1. Members of the youth public diplomacy team, which is taking part in the Foreign Ministry’s “people-participated public diplomacy projects for 2017,” will visit the four Visegrad countries (V4) -- the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland -- from August 20 till 28, where they will conduct cultural diplomacy with the aim to promote a charming Republic of Korea and the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

° After the review of the project proposals from the 100-member youth public diplomacy team for 2017, ten college students with various backgrounds and talents, including majors in Gukak (traditional Korean music), Korean-language education, and contents planning and production, and a student with experience as an international referee for luge, have been selected to take part in the V4 project.

° During its visits to the V4, the group will carry out a variety of public diplomacy activities to promote a charming Korea and the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics, including flash mob events; street performances; exhibitions and promotional booths; and service as volunteers at local Korean Cultural Centers. The group will also join such formal programs as a youth exchange event in the form of meeting as well as visits to local Olympic Committees and the V4 Secretariat.

2. The V4, dubbed “blue ocean of Europe” playing the role as the region’s growth engine, is the ROK’s important economic partner. Furthermore, the group, serving on the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission (NNSC) and thereby contributing to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, is the ROK’s partner for unification diplomacy. The forthcoming project has been designed to promote the charming side of the ROK and the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics, and to enhance the friendship between younger generations of the ROK and the V4 through exchanges.

3. Starting from the planning stage of the V4 project and on, the youth public diplomacy team, in line with the objective of the “people-participated public diplomacy projects,” put forward and gave shape to their ideas regarding the project. Details on the group’s promotional activities in the V4 will be available in real time on the official website of the Foreign Ministry and the Facebook page of the Foreign Ministry’s Cultural Affairs Bureau. Going forward, the Foreign Ministry will carry out cultural diplomacy in a way that uses soft power and wins hearts of people.


* unofficial translation