1. The second meeting of the public diplomacy committee, a pan-governmental organization in charge of integrating and coordinating public diplomacy activities, took place at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on November 26. The meeting was chaired by Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha (head of the committee).

o The meeting brought together four members of the committee from the private sector, and ten government officials from the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Unification, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, and the Office for Government Policy Coordination. A director of the Korea Foundation (KF), an organization conducting public diplomacy, also attended the meeting as observer.

2. In an effort to reinforce the Republic of Korea’s image as an advanced and future-oriented country, the participants added measures to enhance the ROK’s national image through the use of state-of-the-art information and communications technology (ICT) to the “first basic plan for the ROK’s public diplomacy (2017-2021).” They also created plans to continue to strengthen relations with people who have special ties with the ROK, including invitation programs for Korean War veterans, Peace Corps volunteers who worked in the ROK, and their descendents.

※ Basic plan for public diplomacy

- The Foreign Minister, in consultation with heads of relevant central government agencies, as well as mayors and governors, devises a basic plan every five years in accordance with Article 6 of the public diplomacy act.

- The first basic plan sets out policy directions, 4 goals, 15 strategies, and 49 priority tasks to implement the ROK’s public diplomacy for the years 2017-2021.

3. In consideration of an assessment that the “comprehensive plan on public diplomacy for the year 2018” is focusing too much on cultural public diplomacy programs, the participants finalized the “draft comprehensive plan on public diplomacy for the year 2019” which reduced cultural public diplomacy programs, and expanded public diplomacy on policy to diversify public diplomacy programs.

4. In order to conduct public diplomacy on policy towards major countries more systematically, they decided to hold a working-level meeting on public diplomacy, focused on public diplomacy on policy, on a regular basis under the chairmanship of the 2nd Vice Foreign Minister.

o In the meeting, officials from relevant government agencies and organizations will develop strategies for public diplomacy on policy towards major countries for the year, and share plans for related projects and their results.

5. The participants engaged in robust discussions on ways to advance the ROK’s public diplomacy, including ways to bolster digital public diplomacy. The committee members from the private sector especially stressed the importance of increasing voluntary youth exchanges; stepping up public diplomacy toward the United States, the People’s Republic of China, Japan, and other major countries; disseminating the Korean language online, and making international broadcasting programs in multiple languages; and increasing support for public diplomacy activities by provincial governments, including cities and counties.

6. The ROK government will continue efforts to promote national interests through public diplomacy by carrying out government-wide public diplomacy activities in a more integrated and systematic manner.

* unofficial translation