Our university holds successful high-level ‘France-Korea Forum’ between two countries
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- Writer 커뮤니케이션팀
- 보도일자 2014-10-28
The France-Korea Forum is a private standing high-level consultative body created between the two countries and jointly hosted by the KF and IFRI. The first forum was held in 1995, and several forums have been held in each country since then. From the 10th 2013 France-Korea Forum in Paris, our university was selected as a joint host organization and has since been holding the forum successfully.
Saenuri Party Representative Na Kyung-won and Speaker of the National Assembly Chung Ui-hwa give the congratulatory message at the France-Korea Forum (from the left)
A wide range of issues were discussed at the 11th France-Korea Forum held in Seoul. These included international issues such as the unification of Korea, peace in Northeast Asia, globalization and local cooperation, as well as social issues such as social justice, mutual cooperation and culture in the digital age. French representatives of the forum included key political and diplomatic figures such as President of IFRI Thierry de Monbrial, Assembly Member Thierry Mariani, Assembly Member Alain Marleix, Vice President of France-Korea Parliamentarians Friendship Association Patrice Martin-Lalande, and Assembly Member Didier Quentin. Notably, Assembly Member Mariani held successive offices as the Secretary of State and Minister of Transport, having played an important role as a special envoy in charge of Afghanistan and Pakistan conflicts under the Nicholas Sarkozy government in 2009. Assembly Member Marleix served as the Prime Minister under the Jacques Chirac government and held successive offices as the Vice President of the European Parliament in 1989.
Korean representatives included host of the forum President Sun Hye Hwang, Director of the Korea Foundation Yoon Keum-jin, Speaker of the National Assembly Chung Ui-hwa, former Minister of Strategy and Finance Hyun Oh-seok, former Minister of Unification of South Korea Hyun In-taek, Saenuri Party Representative Na Kyung-won, former Vice-president of SK Co., Ltd. Shin Heon-cheol, Director of Art Center NABi No So-young, Vice-president of POSCO Research Institute Kang Tae-young, former Representative of NEXON Seo Min, and former Ambassador Choi Young-jin.
The congratulatory message for the forum on the 17th was given by the Speaker of the National Assembly Chung Ui-hwa. During the message, he expressed his appreciation, stating, “As displayed by 130 years of exchange between France and Korea, France played a big role in enabling Korea to get one step closer to becoming a developed country from the ruins of war,” and, “While contributions from the international community are vital in the unification of Korea, France’s ability to embrace and overcome its history of bad relations with Germany is a great lesson to be learned.”
In the following opening speech, President Sun Hye Hwang expressed her expectations, saying, “Our university has been showing a lot of interest in revitalizing non-governmental diplomacy at the level of higher educational institutions and has been maintaining close relationships particularly with France and French-speaking nations in Africa,” and, “I hope this (France-Korea Forum) can be an opportunity for sincere discussion on main issues concerning France and Korea, as well as an opportunity for revitalizing exchange among key figures.”
The forum progressed with four sessions divided by topic. In the first session, chaired by the former Minister of Unification of South Korea Hyun In-taek, on the topic of the unification of Korea and peace in North East Asia, Vice-president of POSCO Research Institute Kang Tae-you, former Deputy Minister of Defense Hong Gyu-duk and Assembly Member Alain Marleix, among others, presented their ideas and discussed the significant role of the neighboring country of France during the unification process of Germany. As Assembly Member Alain Marleix pointed out, “Help from the neighboring countries that desired to be in the European Union played an immense role in the unification of Germany,” and, “Cooperation from neighboring countries such as China, Japan and Russia is desperately needed for the unification of Korea.”
The second and third sessions concerned △ globalization and local cooperation – political, economic, social and cultural characteristics in Africa and mutual cooperation, and △ social justice and mutual cooperation – concentration of wealth, redistribution of wealth and taxes on the wealthy. In these sessions, Professor at Yonsei University Choi Young-jin, Assembly Member Mariani, former Vice-president of SK Co., Ltd. Shin Heon-cheol and Assembly Member Didier Quentin shared their opinions. Former Vice-president Shin Heon-cheol advised that “social enterprises need to be actively used in order to, on a fundamental level, solve structural social issues such as low growth, aging population and polarization, which are difficult to address simply through government welfare policies and social contributions from enterprises,” and that “many global enterprises in the West have already made great contributions, and governments in each country are preparing various support policies and institutions.”
In the fourth and final session, Director No So-young, Representative Seo Min, Assembly Member Lalande and Assembly Member Quentin presented their opinions on culture in the digital age. They shared their thoughts on cultural enjoyment in the digital age and regulation policies.
Korea Cultural Institute Director of Sookmyung Women's University Mun Si-yeon, who also supervised the forum, said: “For this year’s forum, I decided on topics that best describe the undertones of Korea and France,” and, “I hope the France-Korea Forum continues to develop and become a good example of non-governmental public diplomacy.”
