With a wealth of 'soft power' resources, Japan continually strives to enhance the attractiveness of its image overseas through human, cultural and intellectual exchange, and public diplomacy. In particular, Japan's so-called sub-culture of animation (anime), movies, comics (manga), pop music and Japanese cuisine, has significant global reach.

Eighty high school and university students from Korea and China took a pledge on Thursday: They promised to write only supportive comments on the Internet and encourage others to do the same.  The group pledge was part of a ceremony to launch the "Young Korea-China Adults Sunfull Cyber Public Diplomatic Corps,'' a joint project between the Chinese newspaper the People's Daily and the Seoul-based Sunfull Movement Headquarters.

The EU’s sanctions on Russia are not having their desired effect. At least in the short term, they even appear to be reinforcing Russia’s position. The EU policy approach to the Ukraine situation needs to factor in the mainstream Russian media narrative. Doing so suggests that the EU should be using more soft power.

Foreign countries are sending tens of thousands of students to American universities every year, propping up school budgets and contributing billions of dollars to the U.S. economy. And no city sends students to American universities quite like Seoul. The South Korean capital funneled more than 56,000 students into U.S. bachelors, masters, and PhD programs between 2008 and 2012, according to a new study by The Brookings Institute. 

International volunteering can challenge prevailing models of development, according to a new report by the Australian Red Cross which has called on the Federal Government to grow international volunteer programs with sustainable funding.  The report said international volunteering contributes greatly to a legitimate and sustainable development process, above and beyond public diplomacy.

Amid controversy in Russia and Ukraine, a U.S. Department of State scholarship program aims to enhance public diplomacy, beginning in Kansas. Two exchange students, from Russia and Ukraine, arrived Friday afternoon at Wichita Mid-Continent Airport. They arrived on the same flight. Both students have been awarded the prestigious scholarship through the Department of State.

In 2012, Korea and the United Kingdom agreed to allow young people, aged from 18 to 30, to live and work for a maximum of two years in each other's countries in order to gain work experience.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 386 Koreans participated in the program, called the Youth Mobility Scheme (YMS), in 2012, and this number jumped to 965 in 2013. Yet the high rate of Korean participants returning home early increasingly makes the program look like a failure.

The young men doing the serenading are part of the Mexico Boys Choir, which travels to Fort Worth every summer in a musical and cultural exchange with the Texas Girls’ Choir. In their homeland, the boys are known as the Estudiantina Guadalupana Potosina. The youngsters have been involved in the exchange for more than two decades.