Say 'Cultural Influence' Instead of 'Soft Power'

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the National Institute of the Korean Language recommended on the 19th to replace the term ‘soft power’ with the Korean phrase ‘cultural influence.’ They also suggested the Korean alternatives ‘short video (short form)’ and ‘unboxing (process)’ for ‘short-form’ and ‘unboxing,’ respectively.

‘Soft power’ is a concept that contrasts with ‘hard power,’ which refers to physical forces such as military strength or economic sanctions. It denotes the power to change or prevent the behavior of others through information science, culture, and the arts. This ability arises from voluntary consent rather than command and was first used by Joseph Nye of Harvard University’s Kennedy School. The two institutions also proposed replacing ‘hard power’ with ‘physical influence.’

‘Short-form’ refers to videos that are brief and concise in playback time, ranging from a few seconds to around ten minutes. The opposite concept is ‘long-form.’ The two institutions suggested replacing it with ‘long video’ or ‘long form.’ ‘Unboxing’ means showing the process of opening a box to reveal a product or a video recording of that process.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the National Institute of the Korean Language decided on these alternatives at the New Words Meeting held from the 11th to the 13th. The New Words Meeting is a committee that provides Korean alternatives that are easy for the general public to understand before difficult foreign neologisms spread. Experts from various fields such as Korean language, foreign languages, education, publicity and publishing, information and communication, and media participate. The two institutions plan to continuously promote the use of these alternatives, led by government ministries and media outlets.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.