Fashion Critical for Upgrading Korea's Image?

That alarming looking fellow on the left is "Andre" (안들래?) Kim and he is according to the Korea Times, a key part of Korea's international branding effort.

Which really shows the thing up for what it is.

It begins with that navel-gazing thing, "He has created a unique image and brand name instantly recognizable by Koreans." Which is great, but really doesn't do a thing to create that international brand. And then the claim that Kim is "Korea's first male designer, Kim is a trailblazer in the fashion world." seems pretty weak sauce and completely unaware of the Versace's and Gucci's of the world. Congrats to the man for breaking whatever barriers he did in Korea, but really?

And, of course, there are also the classic elements of wishful Korean journalism - it straight-facedly drops lines like this:

Kim, who has, perhaps singlehandedly raised the international profile of Korean fashion design in the last four decades

Foreign audiences, according to Kim, were very impressed with his designs.

To be fair, this piece is written by an English speaker (Maybe, her name is Cathy Rose A. Garcia, but that could be the result of a marriage). Contrast her approach with this:

In 1997 he was presented with the Presidential Culture and Art Medal for his contribution to the fashion industry. In 2003 he was awarded Italy's Cultural Merit Award and was elected as UNICEF's goodwill ambassador.

In November 2006, Kim showcased his costumes representing the beauty of Korea at Angkor Wat, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in Cambodia. The show titled "Fashion Fantasia: Angkor Watt" is the first of its kind ever held with the ancient temple as a backdrop

Sounds like the guy deserves some props (and it is worth noting that this write-up clearly was done by a Korean) and has had some international presence, but if this is what you're reduced to writing about to support your international branding effort? And your writing is this teeth-grinding style of unsupported claims mixed with toadyism, and it's published in Korea?

It probably isn't helping.