The elephant in the room is awake and takes things personally: The North Korean nuclear threat and the general public's estimation of American diplomacy

The general audience for a global crisis can become a grassroots force in the ultimate fate of policy decisions. Focusing on the North Korean nuclear crisis case, certain contingent factors (dominant coalition characteristics, external threat, and external public characteristics) were overall strong predictors for public estimation about the government stance. Further, perception of situational factors (external threat and external public characteristics) was a stronger predictor for the participants’ stance estimation than perception of predisposing factors (dominant coalition characteristics). Implications for international diplomacy were discussed.     

Navigating the COVID-19 pandemic in the contingency framework: Antecedents and consequences of public’s stance toward the CDC

This study applied the contingency theory of conflict management to examine how contingency factors influence the public’s perceptual and behavioral responses to COVID-19 and stance toward the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In particular, we tested political ideology as an important individual characteristic variable to examine its roles in the contingency theory framework. The findings revealed that two situational variables (i.e., threat appraisal and attitudes toward CDC) positively influenced the public’s contingency accommodation stance toward the CDC. Furthermore, greater conservatism was significantly associated with lower levels of threat appraisal and more negative attitudes toward the CDC, however it did not influence the stance toward the CDC. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings and directions for future research are discussed.     

The estimation of a corporate crisis communication

This experimental study found a main effect of perceived leadership and an interaction effect of perceived leadership and perceived severity of threats on the public's estimation of organizational crisis responses. The results indicate that the contingent theoretical argument explaining the dynamics of organizational factors and situational factors that determine stance taken by public relations practices can also be applied when explaining the outside latent public's thought patterns predicting an organizational stance and message strategy. Contingency theory offers predictive power, not just for the practitioner, but for the public passing judgment on the stance taken by an organization.     

Overcoming Ethnocentrism: The Role of Identity in Contingent Practice of International Public Relations

Based on literature from the contingency theory of public relations and psychocultural conflict theory, this study explored how multinational corporations (MNCs) are practicing public relations in Korea, and what contingency factors impact MNCs' stances in conflict situations. Interviews of leaders in public relations agencies whose major clients are MNCs found that "fear factor" plays a critical role in MNCs taking more accommodative stances in conflict situations. MNCs tend to move toward accommodative stances based on their fear of Korean media and local culture, regardless of the presence of 2-way symmetrical communications with publics. More specifically, accommodation seemed to be enacted through 1-way communication (i.e., local publics' claims) and MNCs' fear of media, local culture, or publics. This finding implies the following: First, 1-way communication may not always result in advocacy as is claimed in Western cultures, but may actually lead to accommodation. Second, indigenous local cultural dimensions should be explored in examining international public relations practices.     

The gendered contours of North Korean Migration: sexualized bodies and the violence of phenotypical normalization in South Korea

This article examines the gendered and sexualized contours of North Korean experiences in South Korea at a time when nearly 70% of the North Korean emigrants are women. South Korean television shows – e.g. reality programs – and marriage matchmaking organizations seek to portray North Korean women in a ‘positive’ way to the South Korean public, although, as this article will illustrate, these representations are of a very particular, sexualized kind. These representations are sometimes negative, and there is stigma attached to North Korean women, in which South Koreans assume, for example, that they are victims of human trafficking or that they have had relations with Chinese men during their migration. Furthermore, poor nutrition and other forms of structural violence in North Korea have molded North Korean bodies; there are often physical disparities between North and South Koreans. In South Korean society where short height is viewed as undesirable and where idealized, surgical notions of beauty dominate, the violence of gendered phenotypical normalization mark North Korean bodies as smaller, foreign, and strange. Based on ethnographic research in South Korea, this article argues that these gendered contours of North Korean migration amount to a different sort of structural violence in South Korea.     

Global Public Relations: A Cross-Cultural Study of the Excellence Theory in South Korea

This study applies the global theory of generic principles and specific applications, based on the excellence study, to South Korea. Data were collected using the International Association of Business Communicators's excellence questionnaire and Hofstede's cultural values questionnaire. Results show that the excellence theory could be used to explain South Korean public relations practice. In addition, findings on influence of societal culture show that excellent public relations practice in South Korea may be enhanced by collectivism and dynamic elements of Confucianism.     

“Smuggled Refugees”: The Social Construction of North Korean Migration

In this paper, I demonstrate the identity transformation of North Korean women in interaction with state and non-state actors and domestic and regional structures, which I formulate for the purposes of this paper. From a state-centric social constructivist perspective in politics and international relations, I examine how the identities and interests of North Korean women are constituted and reconstituted in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the People's Republic of China and five South-East Asian countries along their migration routes before they reach the Republic of Korea – the so-called “Seoul Train in the Underground Railway”. Back in their country of origin, North Korean women are socially constructed as Confucian communist mothers. In China, the most frequently depicted images of North Korean women are trafficked wives. By paying for smugglers to cross borders to neighbouring South-East Asian countries, North Korean women finally become the agents of their own destiny, refugees in waiting to be transferred to South Korea.     

Korea/Japan or Japan/Korea? The Saga of Co‐hosting the 2002 Soccer World Cup

Since Japan's defeat and enforced withdrawal from Korea in 1945, continuing acrimony from those 35 years of Japan's unwelcome domination on the Korean Peninsula has been a thorny issue affecting full normalization of relations between the two countries. The first round of post‐war talks between Japan and South Korea remained stalled for almost half a decade, and not until 1965, after 14 years of subsequent – and painfully drawn out – negotiations were diplomatic relations finally established. Today, in spite of a gradual thawing of that very icy relationship, Korean people's bitterness over Japan's militarist past and over what they regard as insufficient apologies and reparations was always going to feature as the two nations went head to head in their bid to host the 2002 World Cup. Following FIFA's decision in 1996 that Japan and South Korea would jointly stage the cup as co‐hosts – the first time in soccer World Cup history – extant animosity became increasingly problematic as South Korea, Japan and FIFA hammered out the details. In this paper I draw upon media coverage from the mid‐1990s to the present day to discuss FIFA's historic co‐hosting decision, a judgment which, in spite of the difficulties then and now, does have the potential to make a very positive impact on both countries and greater Asia. After briefly introducing the broader sports/politics conundrum, I outline the final stages of the host‐nation selection dilemma which forced FIFA into its unprecedented joint decision, locating that process within a framework of the competitive lobbying between the two political rivals and internal demands for a change of management style within FIFA itself. I will also highlight the economic, political, historical and social ramifications of a co‐hosted soccer World Cup and attempts to deal with the issues. South Korea's desire for North Korea to participate in the tournament will also be discussed as a vehicle for encouraging stability on the Korean Peninsula and for future cooperation between Japan and South Korea on their policies towards North Korea. Although the 2002 World Cup arrangements are already firmly in place, the long‐term animosity and the continuing accusations and points‐scoring between the two host‐nations suggest that we can not yet take it for granted that the co‐hosted 2002 soccer spectacular will go according to plan.     

The influence of Chemyon on facework and conflict styles: Searching for the Korean face and its impact

The purpose of the study was to explore the elements of Chemyon, the Korean face, and to investigate their influence on facework and conflict styles. Results revealed that Chemyon was consisted of seven elements: ethics, social performance, social personality, social pride, competence, demeanor and shame. Chemyon showed both social and personal characteristics. Social Chemyons, including social performance Chemyon, social personality Chemyon and social pride Chemyon, were related to the others’ recognition on one's performance, personality and status while personal Chemyon shared commonality with the Western face. Regression analyses on facework and conflict styles indicated that social Chemyon elements negatively influenced the use of cooperative facework or conflict styles, while personal Chemyon elements increased the preference for cooperative facework and conflict styles. Likewise, Chemyon also had both positive and negative impact on the public relations practices in South Korea.     

The Effects of Threat Type and Duration on Public Relations Practitioner's Cognitive,Affective, and Conative Responses in Crisis Situations

The contingency theory of public relations relies heavily on the concept of threat without fully developing the concept as well as its operationalization. This study addresses this weakness through the exposition of 2 key dimensions of threats in crises as threat type and duration, and empirically testing their effects on public relations practitioners' cognitive appraisal of threats, affective responses to threats, and the stances taken in threat-embedded crisis situations. A Web-based experiment on 116 public relations practitioners was conducted using a 2 (external vs. internal threat type) × 2 (long-term vs. short-term threat duration) within-subjects design. The findings revealed the main effects of threat type and threat duration on threat appraisal, emotional arousal, and degree of accommodation. Interaction effects indicated that external and long-term threat combination led to higher situational demands appraisal and more intensive emotional arousal.     

Korean practitioners and journalists: Relational influences in news selection

This study investigates how source–media relationships influence perceptions toward news selection from the public relations practitioners’ viewpoint in Korea. The results show that Korean public relations practitioners who perform formal media relations believed that journalists would select news stories based on journalists’ media routine principles, such as using government sources. In contrast, Korean public relations practitioners who perform informal or monetary media relations believed that journalists would select news stories based on journalists’ extra-media factors, such as personal relationships with public relations practitioners.     

Charm offensive: mediatized country image transformations in international relations

ABSTRACT

This paper focuses on what has come to be known as a ‘charm offensive,’ a diplomatic technique countries may use to shift their international image through strategic public relations campaigns utilizing personal magnetism. The charm of the selected representative is meant to appeal to a broad international audience with the hope of improving the country's brand. The paper examines the concept and practice of a charm offensive through two case studies. The first is the Iranian charm offensive during the 2015 negotiations of the nuclear deal with the United States, when Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mohammad Javad Zarif aimed to improve his country's controversial international image through gentle, diplomatic communication and an aura of civility. The second case study is the charm offensive of North Korea from the 2018 Winter Olympics until the historic meeting of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald J. Trump in June 2018. Both case studies analyze the media representations of the particular charm offensive in two countries, the United States and a regionally more proximate, and therefore likely more directly affected country: Israel and South Korea, respectively. I argue that quick image-transformations often characterize contemporary, highly mediatized international diplomatic communication. Unlike classical cases of soft power, the temporary alliances forged through charm offensives are not built on shared values, but on momentary appearances, and sometimes on deception.     

Public nudity on cell phones: Managing conflict in crisis situations

Analyzing news coverage to recount a fast-moving, dramatic marketing PR incident that occurred in South Korea, the contingency theory of conflict management and crisis management strategies are integrated to examine how crisis is communicated and managed in a very short period of time. Several types of strategies were utilized by contending parties through the various stages of the crisis life cycle. We found evidence for a new contingent variable that should be added in the matrix of contingent factors--the importance of Internet community and Netizens as organized and influential public. Netizens played an important role throughout the crisis period in changing the organization's stance from advocacy to accommodation.     

Public's expectation about an organization's stance in crisis communication based on perceived leadership and perceived severity of threats

Considering the importance of general public support of an organization during a crisis, this study examined how perceived leadership style influences public expectation about an organization's stance in crisis and the relationship between perceived severity of threat and the expected stance of the organization based on leadership perception. The results of the study strongly supported main effects of leadership on public estimation about an organization's stance. Managerial implications were discussed.     

A Needs‐centred Educational Support Model for the Career Transitions of North Korean Defectors: Implications for South Korea's Support Policy

North Korean defectors have faced significant challenges in finding and keeping jobs in the South Korean labour market due to their many differences from South Korean workers. As the number of defectors has increased, South Korea has experienced an increased need for employment support to assist defectors in overcoming challenges in their employment and leading them to stable economic status. This study aims to develop a needs‐centred educational support model for defectors' career transitions, compare the content of suggested support programmes with the content of currently provided support programmes, and suggest relevant policy implications. Based on this study's findings, the authors argue that defectors' employment needs differ from those of other groups of job seekers in Korea; thus, this population should be served differently with consistent educational support. Each stage of the developed model provides appropriate support programmes that reflect the unique employment needs of defectors.     

More or less a foreigner: Domestic reception of multinational K-pop groups

With K-pop's tremendous growth transnationally, scholars have pointed to the industry's inclusion of singers from different national and ethnic backgrounds, highlighting them as examples of successful glocalization. But there has been little attention paid to how these “foreign” singers, now integrated into the Korean pop music industry, are received within South Korea itself. In South Korea, public attention towards these idols has intensified as a result of the global success of multinational K-pop groups like Blackpink and NCT. The public visibility of these idols complicates South Korea's image as an ethnically, linguistically, and culturally homogenous nation. This article examines the domestic reception of these idols, exploring the tensions that emerge at the intersection of Koreanness, K-pop, and multiculturalism in South Korea today. Drawing on focus group interviews with Korean K-pop fans as well as Koreans who do not actively follow the industry, the article explicates how foreign K-pop idols alternately challenge and reinforce contemporary understandings of Koreanness.     

Identity,security and the nation: understanding the South Korean response to North Korean defectors

From the Cold War era of the ‘veteran heroes’ to the present view of escaped North Koreans in terms more akin to ‘refugees’ and sometimes even just ‘migrants’, perceptions of North Korean defectors in South Korea have changed as swiftly as the number and origins of Northerners entering the South have expanded. At the same time, government policy for these ethnic ‘brethren’ has evolved considerably, particularly as South Korea has seen fundamental shifts in its independent identity, with important repercussions for the way its citizens view themselves as a collective. This article explores some of the key influences behind changes to policy and perceptions regarding North Korean people in South Korea over the period from 1997 to 2012, by applying international relations theory on national identity and its role in policy formation and change through the need to secure different parameters within that identity.     

Naturalizing Korean ethnicity and making ‘ethnic’ difference: a comparison of North Korean settlement and foreign bride incorporation policies in South Korea

This article compares North Korean immigrants and foreign bride policies in South Korea. Despite being constructed as distinctive policy target groups, North Korean settlement and foreign bride incorporation policies exhibit striking similarities. The similarities result from the way policy problems are identified and certain solutions are justified; both North Korean immigrants and foreign brides are constructed a burden on welfare and as potential threats to social stability. Policy solutions are justified as they are designed to transform North Korean immigrants and foreign brides into ‘normal’ South Korean citizens. The major difference between two sets of policies lies in assumptions regarding cultural differences. Foreign brides are assumed to carry practices that are foreign and alien to Koreans, while North Korean immigrants are presumed to carry ‘authentic’ and ‘traditional’ Korean culture. Foreign brides’ cultures are visible and alien to South Koreans, and therefore are addressed under the banner of multiculturalism policies. North Korean immigrants are excluded from such policies. This exclusion reflects and reproduces the view of a Korean nation bounded by ethnic and cultural homogeneity.     

Testing the contingency theory of accommodation in public relations

We conducted 18 interviews with public relations professionals to provide grounding and refinement of the contingency theory of accommodation in public relations. Support was found for a continuum from pure accommodation to pure advocacy and for a matrix of variables affecting the continuum. Predisposing and situational categories of variables were identified that affect the degree of accommodation and advocacy undertaken by public relations practitioners in a given situation. Overall, the findings suggest that practitioners are quite sophisticated in considering a welter of factors affecting accommodation of publics. Findings also provide additional factors to add to the matrix of 86 variables in the contingency theory, while calling into question some variables offered initially in the matrix. Although generally overlooked in the literature, philanthropic/ community relations functions are viewed by practitioners as important opportunities to be accommodative. Overall, the practitioners' view of their communication world offers validity to the contingency theory and suggests further theory development is in order.Amanda E. Cancel works in public relations in the private sector, Michael A. Mitrook is an assistant professor at Central Florida University, and Glen T. Cameron is the Maxine Wilson-Gregory Chair in Journalism Research at the Missouri School of Journalism.