"We also carry out online campaigns to boost sales of TVXQ albums here so that they can visit here and have a concert," said Nicole, a 20-year-old education student. She is not alone. Her group is only part of what she called OurGame, a Latin American network of the boy band's fan clubs stretching from Mexico to Peru to Argentina. In Chile alone, there are about 20,000 members of 200 clubs also for Big Bang, 2PM, CN Blue, SHINee, MBLAQ and other artists.

The country is now making an additional effort to promote its culture abroad. We certainly have pending tasks on this effort. It isn’t easy for the people in Asian countries to identify with elements of the Chilean culture beyond the scope of the well-known, high quality products exported by the country.

Latin America is blessed with a wealth of natural resources and seeks investment and loans to capitalize on them. China needs the commodities to keep its economy growing. Those interests have come together in an unorthodox partnership, as China lends and invests billions of dollars in countries around Latin America in return for a guaranteed flow of commodities, particularly oil.

Some tourist destinations thrown into the media glare by political turmoil or natural disasters are starting to incorporate these events into their marketing campaigns. Take, for instance, Chile's re-branded campaign slogan ‘Chile is good for you’.

President Barack Obama has called for a new relationship between the US and Latin America based on equal partnership. Speaking in Chile, he said Latin America was fundamental to the prosperity and security of the US.

Nowhere have President Obama's foreign policy approaches been in starker relief than during his unfolding travels in South America. Right now the use of military power in Libya is overshadowing his lead-by-example public diplomacy in his own hemisphere.

President Barack Obama held up Latin America as a shining example for those in the Middle East fighting for democracy, while urging leaders in the region to recommit themselves to defending human rights and strengthening democratic institutions in their own countries.

Reaching out to a vast but overshadowed region, President Barack Obama on Monday called Latin America a rising giant in the world that must live up to greater responsibilities and speak up for those whose rights are crushed.