"The difference between cool Korea and earlier Asian pop culture waves is that Korea has been working to make this happen for almost two decades. Korea is cool because it decided to be cool — it's the first country in history that has made being cool a massive policy priority, backed by the Korean government to the tune of billions of dollars."

Very few American fans can see K-pop acts perform live. Some popular South Korean bands like Girls' Generation or 2NE1 have played showcases in major U.S. cities, and the girl group Crayon Pop just toured with Lady Gaga. Yet for most such acts, it's never made logistical or financial sense to play the States, despite a fervent fan subculture here. This year's KCON, the third installment of the annual K-pop festival in downtown L.A., might be changing that line of thinking.

From “Gangnam Style” and competitive electronic sports to kimchi-flavoured pot noodles, South Korea’s cultural exports are eagerly consumed around the world.  Filipinos are hooked on its dramas. The French love its pop music and its films. Last year South Korea raked in $5 billion from its pop-culture exports.

If this sounds like a national campaign, that's because it is. The South Korean government has made the Korean Wave the nation's No. 1 priority. Korea has multiple 5 year plans, the likes of which most democratic and capitalist countries have never seen. The government felt that spreading Korean culture worldwide was dependent on Internet ubiquity, so they subsidized Internet access for the poor, the elderly, and the disabled.

South Korea has gotten some less-than-desirable feedback in its campaign to raise the country’s international profile: many foreigners can’t tell South Korea apart from its nuke-loving northern neighbor. Over 30% of respondents in a government-sponsored survey of 6,000 people in about a dozen countries said they couldn’t “easily distinguish between South Korea and North Korea when [they] encounter news, articles, movies, websites or other content about Korea.” 

Most notably, China is currently participating in the Rim of the Pacific Exercise, the world’s largest international maritime warfare exercise, for the first time this month. As previously noted, China sent the second largest delegation to the RIMPAC exercise this year. Its RIMPAC fleet includes the missile destroyer Haikou, the missile frigate Yueyang, the supply vessel Qiandaohu, the Peace Ark hospital ship, two helicopters and a dive unit, along with 1,100 personnel. 

Citizens of 17 major nations regard South Korea as a technology powerhouse that ascended from the ashes of a devastating war, a survey showed Friday. The Foreign Ministry released results of a worldwide survey on the image of the country. It commissioned Samjong KPMG LLC, an accounting and consulting house, to poll 6,000 people aged 18 or older in countries including Germany, India, Vietnam, Mexico, Turkey, Egypt and South Africa for one month from mid-October. 

Countries join alliances, or entities such as the European Union, because these groups make the benefits and obligations of membership as unambiguous as anything in international relations can be. For Germany and South Korea, however, relationships with historic allies — NATO and the United States, respectively — appear to be changing before our eyes.