A wish being realized
'I want our nation to become the most beautiful nation in the world … I do not want our nation to become the richest and (most) powerful nation in the world. The only thing that I desire in infinite quantity is the power of a highly developed culture. This is because the power of culture both makes us happy and gives happiness to others,' he wrote.
When, in 1945, it was liberated from 35 years of Japanese colonial rule, Korea was poor, mired in political turmoil and powerless in a world gripped by the Cold War.
Faced with the daunting task of forging a modern nation-state in the aftermath of the brutal Japanese rule, Kim cast his eyes further into the future, one in which culture held the key to happiness and peace.
Oh, if only he could see.
Korea today is a cultural powerhouse. Hallyu, or the popularity of Korean cultural products, which emerged in the early 2000s with the export of Korean dramas to Japan, has gone global. K-pop, Korean films and K-dramas now top international charts and win prestigious awards around the world — think iconic K-pop boy group BTS, director Bong Joon-ho's 'Parasite' and the international megahit, 'Squid Game,' to name just a few.
The country that nearly lost its writing system, Hangeul, as part of the Japanese colonial policy of cultural annihilation, has produced Asia's first woman Nobel literature laureate, Han Kang. Many other authors have won or have been nominated for prestigious literary awards, their stories resonating with the world.
Korea's young classical musicians today take top prizes at numerous music competitions and perform on the world's most prestigious stages. The youngest-ever winner of the Van Cliburn Competition, pianist Lim Yunchan; Chopin Piano Competition winner, Cho Seong-jin; and Paganini Competition and Sibelius Competition winner, violinist Yang In-mo, join the ranks of conductor and pianist Chung Myung-whun, who won joint second place at the 1974 Tchaikovsky Competition; violinist Chung Kyung-wha; and the late pianist Han Dong-il, the winner of the 1965 Leventritt Competition.
Also on the long list of notable achievements is the musical 'Maybe Happy Ending,' which won six awards at this year's Tony Awards, a sign of more Korean original musicals succeeding on Broadway and the West End. In recent years, Korean ballerinas and ballerinos have joined prestigious ballet companies, and Korean classical singers perform at opera houses around the world.
Indeed, 80 years after liberation, Kim Koo's desire is being realized.
There is a term for the kind of power that Kim desired: soft power. Defined broadly as the ability to influence others by attraction and persuasion, soft power stems from a country's culture, values and policies.
South Korea ranks 12th in the Global Soft Power Index 2025 released by Brand Finance, a leading brand valuation company, jumping from last year's 15th place.
Kim saw culture as a way to happiness and peace. He also believed Koreans had a role in achieving those cherished universal goals.
'I desire that a true world peace is fulfilled in, and because of, our nation ... Indeed, the days when our people will appear on the world stage as the main actors are just ahead of us,' Kim wrote.
It would be shortsighted to view culture merely as a product. Like Kim, we should now cast our gaze further ahead by fostering originality and creativity and guaranteeing freedom of expression, artistic freedom and academic freedom.
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