> In 1997-1998, South Korea was in the midst of a financial crisis. It required a substantial loan from the International Monetary Fund to restructure its debt

> In 1997-1998, South Korea was in the midst of a financial crisis. It required a substantial loan from the International Monetary Fund to restructure its debt and it left South Korea, at the time, with a tarnished national brand. Fearing a brain drain and an inability to attract top talent, a Ministry of Culture (alongside tourism and sport) was created ... Hmm, yeah, I think whoever wrote this glossed over details to get a nice narrative. Saying the "IMF crisis" (as it was called in Korea) tarnished national brand is a bit like saying 9/11 tarnished the reputation of US aviation safety. The crisis shook Korea to its core, companies were going belly-up left and right, white-collar "salarymen" became homeless, people killed themselves along with their own kids, and I can assure you, nobody was thinking about national brand. It was an economic apocalypse.