Ashraf AboArafe
The Embassy of the Republic of Korea hosted a seminar on the survey results on the Egyptian people’s images of Korea at the Four Seasons hotel on December 6, 2021 in cooperation with Mediance, a Korean marketing company in Cairo alongside Nagy research, a research agency also in Cairo, inviting various Korea-related groups such as Egyptian Foreign Ministry officials, professors and students from the Korean Language Department of Ain Shams University, Egyptian journalists, Korean correspondents and Egypt-Korea Digital Ambassadors(EKDA) appointed by the Korean Embassy last September.
The research based on responses from 1,000 Egyptians all across the Egyptian territory was initiated on July of this year for the first time since the establishment of the Korean Embassy to better understand Egyptian people’s perception on Korea, thereby obtaining valuable lessons for the Embassy’s public diplomacy strategies, which aims to lead more Egyptians to consider Korea as a closer and friendlier partner country.
Among others, the most remarkable part of the results was that more than 90% of the respondents expressed their positive sentiment toward Korea (66% highly positive and 26% somewhat positive) and the dominant keywords to describe Koreans were creative, orderly, well-disciplined, active followed by hardworking, sincere and open.
Reflecting the huge popularity of Korean movies worldwide, half of the survey participants chose Korean films in terms of preferred cultural aspect of their interests followed by Korean food (46%), K-pop/music (44%), Korean entertainment shows (41%) and Korean beauty (39%).
Interestingly, aside from electronic appliances, mobile phones and passenger cars which already occupy a huge part of the local market, the respondents also showed their interests in Korean medical (41%) and skincare (37%) products as desired items to be seen in Egypt.
In the aspect of Korea’s image related to Covid-19, the respondents said that they have encountered Korean government’s response after Covid-19 (72%), Korea’s assistance to Egypt fighting Covid-19 (61%), Korean government’s aid in medical expenses for treating infected people (47%) and rapid Covid-19 testing (45%).
In spite of overall positive images of Korea in Egypt, several parts of the results below show that there is something to be desired in terms of the Embassy’s efforts to raise the Egyptians’ awareness of Korea.
* The sizable number of Egyptian people who did not hear about Korea at all or who know Korea only by its name shown in screening process
* The relatively low recognition on Korean brands selling in the local market
* The unexpectedly low number of the Egyptian people who have visited Korean restaurants/companies, the Korean cultural Center or the Embassy
Since the research was carried out through online polling considering Covid-19 situation, approximately 70% of the sample groups were concentrated between the age of 16 to 30, therefore, the survey results are deemed somewhat future-oriented. These young groups showed their interest in participating more in Korea-related on/offline events in spite of the pandemic situation to better know about Korea.
The Korean Ambassador Mr Hong said that recognizing the importance of public diplomacy to make our two countries’ great relations sustainable and future-oriented, he will set up a meticulous and customer-friendly plan for the Embassy’s public diplomacy programs for 2022 reflecting the survey results and the voices from today’s attendees.
