1. The second ROK-China Public Diplomacy Forum took place at St. Regis Hotel in Beijing, China, on June 12. The two countries decided to further expand substantive cooperation, including carrying out joint cooperation projects.

o The Forum, co-hosted by the ROK and Chinese Foreign Ministries and co-organized by the Korea Foundation and the China Public Diplomacy Association, brought together some 250 experts from a range of areas, including governments, academia, the media and business circles of the two countries.

o The Forum was held to review bilateral cooperation in public diplomacy for the past one year since President Park Geun-hye’s state visit to China last June and discuss the way forward for such cooperation, ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to the ROK.

2. In the opening ceremony, Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se stated that for the next 100 years of the ROK-China relations, the peoples of the two countries need to come closer to each other and build friendship. He also stressed that the two countries need to make joint efforts so that China’s dream and Korea’s dream are linked together and realize the dream of building a new Northeast Asia, as if the rivers from two countries flow into one sea. (Foreign Minister Yun’s message was read on his behalf by ROK Ambassador to China Kwon Young-se.)

o In his congratulatory message, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi pointed out that the development directions of China and the ROK are connected with each other. In this regard, he offered to work shoulder to shoulder to achieve peace and stability in Northeast Asia together, while the peoples of the two countries are striving to make their individual wishes come true. (Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s message was read on his behalf by Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Jianchao.)

3. At the Forum, the ROK and Chinese delegations made presentations at three sessions under the themes “ROK’s and China’s public diplomacy policies and the way forward,” “the Korean Wave (popularity of Korean pop culture) and the Chinese Wind (popularity of Chinese pop culture) shine in harmony,” and “future-oriented development of the ROK-China friendship.” They discussed substantive ways to increase cooperation in public diplomacy in order to enhance mutual understanding and awareness between the peoples of the two countries.

o In his keynote speech at the first session, Director-General for Cultural Affairs Kim Dong-gi of the Foreign Ministry appreciated the first Public Diplomacy Forum and its follow-up measures. He also proposed joint cooperation projects, including a project to create a ROK-China Green Corps and a project to designate the Years of Korean language and Chinese language.

4. As a result of the Forum under the theme “making our beautiful hopes come true together,” the two countries agreed to hold a roundtable between their online opinion leaders, which was held as a side event, on a regular basis and pursue the project to create a ROK-China Green Corps as a joint cooperation project.

o The two countries will hold a working-level meeting in the second half of this year and discuss concrete ways to conduct the project to create a ROK-China Green Corps. 


               Spokesperson and Deputy Minister for Public Relations of MOFA

*unofficial translation