Since its establishment in 1999, VANK has been actively engaged in digital diplomacy to promote an accurate understanding of Korea worldwide. The organization has worked tirelessly to correct historical and cultural inaccuracies and distortions found in international portals, websites, and textbooks.
Starting in 2019, VANK launched various global petitions across different platforms. In April 2021, the organization took a step further by opening its own global petition platform, Bridge Asia, to safeguard Korea’s history and culture.
As the global Korean Wave (Hallyu) continues to gain momentum, interest in Korea’s history and culture is growing rapidly. With over 150 million international Hallyu fans and a surge in Korean language learners worldwide, it is crucial to consistently promote Korea’s history and culture to the global community. At the same time, it is equally important to establish strong national policies that ensure the accurate preservation of Korea’s history and culture domestically.
For instance, VANK discovered that in an official directive issued by the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, kimchi was incorrectly referred to as pao cai, the Chinese pickled vegetable dish. This issue arose at a time when China was actively promoting kimchi as part of its own culinary tradition.
To address this, VANK persistently raised awareness and advocated for corrections, ultimately leading to significant changes. As a result, several institutions, including the Korea Tourism Organization, EBS (the Korean educational broadcasting service), and online dictionaries in portal websites such as Naver and Daum, removed or corrected mistranslations related to kimchi and pao cai. Additionally, errors in Chinese-language textbooks used in Korea were also rectified.
Beyond cultural preservation, VANK has also played a crucial role in shaping national policies through public engagement. For example, the organization led a campaign urging Korea’s Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs to upgrade Dr. Homer Hulbert’s Order of Merit from third-class to first-class, recognizing his contributions to Korea’s independence movement.
To further empower Korean citizens in shaping historical, cultural, and diplomatic policies, VANK has launched Woollim, a participatory platform where individuals can raise issues, propose policies, and actively contribute to national discussions.
Woollim serves as a space where people can identify key historical and cultural topics, develop them into policy proposals, and foster a deeper awareness of history and culture. The platform simplifies participation by dividing the process into two main steps:
- Raising Issues & Reporting Errors – Users can highlight inaccuracies or problems related to history and culture.
- Policy Proposals – Users can develop concrete policy solutions based on the issues identified.
By making participation accessible to a wider audience, Woollim encourages people to take an active role in shaping policies that directly impact their lives. The platform consists of three main sections:
- “Beginning of Woollim” – A space to raise issues and report errors related to history and culture.
- “Center of Woollim” – A section where raised issues are developed into concrete policy proposals.
- “Echo of Woollim” – A space to document and track issues that have been successfully implemented as policies.
Additionally, users can express agreement with others’ proposals through the Support feature, fostering collective action and engagement.
Through Woollim, VANK aims to create a space where individuals passionate about Korea’s history and culture can take the lead in shaping policies and preserving national heritage.
Da-bin Lee, a VANK youth researcher who helped design the Woollim platform, shared her vision:
“I hope Woollim becomes a long-term, sustainable policy platform that enables discussions on historical and cultural issues and transforms them into meaningful policies. I look forward to seeing Woollim create a strong and lasting impact by bringing people together to change the world.”
Historically, both the Korean government and the National Assembly have made efforts to incorporate youth voices into national cultural and diplomatic policies. However, there have been few instances where young people’s ideas have been directly reflected in actual policy decisions.
VANK hopes that through Woollim, public opinion can be mobilized to influence policies—just as the organization successfully led international campaigns to change the labeling of the East Sea instead of the Sea of Japan and to correct distorted narratives about Korea’s history.
Moving forward, VANK will continue to develop various projects to convey the most widely supported cultural, historical, and diplomatic policies to the Korean government and National Assembly, ensuring that public voices are heard at the national level.