustain cross-cultural connections and mutual understanding with our sister cities and the larger global community,” read an excerpt from the mission statement of the Sister Cities website. 

Tags: international exchange, culture, sister cities, the dalles, oregon, miyoshi city, japan, non state pd, cross cultural dialogue

State Department Appeals to Emotion to Confront ISIS

After trying many ways to confront ISIS’ campaigns on the internet to recruit Westerners, in particular Americans, the U.S. State Department launched a program that seeks “to appeal to emotion rather than logic” as The New York Times said on Friday. “Daesh deprives a woman of her voice,” reads one image that is part of a new State Department program, using the Arabic acronym for ISIS. 

Tags: us state department, united states, isis, propaganda, government pd, digital diplomacy & new tech, violent extremism, social media

Ethiopia’s Fresh Initiative to Increase Number of Visitors

Ethiopia’s untapped tourism potential is shifting the gear to new initiative to increase number of visitors with its brand new promotion logo “Land of Origin.” The government emphasizes on the need for a tourism sector which is both environmentally friendly and economically viable to generate sustainable revenue supporting the country mission to become middle income country in the coming decade.

Tags: ethiopia, africa, nation branding, tourism, land of origin, environment, economic development, international image, culture

Chinese Art Exhibit Highlights Cultural "Symbiosis" with Latin America

As part of 2016's Year of China-Latin America Cultural Exchange, an exhibit showcasing contemporary Chinese art has opened in Panama City. [...] featuring a selection of 50 works of art by some 20 Chinese artists working in a wide range of media, from sculpture to video installations, and themes, from traditional landscape paintings to abstraction.

Tags: china, latin america, panama, Cultural Diplomacy, international exchange, culture, art, media, trade, bilateral relations

International Aid: A Way to Show Post-Brexit Britain Hasn’t Turned Its Back on the World

On his last day in Downing Street, David Cameron said one of his proudest achievements was to honour the commitment to spend 0.7% of gross national income on international aid. It was partly an attempt to stake out his legacy and partly a pitch to his successor, Theresa May, to stick to, what remains, a Conservative manifesto pledge.

Tags: united kingdom, brexit, david cameron, Theresa May, global aid & development, smart & soft power, international image, influence, european union

What Does the United Nations Have to Do With Kimchi, Anyway?

Summer solstice fire festivals in the Pyrenees. Korean tightrope-walking. Solving math equations on a traditional Chinese abacus… and the Mediterranean diet? The olive-oil-abundant way of eating may seem like an outlier here, but all these things share one common attribute: They’re recognized by UNESCO as cultural treasures worth preserving for future generations.

Tags: united nations, north korea, kimchi, unesco, gastrodiplomacy, Cultural Diplomacy, nation branding, international image, tourism, cultural heritage

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