Center for Multiculture Research Signed an MOU with Asan-si for Designating the City as an Intercultural City
- Date2023.11.15
- 19564
Han Up Jang, the director of the Center for Multiculture Research, signed an MOU for designating Asan-si as an intercultural city (ICC) with Kyeong-gui Park,the mayor of Asan-si, on November 8th (Wed).
The Center for Multiculture Research encourages cities in Korea to join the network of ICCs, believing that Korean society should transition from a multicultural to intercultural society. The Council of Europe and the European Union created the Intercultural Cities Programme in 2008 to support cities to review and adapt their policies through an intercultural lens for the goal of enhancing cultural diversity. Currently, Ansan-si and Guro-gu are Korean members of the ICC network. The cities joined the program in 2020, encouraged by the Center for Multiculture Research.
(From the left) Kyeong-gui Park, the mayor of Asan City, and Han Up Jang, a director of the Center for Multiculture Research. The photo was taken after signing the MOU for designating Asan as an ICC.
The scope of cooperation in this MOU includes the following matters: consultation and collaboration for joining the ICC Programme, public-private cooperation regarding non-Korean resident and multicultural family issues, and other matters that require cooperation between both institutions.
“The ICC Programme is not about competition. It is more of a consultancy that helps the city to develop in a good way. The city should join the program with a mindset of getting a health checkup.” said Director Han Up Jang at the signing ceremony. “The Center will sincerely help Asan-si with the Center’s expertise and capacity,” he said. “Asan-si would not be the same as the current Korean members of the ICC network, Ansan-si in Gyeonggi-do or Guro-gu in Seoul, regarding non-Korean residents’ nationalities or the purpose of their residence. Thus, Asan-si needs Asan-specific policies and efforts to join the ICC Programme, in addition to the will of the city’s leader and elevation of public servants’ capacities regarding multiculturalism,” Director Jang added.
“I think ‘health checkup’ of the city is an apt explanation of what Asan-si needs to do,” said Mayor Kyeong-gui Park. “It’s not just about joining the ICC Programme, but enhancing the city’s capacity and policies to the international level,” he said. “We expect to raise the city’s capacity regarding multiculturalism with continuous cooperation and exchanges with the Center. We are so willing to take advice from the Center to evolve into an exemplary intercultural city,” Mayor Park added.