Is soft power the future of diplomacy? A song from the soundtrack of a South Korean Netflix film has become the breakout hit of the year. But do South Koreans reap the benefits?
K-pop anthem is ‘song of the summer’
Global stars: The fictional girl group Huntr/x, pictured above, perform Golden in an animated musical fantasy film. Glossary
K-pop - Short for Korean pop. Pop music originating from South Korea.
Psy - A South Korean singer-songwriter and rapper, known for his hit Gangnam Style.
Gangnam Style - A South Korean song by artist PSY. Its music video, released in 2012, became the first video to surpass 1 billion views on YouTube.
BTS - A South Korean boy band formed in 2010, and one of the most popular K-pop bands worldwide.
Coercion - Forcing someone to do something. It derives from a Latin verb meaning "to restrain".
Credentials - The abilities and experience that make someone or something suitable for a job.
Imperialism - The practice of growing a country's power through colonisation or force.
Relic - Something left over from another time or era.
Cold War - A period of diplomatic conflict between blocs led by the USA and the USSR that lasted from 1947 until 1991, when the USSR collapsed.
Capitalist - Related to an economic system based on private ownership of businesses and goods.
Communist - An economic system entailing collective ownership of all means of production in contrast with capitalism, which holds that industry and businesses are controlled and run for profit by private owners rather than by the government.
USSR - The United Socialist Soviet Republic, the USA’s main rival in the Cold War before it collapsed and broke up into a number of smaller states in 1991.
Taiwan - An island country in east Asia. China still claims to be the legitimate owner of Taiwan, while the Taiwanese government until recently claimed to be the legitimate government of the whole of China.