KF뉴스레터-"Cultural Diversity Needed to Mitigate Globalization's Consequences"

"Cultural Diversity Needed to Mitigate Globalization's Consequences"

The Korea Foundation presented the 6th session of its Korea Foundation Forum (July 22) that featured UNESCO Director-General Matsuura Koichiro as the guest speaker. During his presentation, Director-General Matsuura emphasized the need to promote cultural diversity in order to overcome the potential adverse consequences of globalization.

A career diplomat with more than four decades of experience, who has served as Japan's Ambassador to France, Consul-General to Hong Kong, and Vice Foreign Minister, Matsuura Koichiro became the first Asian to be appointed Director-General of UNESCO, in 1999. After the successful completion of his six-year term as Director-General in 2005, he was re-appointed to a new term. The 6th Korea Foundation Forum featured UNESCO Director-General Matsuura Koichiro as the guest speaker.
This forum event, held at the Plaza Hotel in Seoul, attracted the attendance of some 130 of Korea's leading figures from the political, academic, government, and media sectors, including Yim Sung-joon, President of the Korea Foundation; Bae Jae-hyun, Director of the Cultural Affairs Bureau, Ministry of the Foreign Affairs and Trade; Kim Yong-deok, President of the Northeast Asian History Foundation; Choi Seung-ho, Director-General of the Korea-Middle East Society; Park Chul, President of the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies; and Lee Kyung-suk, President of the Sookmyung Women's University.

Importance of Cultural Diversity
In particular, Director-General Matsuura emphasized the importance of addressing the side effects of globalization through the promotion of cultural diversity. He warned that the lack of multifaceted endeavors to promote cultural diversity could result in not only stagnation in the advancement of culture but also disruption of the linkage among countries and regions of the international community, which is currently facing a diverse array of challenges, such as the widening gap between the haves and the have-nots, and religious conflicts, that threaten cultural diversity. To overcome these problem areas, Director-General Matsuura suggested that we support globalization together with cultural diversity. Although the impact of globalization will result in positive as well as negative consequences, it is after all a process of human progress. Therefore, human beings should find ways to realize coexistence through cultural management of the difficulties caused by globalization, based on dialogue and exchange among countries. He pointed out that cultural diversity was also essential to preserve human dignity.
As for the efforts to promote cultural diversity, Director-General Matsuura cited the active implementation of cultural diplomacy by the international community since the conference on cultural policy initiatives, held in Bogota in 1978, along with stressing the important role of non-governmental organizations to work together with UNESCO for the promotion of cultural diversity through cooperative activities.

UNESCO Activities
Director-General Matsuura also regards the protection of contemporary architecture as being just as important as the preservation of ancient cultural properties. The list of cultural properties protected by UNESCO currently includes 878 sites around the globe, including a variety of natural and cultural heritages. UNESCO-designated World Heritage Sites in Korea include Seokguram Grotto and Bulguksa Temple, Gyeongju Historic Areas, and Jeju Volcanic Island and Lava Tubes. Director-General Matsuura said that Korea has implemented various projects in cooperation with UNESCO, and he expressed his appreciation to Korea for its various efforts to protect cultural heritage and its provision of financial assistance to UNESCO.
Especially, he mentioned his keen interest in Gwangju, which is seeking to become a center of cultural exchange, creation, and education, by 2012, under an ambitious "Asia Cultural Hub Project." Korea, which gained membership to UNESCO in 1950, will host a special meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property to its Country of Origin or its Restitution in Case of Illicit Appropriation (ICPRCP), in November this year, on the occasion of the committee's 30th anniversary, and also present the Second World Conference on Arts Education in Seoul in 2010.
In addition, Director-General Matsuura stressed the importance of the role of the Korea Foundation, of linking together Korea and the world in regard to the cultural and academic sectors, through effective international cooperation, along with expressing his support for the Foundation's various exchange activities that contribute to peaceful coexistence and mutual understanding, in East Asia as well as the entire world.
To conclude his presentation, Director-General Matsuura noted that it was more important than anything else to pursue the diversity of globalization in the 21st century, within a framework of open dialogue and mutual exchange, and a spirit of respecting universal human values.
To promote a better understanding of relevant international issues, the Foundation's Forum invites distinguished foreign individuals to express their viewpoints on matters related to Korea and the international community. Since the first session in January 2008, the forum's distinguished guest speakers have included former U.S. President George H. W. Bush, Harvard Kennedy School Professor Joseph Nye, and University of Oxford President John Hood.

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