1. The Foreign Ministry held the launching ceremony of the eleventh “Friends of MOFA” supporters group in its building on September 1, bringing together some 60 people.

° The launching ceremony was held in conjunction with a ceremony marking the completion of the activities of the tenth such group in order to provide an opportunity for the members of the two groups to engage in communication with each other.

※ The “Friends of MOFA” supporters group is composed of college students from across the countries with keen interest in foreign affairs. The members of this promotional group, first formed in 2012, are recruited on a biannual basis -- 30 from home and 10 from abroad.

※ The tenth “Friends of MOFA” group was in action from March 31 till August 31, 2017.

2. The ceremonies served as a good opportunity for the participants to review the activities of the tenth “Friends of MOFA” group by watching a video clip on sub-group activities, “diplomatic talk talk” events and reporting activities of individual members, and to look ahead to the activities to be conducted by the eleventh group.

3. The Foreign Ministry’s Spokesperson Cho June-hyuck delivered congratulatory remarks, highly commending the tenth “Friends of MOFA” group for serving as a hub connecting the ROK’s diplomacy and the Korean people by conducting diverse activities, including the “global youth” campaign, reports on diplomatic events, and “diplomatic talk talk” events, and asking the eleventh group to play an active role at the people-participated diplomatic front and thereby to gain diverse, valuable experiences.

4. After delivering the congratulatory remarks, Spokesperson Cho presented the members of the tenth “Friends of MOFA” group certificates of completion and those of the eleventh group letters of appointment.

° Following the presentation of the certificates and letters, five sub-groups of the eleventh group shared with middle and high school students, other citizens and netizens their respective activity plans for the next six months.

5. The eleventh “Friends of MOFA” group, which will be in action until February 2018, will focus on widely promoting on- and off-line the Foreign Ministry’s policies and various supportive activities, including the dispatch of young Koreans to international organizations under the UN Junior Professional Officer programme and the UN Volunteers programme as well as working holiday programs, the aim of all of which is to support young Koreans’ bids to build presence overseas.

6. Going forward, the Foreign Ministry will continue offering Korean youth opportunities to vividly share with the public news from where the Ministry’s policies are at work, gain diverse knowledge and experiences in the field of foreign affairs, and thereby become civilian diplomats.


* unofficial translation