1. The Foreign Ministry held on May 13 a workshop for public diplomacy interns to be dispatched to its overseas missions as part of its “public diplomacy implemented with the people” project for 2017. The event is expected to serve as a step in support of Korean youth’s bids to build presence overseas and thereby to help create jobs down the road. The workshop has been organized for some 40 public diplomacy interns to be sent to overseas missions in the second half of the year 2017 to raise their awareness and learn more about public diplomacy, and to step up communication among those involved in the project.

° The public-diplomacy internship project has been in place since 2013. For this year’s round, a combined 72 interns will be dispatched to 56 missions in 44 countries, where they will engage in a variety of public diplomacy activities with passion and creativity, and are expected to use their experiences at overseas missions in seeking jobs thereafter. As such, the internship project is likely to play a role in job creation.

2. At the workshop on May 13, former Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to France Park Heung-shin delivered a lecture on implications of public diplomacy for the ROK and ways that the ROK’s diplomacy can move forward with the support of public diplomacy. He also shared with the other participants his experiences during his tenure as ambassador, including the restitution of the “Oegyujanggak” royal books, as well as his opinions on the attitude the public diplomacy interns should assume in carrying out their activities.

3. Director for Cultural Cooperation Sun Seung-hye of the Foreign Ministry delivered words of encouragement, highlighting the importance of implementing cultural diplomacy in a way that can win hearts of peoples of foreign countries, and asking the interns to pay keen attention to the efforts to promote the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, a major event to be hosted by the ROK.

4. The interns held group discussions, during which they presented various ideas in terms of public diplomacy activities they would like to conduct in their host countries. Among them were outdoor pop-up movie screenings for people other than Hallyu (Korean wave) fans; Hanbok (traditional Korean garment) try-ons; Korean game conventions and tournaments; and the systematic operation of K-pop dance classes.

5. Going forward, the Foreign Ministry will continue implementing public diplomacy as well as its public-diplomacy internship project along with the people of the ROK in a bid to help create jobs for the young.


* unofficial translation