South Korea's cultural diplomacy activities in Türkiye: The example of the Korean Cultural Center

Cultural diplomacy, in short, refers to a set of activities carried out by a country to strengthen its institutional and cultural image in other countries. Cultural diplomacy, defined as soft power, has the potential to strengthen trust between countries and thus build peaceful relations. For this reason, many countries in the world have carried out several activities using cultural diplomacy in countries with which they aim to establish good relations. One of the countries with the highest level of cultural diplomacy in the world is South Korea. South Korea seems to have carried the country's image to an important point through the Korean Wave (Hallyu), which has made its impact felt all over the world, especially since the 1990s, and it is possible to observe the impact of this wave in Turkey. The Korean Cultural Centers established by South Korea in many countries provide significant functions that increase the impact of the Korean Wave. For instance, activities such as Korean language courses, film screenings, cooking classes, K-pop academy, etc., organized in these centers, contribute significantly to the popularization of Korea's cultural and artistic products in other countries. The Korean Cultural Center (KKM), which was established in Ankara in 2011, also carries out many cultural and artistic activities aimed at popularizing Korean culture in Türkiye and thus strengthening the image of South Korea in Türkiye. This study analyses South Korea's cultural diplomacy activities in Türkiye and the impact level of these activities in Türkiye through the case of the KKM. Through this qualitative research, semi-structured interviews were conducted with the members of KKM activities in Türkiye to understand this impact level in depth. As a result of this research, significant findings have been drawn that KKM has contributed in many ways to the success of South Korea's cultural diplomacy activities in Türkiye