The Korea Foundation intends to markedly expand the “KF Global e-School” program in 2012 in order to promote Korea-related education and research around the world. This program is designed to overcome the lack of qualified instructors and educational infrastructure for Korean Studies in many countries and regions of the world. Based on the outcome of several pilot projects conducted in 2011, the program will get into full swing this year.

In 2012, 62 universities in 22 countries will offer 129 online lectures on Korean Studies for some 2,450 students, who might otherwise not have such real-time opportunities to deepen their knowledge about Korea. The promotion of Korean Studies have been established in one of the key missions of the Foundation since its inception in 1992, for which central hubs has been in selected regions. Based on this infrastructure, the e-school program will serve as a platform to further expand Korean Studies around the world, especially in countries and regions where Korea-related education is not yet readily available.

During the initial phase, the participating universities will mainly offer Korea-related lectures to undergraduate students. But the program will be expanded to graduate courses in the near future, with scholarship aid offered to students who demonstrate outstanding academic achievement. As the program reaches its mid- and long-term goals over time, the cumulative impact will give a tremendous boost to Korean Studies throughout the world. The Foundation’s ongoing activities, including support for the establishment of new faculty positions for Korean Studies and provision of assistance to promising students, will be continued within the framework that has been proven effective.

The “Fellowship for Field Research” program offers support to foreign researchers and scholars so that they can visit Korea to conduct on-site field work for their research projects. In 2011, this fellowship program was restructured to emphasize performance-based outcomes. For example, by increasing eligible areas of research, the program can now benefit a wider range of researchers undertaking projects related to Korea. As a result, the Foundation expects to see more Korea-related papers included in prestigious international academic publications.

In 2012, the “Fellowship for Korean Language Training” will continue to focus on enhancing understanding of the Korean language and culture in the global community. Fellowship support is awarded to selected Korean Studies students and foreign professionals engaged in Korea-related activities. In addition, region-based scholarship grants are offered to graduate students majoring in Korean Studies at leading universities worldwide.

The educational infrastructure for Korean Studies at overseas academic institutes is being steadily strengthened through e-school lecture courses, with a diversity of support programs providing fundamental assistance to encourage high-quality research results.

In 2012, the Foundation’s efforts to promote Korean culture will focus on new multi-faceted programs while enhancing the existing programs at the same time. Based on a solid infrastructure that has been established over the past two decades, the Foundation will increase its assistance for two-way cultural exchange with the world.

For example, the “KF Festival” will be launched in Brazil in the second half of 2012 in order to introduce Korean culture in South America in a more efficient and comprehensive manner. The Culture and Arts Department will join hands with the Foundation’s Korean Studies and Public Diplomacy departments to mount a large-scale, multidimensional festival featuring Korean music performances, a fashion show and K-pop concerts, among other events to leave a lasting and favorable impression on people in Brazil.

In 2011, the Foundation celebrated the “Korea Foundation Day” in first-ever events at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. Thanks to the overwhelming success of these gatherings, similar KF Day events will be staged in four U.S. cities this year, featuring Korean art exhibitions, lecture presentations, and cultural performances. With dignitaries and local celebrities invited, these festive events will serve as meaningful opportunities to promote a better understanding of Korea and contribute to mutual cooperative relations between Korea and the United States.

The Foundation’s 2012 plans call for a three-prong approach toward heightening the presence of Korean arts at museums overseas: support for the creation or renovation of Korean galleries, nurturing specialists on Korean arts, and assistance for Korea-related community programs. The “KF Global Museum Internship” program provides junior-level Korean curators with an opportunity to acquire real-life experience and reinforce their professional knowledge at leading museums around the world. This year, seven interns will be dispatched to such institutes in the U.K. and Australia, as well as three U.S. museums including the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. Their work experience at these prominent museums will enable them to form professional networks to help promote Korean arts and culture.

The Foundation has hosted annual workshops for Korean art curators from around the world for the past 13 years, greatly contributing to the participants’ understanding of various aspects of Korean arts and playing a pivotal role in highlighting the Korean collections and galleries at their respective museums. This year’s workshop is being restructured to provide the participants with more extensive knowledge of Korean arts.

In 2012, three overseas museums are scheduled to reopen their renovated Korean galleries: Sweden’s Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. The Foundation is also extending program support for the establishment or improvement of the Korean galleries at the Cleveland Museum of Art, Pacific Asia Museum, and the Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art at the University of Florida. In addition, the Foundation intends to contribute to foreign museums’ efforts to host Korea-themed exhibitions. Meanwhile, the touring exhibition of Korean artworks from 10 museums in Germany continues in three German cities throughout 2012.

The KF Cultural Center plans to present 13 exhibitions of foreign culture and arts during 2012, including those of Nordic design, Latin American perspectives, and contemporary design works of Poland. The Center will expand its popular lecture series on various themes, while its culture and arts exhibitions will also be accompanied by lectures on related subjects. The Foundation will increase efforts to attract larger audiences to its regular cultural performances and the KF Gallery Open Stage programs. After the Center’s relocation in 2011, diverse efforts are being undertaken to raise popular awareness of its new venue, including the staging of week-long arts festivals in May and October at the plaza area in front of the Center.

In addition, the Foundation will organize cultural diplomacy programs, and support cultural events featuring Korean artists residing overseas and publicity of Korean cuisine among the global community. Through cooperative efforts with Korean embassies and consulates abroad, the Foundation will sponsor events to showcase Korean culture and arts in different regions around the world. The Foundation will also assist partnerships between Korean and foreign organizations so as to strength networks to introduce Korean culture and arts in a more intensive and comprehensive manner. At the same time, the Foundation will offer increased opportunities for foreign nationals to introduce their culture to Korean youths through its international exchange volunteer service network, and develop programs for foreigners and Koreans to experience traditional Korean culture together.

To advance public diplomacy, the Foundation will host visits of over 100 prominent figures, representing such sectors as the government, business, academia, media, and culture, from more than 70 countries. In 2012, the invitees will be classified into three groups: former heads of state and ministerial-level officials; KF global seminar participants; and professionals and scholars of various fields. By doing so, the Foundation intends to more effectively address the particular purposes of their visits, synergy effects, and facilitate network relations. These guests will be able to acquire in-depth understanding of Korea and contribute to cooperative relations by sharing their knowledge and information through lectures and visits to relevant organizations in Korea. A group of 80 former Peace Corps volunteers from the United States will be invited to revisit Korea in 2012, under an ongoing reunion program that allows them to see Korea’s development in recent decades and help intensify the traditional friendly relations between the two nations. Exchange visits of high-level government officials will also be actively undertaken with countries in Africa, South/Central America, and Southeast Asia.

During 2012, the Foundation will invite to Korea some 240 “next-generation leaders” who are on track to assume leadership roles in their home countries in Latin America, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Europe, and the Commonwealth of Independent States. During their stay in Korea, the future leaders from different countries will be able to deepen their understanding and knowledge of Korea through cultural experiences and visits to relevant organizations while forming future-oriented networks with their Korean counterparts.

The Foundation regularly conducts exchange programs for students of Korea, the United States, China, and Japan, in order to promote mutual understanding among youth of these countries so that they can contribute to smoother international relations in the future. In 2012, the Foundation will host visits of student groups from the United States (175) and China (300) to provide them with an opportunity to learn about Korea through lectures, cultural experiences, and interaction with Korean students. Under the Korea-China Youth Exchanges, 100 Korean students will visit China as guests of the Foundation’s counterpart organization, the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries. In addition, 30 students each from Korea and Japan will visit each other’s country to improve their understanding of the host nation’s people and culture.

The Foundation is scheduled to host or support forums to discuss pertinent issues among Korea and its four influential neighbors – the United States, Japan, China, and Russia – along with similar gatherings for such countriesas Germany, Spain, Italy, Brazil, and Australia. These forums provide occasions to exchange opinions on issues of mutual concern and to promote better understanding among the participants. Over the years, these forums have contributed to the creation of extensive personal networks among the participants, who included prominent representatives of the government, business, academia, media, and cultural sectors of their respective countries. In 2012, the Foundation will conduct 15 bilateral or multilateral forums, seven of them to be co-hosted with domestic universities. By taking advantage of the capabilities of its partner organizations, the Foundation seeks to strengthen the effectiveness of the forums and optimize synergy gains.

Based on the Foundation’s professional expertise and human networks accumulated over the years, the Korea Foundation Global Seminar provides prestigious venues for in-depth discussions of major issues that require cooperative efforts of the international community, such as denuclearization, global economic problems, environmental protection, social enterprises, and human rights. The KF Global Seminar has attracted the participation of world-renowned leaders and next-generation specialists from around the world to help formulate innovative solutions for imminent global issues, thereby contributing to Korea’s enhanced image abroad and building a global network of knowledge resources. In 2012, four seminars are scheduled to address such subjects as global economic governance and cooperation; the mid-term prospects for the Korea-U.S. strategic alliance; the co-existence and integration in the era of multiculturalism; and the role of cultural diplomacy in the 21st century.

The Korea Foundation Forum seeks to delineate Korea’s position concerning various global issues and to help advance Korea’s national interests by staging public lectures by world-renowned figures including government leaders, revered experts from home and broad, and heads of international organizations. Among guest speakers for 2012 is Alec J. Ross, senior advisor on innovation to the U.S. secretary of state. Ross will have an opportunity to share his views with Korean opinion leaders and academics through the forum.

In today’s globalized world, there is a growing awareness of the importance of public diplomacy, which exploits the “soft power” initiatives centered on a nation’s cultural resources and influence. In this light, the Foundation hosts public diplomacy forums to search for ways for Korea to enhance its standing in the international community and to expand the nation’s diplomatic interests by facilitating discussions among domestic and foreign specialists. In 2012, six forums are slated, starting with a presentation on the planning and evaluation of public diplomacy strategies by Professor Eytan Gilboa, head of the School of Communication at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University.

Since its inception, the Foundation has regularly extended support to leading overseas research institutes to encourage their research on the Korean Peninsula and East Asia. This year’s grantees include the Brookings Institution, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

In order to expand “people-to-people” diplomacy by bolstering international activities of Korea’s private sector and encouraging its diplomatic contributions, the Foundation provides support for the international conferences organized by Korean academic/research institutes and activities by private-level groups related to the diplomatic arena. In 2012, a total of 10 international conferences slated to be held in Korea and 16 civil society organizations will receive program support from the Foundation.

In line with Korea’s evolution into a multicultural society, increasing attention has been given to the need for Koreans to adopt a more inclusive attitude. The Foundation has conducted the “KF Hope Forum: Global Leadership Camp” since 2010 to rally support for the marginalized sectors of Korean society and thereby to help cope with problems arising from multiculturalism. Two forums are scheduled for this year to provide adolescents from multiethnic families with an opportunity to build up their capability to grow up as future leaders of Korean society and the globalized world.

With the advent of the 21st century, Asia is now poised to take center stage in global affairs. In line with this trend, the Foundation hosted a forum entitled “KF Vision: The New Asian” in 2011, as an effort to nurture next-generation leaders of the Asian region. Another session will be held this year to provide encouragement to Korean youth and help them to envision their future as Asia’s future leaders.

The Foundation has published its Koreana quarterly for the past 24 years, in an effort to introduce Korea’s culture and arts to readers around the world through eight language versions in English, Chinese, Japanese, French, German, Spanish, Russian, and Arabic. The foundation’s English-language periodical, the monthly Korea Focus webzine , provides an up-to-date glimpse of the nation’s current affairs related to its political, business, cultural, and social sectors through media commentaries and academic essays written from diverse perspectives.

Four editions will be added to the Korea Essentials pocketbook series that provides foreign readers with compact information on various aspects of Korea. Based on the articles featured in the Koreana quarterly, these English-language books incorporate new content added by a leading domestic publisher. The series includes eight editions on such subjects as the Korean alphabet Hangeul, the demilitarized zone (DMZ), cuisine, traditional painting, music, Jeju Island, museums, and the cultural heritage of the Joseon Dynasty.

In response to the ever-expanding e-book market at home and abroad, and an increasing demand for consumer-related content, the Foundation will start offering in e-book format Korea-themed publications in various foreign languages. This new approach will provide easier access to a variety of in-depth content and knowledge on Korea for an ever-diversifying readership.

The Foundation plans to support the distribution of popular Korean TV series, including “Queen of Housewives” and “My Fair Lady,” dubbed in Spanish and French, for broadcast in Latin America and Africa. The Foundation’s video distribution program has been instrumental in exposing Korean culture and society to audiences abroad.

A series of five-minute video clips covering 20 subjects, such as Korea’s history, economy, modern society, and culture, will be produced and distributed as reference materials for Korean Studies students abroad. This content will also be posted on the digital archive of the Foundation’s home page for public viewing.

To support Korean Studies research and overseas introduction of Korea, publications and video content from sources at home and abroad are distributed to relevant institutions, including universities, research institutes, and public libraries.

To provide detailed information about its programs and activities, the Foundation maintains a comprehensive website . This includes a “Books on Korea” site (www.booksonkorea.org) that lists reference materials for Korean Studies, along with a monthly newsletter .. The Foundation also operates a website for its international exchange volunteer service group ..