With Taiwan’s visibility around the world sometimes limited due to its special relationship with mainland China, making good use of its soft power, particularly in the cultural and creative sector, is crucial to increasing the country’s exposure and influence.

Recognised by the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs &Trade, the Charity has instituted an Academy and pursues cultural diplomacy with the aim of giving and sharing love, especially with the less privileged in Korea and around the world.

Simon Anholt, a member of the U.K. Government’s Public Diplomacy Board...said Korea was showing significant progress in national branding after realizing that branding is not about trying to force people to buy its new self-image, but to show the world it is willing and has changed.

“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.