A new methodological quest to evaluate South Korean digital diplomacy in US government web domains

This study employs a novel methodological approach to evaluate the effectiveness of South Korea’s digital diplomacy within U.S. government web spaces. Given the United States’ experience with modern digital public diplomacy, its foreign policy has a significant impact on both Korea and Japan. We examine how key issues in the Korea-Japan territorial dispute are perceived and preserved on U.S. government web spaces, as well as their effects on the public. The study used web archives for data collection, as well as a composite analysis combining web impact studies and semantic network analysis. The analysis revealed that Japan’s digital public diplomacy is more prominent, primarily through online media operated by the U.S. Embassy in Japan. This suggests that Korea needs strategies similar to Japan’s, leveraging digital technology and media.