Spotlight on S. Korea

As the UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon has taken the country’s diplomatic style to the world stage.

AT the end of this year, Ban Ki-moon (pic) will leave the office of United Nations secretary-general.

Since January 2007, he has crossed the globe building support to address the challenges of development, climate change, conflict, and humanitarian crises.

Despite early criticisms, he has dutifully fulfilled a role that the Second Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld labelled “the most impossible job on earth”.

As a career diplomat and former foreign minister, he has also broadcast to the world South Korea’s diplomatic style.

Diplomatic style consists of the unique behavioural characteristics which distinguish the diplomats of one state from those of another state. It’s both an explicit and tacit means to categorise and communicate the behavioural characteristics of a state’s diplomacy.

For a long time, South Korea’s diplomatic style remained hidden – recognised only by those who regularly interact with South Korean diplomats on a day-to-day basis.

Ban Ki-moon changed this. He brought the South Korean diplomatic style to the world stage.

Early assessments of his performance were not positive.

They saw a soft-spoken, “nowhere man”, with halting English and faltering French, unable to muster global leadership at a time when it was sorely needed.

One commentator went so far as to accuse Ban of “trotting the globe, collecting honorary degrees, issuing utterly forgettable statements, and generally frittering away any influence he might command”.

Yet, other commentators noted Ban’s quiet determination. A tireless, hardworking bureaucrat, with a preference for forceful, direct, quiet diplomacy over public confrontation.

A leader with a preference for internally shaping, strengthening and positioning the UN to address core global challenges rather than public grandstanding. They saw negative assessments as a reflection of diverse political agendas rather than genuine criticism.

Regardless of which assessment you accept, nearly every commentator views Ban as a representative South Korean diplomat, reflecting the East Asian nation’s diplomatic style.

Ban follows in the footsteps of a long tradition of the Korean Peninsula’s diplomacy.

He inherits characteristics from early diplomats, such as Min Yong-hwan, who led Joseon Korea’s first diplomatic mission to Europe. He inherits stylistic characteristics from early modern diplomats, such as Ben C. Limb, who in a 1957 speech labelled diplomats as “instruments of humanity”, and later modern diplomats, such as Park Keun.

Yet, none of these diplomats were able to take the country’s diplomatic style to the world stage.

The South Korean diplomatic style is characterised by emotionalism, hierarchical status, generational change, cosmopolitanism, and the enduring sense of estrangement from international society.

An understanding of its diplomatic style can secure greater analytical insight into the country’s foreign policy decision-making.

With its growing relevance in global affairs, there’s never been a better time to study South Korea’s foreign policy and diplomatic practice.

The establishment of the Korea National Diplomatic Academy, programmes to strengthen the republic’s multilateral participation, and efforts to establish and grow its public diplomacy, are already attracting global interest.

As Ban steps down, the most lasting impression he may have made is to bring South Korea’s diplomatic style to the world stage.