National Image of South Korea Held by Russian Netizen: Focusing on Internet Blogs and Survey analysis

러시아인들의 한국에 대한 이미지 연구 - 인터넷 블로그 분석 및 설문조사를 중심으로

This study aims to investigate national image of South Korea held by russians. Surveys(based on Free-association Image) and discussion were conducted on LiveJournal (internet blog) with russian netizen. A national image is influenced by a subjective perspective rather than an objective one. Therefore, an image can differ substantially from reality. Futhermore, it takes a long time to change an established image, particularly to a positive image. According to the results, the image of South Korea were dominated by unstable political situations, especially factors related to North Korea. In addition, based on Free-association image, thinking about Korea or Korean, most russians recognize Korea(South) with North Korea. Above all Russians recognize Korea, basing their images on factor of the past or their neighbors-russian korean- or famous Korean brand like Samsung, LG, Hyndai, "Dosirak". Russian netizen did not recognize South Korea as one of leading countries in Asia, paying little attention to South Korea compared to China or Japan. We belive that it is necessary to consider these situations in future efforts to enhance the national image of South Korea.