A Discourse Analysis of the South Korean Embassy’s Facebook Page and Communicating Its Role in Strategic Relationships

This study explores the discourse on the Facebook page of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in the United States and discusses how the ROK Embassy constructs its public diplomacy by highlighting its international role and its ROK-U.S. relationship. This research conducted a simple content analysis and a discourse analysis to study 182 posts published on the Embassy’s Facebook page in Korean, English or both between October 25, 2019, and October 25, 2020. Results indicate that different languages can be strategically used to communicate with different audiences, though sometimes such communication was exclusionary. Importantly, the activities of the ambassador showcased the areas where the host country draws its strongest relations. History and global challenges such as COVID-19 play critical roles in understanding the ROK-U.S. relationship and their shared interests as strategic partners. This research shows that use of social media, in this case Facebook, requires various considerations in terms of strategic communication to boost relationships with strategic partners and the global reputation of a country.