1. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, together with the Korean National Commission for UNESCO, will hold the “2017 UNESCO Strategy Forum” in Seoul on December 21, and discuss the direction of the ROK’s strategy towards UNESCO with domestic experts on UNESCO.

2. At the upcoming meeting, domestic experts on UNESCO, including former Ambassador to Nepal Hong Seung-mok, Professor of Sogang University Lew Seok-jin, Emeritus Professor of Seoul National University Suh Kyung-ho, Director of the Asia-Pacific Centre Of Education for International Understanding under the auspices of UNESCO Chung U-tak, Professor Jo Dong-joon at the Department of Political Science and International Relations of Seoul National University, and Professor Choi Dong-joo at Sookmyung Women's University Graduate School of International Service, will look at internal and external challenges facing UNESCO, and exchange views on future prospects.

o In particular, they will engage in in-depth discussions on the roles that the ROK, a key donor country serving as chair of UNESCO’s Executive Board for the 2017-2019 term, will play in major organizational reforms to be implemented by the new UNESCO Director-General (Audrey Azoulay, November, 2017), who took office amid financial difficulties caused by the withdrawal of the US, as well as rising political concerns following disputes among member states concerning the World Heritage System.

※ Among the 195 member states of UNESCO, the ROK is the 13th-largest contributor to its regular budget (about 7.4 billion won in 2017, 2.039 percent of UNESCO’s budget).

3. The Foreign Ministry will hold the strategy forum on a regular basis and thereby continue discussions to review the roles that the ROK, a major UNESCO donor leading discussions in the fields of education, science and culture, will play and to set the direction of its strategy.


* unofficial translation