The Ewha Public Diplomacy Center, held the 2020 Korean-German Junior Special Forum
- Date2020.10.21
- 4824
A webinar video conference of the 2020 Korean-German Junior Special Forum, co-hosted by the Ewha Public Diplomacy Center (Director: Professor Kisuk Cho of the Department of International Studies) and the Korea Foundation (KF), was held on October 16 for three hours.
The Ewha Public Diplomacy Center has held forums between the two countries, but this year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Forum was held online, which is attempted for the first time to encourage participation. The Junior Forum was held along with the Special Forum, and the alumni network event, which was organized last year, was held as well. The number of delegations remained the same since it increased after Merkel donated prize money for the Seoul Peace Prize.
There were a total of 52 participants, including 47 youth representatives from two countries and five mentors. The topics covered at the Forum were as follow: "Youth Unemployment and Fairness," "Democratic Civic Education," "International Cooperation amid COVID-19,", "The Rise of Populism," and "Real Estate Policy and Stabilizing Youth Housing." Five groups carried out two sessions of group discussions for each topic. In the last session, all participants had a comprehensive debate. Hartmut Koschyk and Young Jin Kim, co-chairman of the Korea-German, attended the comprehensive discussion and delivered a speech of congratulations and encouragement to the delegation. The group discussions will be written in minutes of meetings in Korean and German and delivered to the two countries' foreign ministries.
Thanks to support from the Office of International Affairs, this year's special Forum was also attended by many students of Ewha. Do-yeon Kwak from the Department of Political Science & International Relations said, "It was very meaningful to discuss various topics with foreign students. The Forum help us to understand each other better and to come up with cooperative measures." She also said, "I would love to participate again next year." Gyu-ri Kim from the Department of German Language & Literature said, "It’s my first time participating in the Junior Forum, and I had a doubt whether it is held or not because of COVID-19. Although most of the activities have been simplified, I learned a lot through discussions with various people from both countries, and it was a very precious opportunity for me to meet many people."
Yu-rim Kim from Global Korean Studies of the Department of International Studies also said, "It was great to discuss the most meaningful topics such as environment, education, and residential environment with young Koreans and Germans amid the pandemic. Si-won Yoon from the Department of Political Science & International Relations said, "Thanks to the forum I was able to write a report on 'Democratic Civic Education,’ and I was happy to share my thoughts with German on interesting topics.”
The Korea-German Junior Forum started the alumni network last year when it was held in Berlin, thanks to the years-long network between Korea and Germany. The network had an hour-long orientation right after this year's Special Forum. The network also held an online meeting to welcome the new alumni on October 18. The meeting, which was held through Zoom video conference, was attended by many alumni, including German alumnus Yann Werner Prell, who had an interview with SBS about Japan's attempted removal of the “Statue of Peace” in Berlin.
The Ewha Public Diplomacy Center has hosted the Korean-German Junior Forum since 2012. The center is planning to host an offline Forum next year. The Korean-German Junior Forum selects participants from college students and office workers under the age of 35 every year between April and May, supports continued exchanges between the two countries, and encourages participants to further participate in the alumni network.