The Overly Simplified Politicization of Soft Power
On the massive central plaza inside the sprawling Korean-owned mall that is Lotte Shopping Avenue, there was an event involving what seems to be an exchange between Korean and Indonesian high school students. Yet, the event was nothing fun and games. The students were drawing massive South Korean national flags, with additional one-story high color posters hanging on the walls behind the central plaza. The posters, with large English texts and cartoon drawings, claimed "Dokdo: islands of Korea!" "Donghae: the East Sea of Korea!" and "Celebrate the Life of An Jung-Geun!"