Whether a nation can succeed in this era of globalization will hinge greatly on how it utilizes its network of people spread across the globe, said Overseas Koreans Foundation chairman Kwon Young-kon Tuesday.
“Human infrastructure is the very crux, which will determine whether a nation will advance further in the future or regress. In terms of economy, culture and politics, the network of overseas Koreans will play a critical role (for national advancement),” Kwon told The Korea Herald.
Since February, the state-run institution has been carrying out a three-yearproject worth some 16 billion won ($14 million) to establish the “Global KoreanNetwork” to ensure smooth communication and cooperation among an estimated 7 million overseas Koreans in 176 countries.
“Overcoming the limits of time and space, the GKN will help bring together overseas Koreans and help their communication in cyberspace. For the project, we have been establishing a database of overseas Koreans categorized by their professions,” said Kwon.
“The website (www.korean.net), which offers service in Japanese, Chinese, Russian and Spanish, is to provide information on numerous things ranging from military service to medical and immigration issues. It will also be a crucial venue where people in political, economic, scientific and artistic sectors freely communicate with one another.”
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| Kwon Young-kon |
The 64-year-old chairman, who began heading the foundation for a three-year term in August 2008, has recently been busy preparing for the World Korean Business Convention, one of the foundation’s biggest annual events.
The 9th convention, where 3,500 people from home and abroad are expected to participate, will take place from Oct. 19-21 in Daegu under the slogan of “the Heart of Korean Economy, Hansang (Korean businessmen).”
“We annually hold the convention in provincial regions with a view to helpinglocal middle and small-sized enterprises with difficulties to advance in overseas markets get business opportunities. The convention is sort of a marketplace where Koreans and overseas Koreans do business and exchange information,” said Kwon.
A major task of this year’s convention in the city, famed for its textile industry, is to discuss the possibility of forging an international business belt for the clothing industry with Korean businesspersons from South American countries such as Chile, Argentina and Brazil, as will as Los Angeles and China, Kwon said.
Another task will be to bring together overseas Korean businesspeople engaged in the beauty industry for black people who have successfully carved out a large global market share.
“We will seek to globalize clothing and beauty products through the network of overseas Koreans. Although we may not yield any visible result through the convention, but we will discuss our joint efforts to link overseas Koreans in the industries,” said Kwon.
During the convention, more than a dozen agreements on business cooperation among associations of overseas Koreans and provincial governments will be signed, which will help bolster the local economy, said Kwon.
To follow up on the developments following the annual offline convention, the foundation opened an online information center for overseas Korean businesspeople (www.hansang.net) in June, which offers detailed information on thousands of Koreans, who have participated in the annual conventions since the first convention was held in 2002.
“After the three-day convention ended, we had nothing to follow up on the developments. So, we have established the center to offer information that Korean businesspeople need. We have been trying hard to make the center more efficient for them,” said Kwon.
The Overseas Koreans Foundation whose annual budget is around 40 billion won was established by the government in October 1997 to support overseas Koreans.
The foundation mainly focuses on educating overseas Koreans to help them understand their ethnic identity. Currently, it has subsidized the operation of some 2,000 Korean language teaching institutions in some 110 countries.
It has also run programs to train Korean language teachers for the institutions. Under its scholarship program which covers tuitions, flight tickets and living costs, some 70 overseas Koreans have been invited to study at top-tier Korean universities.
“We have concentrated on identity education and Korean language teaching. Without knowing the language, they can hardly learn their motherland’s culture and history. When they don’t know it, they are just biological Koreans. Our goal is to help them understand their roots,” said Kwon.
source:Korea Herald
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