1. The Foreign Ministry will hold a ceremony in its building at 6:00 pm, September 1, to mark the completion of the activities of the tenth “Friends of MOFA” supporters group and the launch of the eleventh such group.

2. The “Friends of MOFA” is a group of Korean college students at home and abroad with interest in foreign affairs brought together to carry out promotional campaigns in the field. At the forthcoming ceremony, 38 members of the tenth “Friends of MOFA” group will mark the completion of their activities that started in March. In addition, 40 students -- 30 from home and 10 from abroad -- will be appointed to the eleventh “Friends of MOFA” group and carry out their activities over the next six months.

3. The tenth “Friends of MOFA” group posted on the Foreign Ministry blog at mofakr.blog.me and SNS pages news from diplomatic fronts at home and abroad, including those regarding job fairs for those seeking employment at international organizations, preparations for the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, international forums and seminars, and lectures on foreign affairs; and foreign policies and other relevant information.

4. The members of the eleventh “Friends of MOFA” group will serve as student reporters, writing on- and off-line articles about various policies of the Foreign Ministry and sharing them with the public.

5. In particular, the Foreign Ministry, having decided to mainly promote its policies for supporting young Koreans’ bids to build presence overseas, will, together with the eleventh “Friends of MOFA” group, introduce to young Koreans projects conducted by the Ministry, the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and the KF, including international organization job fairs, the dispatch of young Koreans to international organizations under the UN Volunteers program, and working holiday programs. Furthermore, it will hold “global youth” campaigns and “diplomatic talk talk” events in provincial areas in order to provide relevant information to the young in those areas.

※ The “global youth” refers to “the young seeking to build presence beyond the ROK and in the global community.” The Foreign Ministry launched the “global youth” campaign on May 23 with the aim to offer Korean youth opportunities to gain work experiences in diverse areas overseas and thereby to help them build capacity needed for employment at home and abroad and to cultivate globally competitive talent. The Ministry’s website on “global youth” is in operation at /youth.

6. Going forward, the Foreign Ministry will offer Korean youth opportunities to visit sites where the Ministry’s policies are at work, gain diverse knowledge and experiences in the field of foreign affairs, and thereby become capable of serving as civilian diplomats.


* unofficial translation