“We think that putting all the events under one theme like the Czech Points in Seoul Festival will show the variety of Czech culture available while offering more than just the things that people know,” said Czech Republic Ambassador Jaroslav Olsa Jr.

South Korea may be one of the fastest growing medical tourism destinations, but for now it lags far behind trailblazers Thailand, Singapore, India, Malaysia and even the Philippines.They all have their own distinctive marketing strategies in an attempt to woo clients, as well as areas of specialization.

Countries in East Asia are increasingly looking to pop culture, as an instrument of "soft power". And the "soft power" competition is alive and well in East Asia, with not just financial returns at stake, but also as a positive influence in the attitudes of target or importing countries.

Today, the USC Center on Public Diplomacy released a Media Monitor Report on "Expo Shanghai 2010 - Flaunting Nations' Beauty through the Practice of Nation Branding".

How did Seoul become Asia's capital of cool? Even here in the Philippines, once an undisputed bastion of American pop and Hollywood movies, South Korean pop music, soap operas and fashion are now all the rage.

The 24-member delegation belongs to the Korean Conference of Religion for Peace. They are heading to Pyongyang on a four-day visit that will include talks and joint prayer meetings with their North Korean counterparts.

"The government does not trust the Foreign Service, does not understand public diplomacy and is only belatedly awakening to the re-emergence of the Asia-Pacific as the centre of the global political economy," said Copeland, now a fellow at both the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs and the University of Southern California's Center on Public Diplomacy.

China also has big stakes in influencing the situation on the Korean Peninsula.... The two countries also need to strengthen public diplomacy. Anti-China and anti-Korea sentiments still linger. South Koreans need to treat Chinese well in Korea. Maltreatment of Chinese workers and students here has often been the source of their less-friendly sentiments on South Korea.