1. At the 39th WFUNA (World Federation of the United Nations Associations) Plenary Assembly being held 
in Seoul, on August 10-12, 2009, Honorary President of the UN Association of the Republic of Korea Park 
Soo-gil was elected as the next WFUNA President for a 3-year term on August 10.  

 o President Park Soo-gil served as Permanent Representative of the Republic of Korea to the UN during 
1995-1998 and the head of the Korean delegation to the Security Council during 1996-1997, when Korea 
was a member of the Security Council.

2.  As President Hans Blix’s term of office is due to terminate, the WFUNA Executive Committee has 
established the Search Committee to find a new President, collected opinions of UN Associations in 
each country over the past 6 months, and agreed to elect Ambassador Park Soo-gil as President by 
consensus.

3. WFUNA is a non-governmental organization created in August 1946, one year after the establishment 
of the UN, as an international people's movement to support the achievement of the UN's goals and ideals, 
and comprises 109 UN Associations in major countries across the world.

4. Considering the international status of WFUNA as a non-governmental international organization that 
supports the principles and programs of the UN, Park's election as WFUNA President will not only help 
promote Korea's status on the international stage, but contribute directly and indirectly to Global Korea, 
a government policy aimed at becoming a global nation, and our pragmatic contribution diplomacy.

5. As Korea has actively supported UN activities as a member state that has produced a UN Secretary-
General, Park's election is regarded as meaningful in that it can serve as an occasion to promote closer 
cooperation between the UN led by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the UN-related non-governmental 
international organization, and thus increase synergy effect of common efforts by global civil society and 
governments to solve global challenges facing the international society.


                                           Spokesperson and Deputy Minister for Public Relations of MOFAT

* unofficial translation