1. The 40^th session of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) General Conference adopted a resolution on the “Promoting Awareness of Arts Education and the International Arts Education Week” submitted by the government of the Republic of Korea (ROK) on Thursday, November 21 (local time in Paris, the French Republic).

○ 13 countries including the ROK, the French Republic, the Portuguese Republic, the United Mexican States, Hungary and the Republic of Angola co-sponsored the resolution. At the adoption of the resolution, delegates of 12 countries including the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, the Republic of Slovenia, the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Republic of Namibia and the Kingdom of Thailand spoke in support of the resolution, noting the importance of arts education and the ROK’s relevant contribution.

2. The resolution consists of a request for carrying out diverse activities by the member states with the aim to promote arts education during the International Art Education Week proclaimed at the 36^th session of the UNESCO General Conference in 2011. In addition, it contains a request to implement respective roadmaps for arts education on an “Implementation of the Seoul Agenda: Goals for the Development of Arts Education, Outcome Document of the Second World Conference on Arts Education” roadmap adopted at the UNESCO World Conference on Arts Education in 2010, and a request for the Director-General to report the outcomes of the roadmaps that the member states implemented at the 41^st session of the UNESCO General Conference in 2021.

3. The resolution was launched in order to commemorate the 10^th anniversary in 2020 of the “Seoul Agenda” and expand global support for the “Growing with Art” campaign, which is being promoted by the ASEAN-ROK Culture Innovation Summit, a special event held on the sidelines of the 2019 ASEAN-ROK Commemorative Summit.

4. Shortly after the adoption of the aforementioned resolution, H.E. Mr. KIM Dong-gi, Permanent Delegate of the Republic of Korea to the UNESCO, extended deep gratitude to the UNESCO member states and mentioned that the ROK government will continue to join international cooperation on arts education as a leading country in adopting the resolution.

5. Marking the International Arts Education Week, the ROK has been holding various events such as an international symposium, a workshop for foreign experts and a culture and arts education festival in the fourth week of May every year since 2012. In May 2020, the ROK government, in conjunction with an annual academic seminar held by the University Twinning and Networking Programme (UNITWIN), will seek visions and ways for implementation in the coming decade for the sustainable development of culture and arts education under the theme “Seoul Agenda Marking its 10^th Anniversary Opens New Pathway (working title).”

○ In addition, the 5^th International Teaching Artistry Collaborative (ITAC5) event will take place in Seoul in September 2020. This event will function as a platform of global exchange through which art instructors and experts around the world will be able to share cases and methodologies of arts education and further explore the value and potentials of arts education.

6. The ROK government will continue to play a leading role for the sustainable development of culture and arts education as well as enhancement of global leadership of culture and arts education policies.