You-Kyung Kim, a communication scholar at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, and Yoo-Shin Kim of Pusan National University presented the model in 2012 in a study funded by the National Research Foundation of Korea (Kim & Kim, 2012, p. 259). They start from the observation that Korea's nation brand lagged behind its economic standing and that the basic step of defining and agreeing on a national identity had been skipped, although a clear identity is the starting point of any brand strategy (Kim & Kim, 2012, pp. 259–260). Earlier studies described a nation's identity as it is today; following brand theory, the authors hold that a nation brand identity must also carry the nation's vision and goals, and so combines a lasting, essential identity rooted in history and culture with a constructed, future-oriented one (Kim & Kim, 2012, pp. 262–264). From expert interviews and a survey of 500 Koreans and 566 foreigners who rated Korea, China and Japan, they derived four dimensions and tested how each affects six functional assets of nation brand equity (Kim & Kim, 2012, pp. 268–271). By analogy with Aaker's four brand identity perspectives, they see the dimensions as a foundation for building a national brand identity system and for managing the nation brand strategically (Kim & Kim, 2012, p. 283).