Ewha Public Diplomacy Center Holds the 9th Korea-Germany Junior Forum 2021
- Date2021.11.16
- 3559
In-Person occasion in two years whilst in compliance with COVID-19 rules in the “With Corona” Era … Fulfilled with active participation of young students from the two countries.
The 9th Korea-Germany Junior Forum, co-hosted by Ewha Public Diplomacy Center (Director Professor Cho Ki-sook, Professor of GSIS) and Korea Foundation(KF) was successfully held from last November 3rd (Wednesday) and 5th (Friday) at Seoul Garden Hotel. Unlike last year, when it switched to a special online event in response to COVID-19, the Public Diplomacy Center held offline events for the first time in two years in the era of “With Corona”, to further expand the exchange of young people between Korea and Germany. The Korea-Germany Junior Forum is an annual event co-hosted by the Korea Foundation(KF) and Ewha Public Diplomatic Center, and has been held for nine years this year. The forum has expanded since Prime Minister Angela Merkel, who won the Seoul Peace Prize back in 2014, donated the prize money, increasing the total number of delegations from 30 to 50.
A total of 46 university students and office workers from both Korea and Germany participated in this year's forum on five topics: "Equality of Youth Opportunities in Education and Employment,” “Recognition on Peace, Diplomacy, and Reconciliation," "Digitalization, Technology and Aging Society," "New Deal Policy, Climate Change and Sustainable Development," and “Economic Development and ESG Strategy”. In addition, the discussion contents of both countries were recorded as minutes and delivered to each government.
In particular, Ewha students attended this year’s forum as well. Hong Ji-hye (Graduate School of Education, Software Education, 21) said, "As a student,
I thought it would be nice to have more public debates in the process of investigating not only major-related fields but also policy status in each country according to the trend of the times, as we could participate in the process of proposing future policies." In addition, Ahn Yoo-jung (International Studies, 21) expressed her intention to re-participate in the forum in future, saying that, "It was a valuable opportunity for me as I love foreign languages and enjoy discussions. I could learn about the German language, German education and culture."
The Ewha Public Diplomacy Center has been hosting the Korea-Germany Junior Forum since 2012, and the Forum next year is expected to be held in Germany. The Forum selects participants from university students and office workers under the age of 35 through recruitment, which is announced every April to May. Furthermore, the forum supports continuous exchanges between the two countries by encouraging former participants to participate in the alumni network.