The author, Gong Ro Myung, 74, is a former foreign minister of South Korea, the Korean chairman of the Japan-South Korea Forum, and president of the Asahi Shimbun Asia Network. He also served as South Korea's ambassador to the USSR, Russia and Japan.

It has been several years since the word "Kanryu" (South Korean culture boom) began attracting public attention in Japan. This reminds me of the showing of "Sopyonje" at the Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival 1994 and the public release of other South Korean films, "Shiri" in 2000, and "JSA (Joint Security Area)" in 2001. These films reportedly drew an audience of more than 1 million. However, the latest boom was probably triggered by a TV drama, "Winter Sonata," which NHK broadcast in 2003. Since then, a number of South Korean dramas such as "Dae Jang Geum" have been broadcast on Japanese TV.

Harvard University professor Joseph S. Nye, known for his work "Soft Power," says that mass culture should not be treated lightly. Popular culture, he says, often unconsciously sends out messages and images with values that could have a considerable impact on politics. A case in point is the growing Japanese interest in South Korean court cuisine following the Jang Geum drama series. Until then, Japanese were not familiar with South Korean food other than yakiniku grilled meat and komutan soup.

In 1994, as ambassador to Japan, I, at a meeting with the South Korean media, commented that, considering that half a century had passed since the 1945 liberation, it might be time for South Korea to think of opening its doors to Japanese pop culture. This provoked considerable argument within the country both for and against my proposal. Both the South Korean government and the ruling party said that the remark did not reflect the government's stand. However, I still remember that those persons who were in positions to represent the cultural sectors to be affected directly by the importation of films and CDs took the stance that the opening up to Japan's mass culture could not be stopped by forcible means and that preparations ought to be made for such a development.

Mr. Kizo Ogura of Kyoto University who has been studying the Kanryu phenomenon says that behind the boom is a Japanese nostalgia for the "modern" era days in their society which is now in a "post-modern" era. He says it is not just an ordinary boom stimulated by South Korean dramas and film stars, but a phenomenon showing a major change in Japanese society. It can perhaps be said that something in the contents of South Korea's mass culture which has been distributed in East Asia has touched Japanese people's heartstrings, moved Chinese people to tears and drawn the interest of Southeast Asian people.

What is playing a leading role in the "Nichiryu" (Japanese culture boom) in South Korea, besides animations for boys and girls, is said to be novels. Sales of Japanese novels at bookstores are reportedly growing fast, while eight works by four Japanese writers are among the top 20 books most frequently loaned out by the libraries at Seoul National University, Korea University, and Sogang University. The writers are Kaori Ekuni, Banana Yoshimoto, Haruki Murakami and Risa Wataya. While Kanryu is being widely accepted in Japan among the middle-aged and elderly, Nichiryu is winning the hearts and minds of many young South Korean women, who will lead the next generation.

It is worth noting that, in 2005 when relations between the two countries were strained over Shimane Prefecture's declaration of "Takeshima Day," most of the more than 700 cultural events under the "Japan-Korea Friendship Year" program commemorating the 40th anniversary of the normalization of the relationship between the two countries were carried out as scheduled.

The number of visitors from Japan to South Korea in 2005 totaled about 2,440,000, while 1,750,000 people traveled to Japan from South Korea during the same year. If interchanges on the civic level, including programs prompted by the Kanryu and Nichiryu booms, are pushed forward assiduously, it will help build up a strength which will be able to absorb troubles even in the case that political or inter-governmental relationships worsen and discord and troubles arise.

When the people of the two countries feel that they are indispensable partners for each other, the weight of public opinion will suggest that reasonable and rational solutions should be sought for government-level problems.

The question that remains in promoting cultural interchanges is how to overcome exclusive nationalism within each country and how to sublimate it to a sound and internationally cooperative nationalism. In order to build up the community which East Asian people who have bitter memories of history require in order to achieve common prosperity and peace, it is essential, more then anything else, for past offenders to take a more humble posture and for their victims to have a tolerant approach in making contact with each other. There is no argument about the positive contributions the current "Kanryu" and "Nichiryu" fads are making toward the achievement of such objectives.