KOREA FOUNDATION

New Year’s Greetings from the KF President

The 2020 New Year has arrived. through projects such as the KF Global Challengers To all our supporters at home and abroad who have shown their love to the Korea Foundation, I send my sincere wishes for a joyful and peaceful year to come.

In 2019, the KF, through its headquarters on Jeju Island, the KF Global Center in Seoul, and the ASEAN Culture House in Busan, endeavored to promote Korea by carrying out public diplomacy work around the world.

In addition to continuing with our well-known support platforms for human resource and cultural exchange, Korean studies overseas, and policy- oriented research, we opened the KF’s eighth overseas office in Jakarta, Indonesia. We also actively supported the Korea-ASEAN Special Summit and the first Korea- Mekong Summit, held last November in Busan to mark the 30th anniversary of the establishment of Korea-ASEAN dialogue relations. Additionally, we contributed to the invigoration of studies related to the Korean Peninsula by inaugurating the first Korea Policy Chair at the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit think tank based on the West Coast of the United States that produces globally recognized research in defense and security.

As the only officially designated Korean public diplomacy agency, we have worked to steadily expand our public diplomacy activities with the people of Korea. More than 43,000 Koreans attended the 2nd Public Diplomacy Week event to share insights into the evolving global trend of public diplomacy. We also provided opportunities for the Korean people to participate firsthand through our KF Public Diplomacy Projects, the KF Young Public Diplomacy Corps, and the Public Diplomacy Academy. Meanwhile, the KF’s headquarters was awarded a minister’s commendation at the 1st Innovation City Performance Reporting Conference for its efforts to cultivate the regional economy by recruiting local talent.

In 2020, the KF aims to spread the image of Korea as an advanced and future-oriented nation to the international community by promoting public diplomacy in the areas of creativity, innovation, and technology, three key capabilities for the future.

We will also actively support the next generation of human resource talent, expanding the Eurasian Youth Academy to help promote cultural and economic cooperation between Korea and Central Asia. And through projects such as the KF Global Challengers and youth and next-generation leaders exchanges, we will provide opportunities for international exchange between next-generation talents in various fields including politics, economics, diplomacy, culture, and media, in order to help these young leaders perform both at home and abroad.

The KF also hopes to strengthen its capacities in the field of arts and culture. We will promote Korea’s various attractions through the establishment of the Korea Foundation Curatorship Fund, make contributions to local and foreign communities through art, and support art and cultural projects based on Hallyu, the Korean Wave of popular culture.

In 2020, we hope that each and every one of you will lend your support to the KF’s efforts to conduct various public diplomacy projects to enhance Korea’s national prestige.

Thank you.

Lee Geun
President
The Korea Foundation

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