10 December 2020
December 10th, the XIX Russian-Korean Forum, jointly organized by the Russian-Korean Society (Chairman A.Torkunov), Hanyang University and the Korea Foundation was held online.
The Russian-Korean Forum gathers, on a regular basis, experts, diplomats, scientists and public figures. It is held alternately in Moscow and the Republic of Korea and has been operating every year since 1999 under a bilateral official agreement. The forum provides a platform for discussing topical issues of bilateral relations, events on the Korean Peninsula, in Northeast Asia and in the world.
This year’s Forum is dedicated to celebrating the 30th anniversary of relations between Russia and the Republic of Korea. As plans to hold it in person in Moscow were disrupted by the pandemic, the conference was held in a remote format in order to mark the anniversary year.
The Forum was launched by MGIMO Rector, Academician A.Torkunov and the President of the Korean Foundation Lee Geun. After the welcome speeches, the audience listened to the greeting video messages of the Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia I.Morgulov, the Deputy Foreign Minister of the Republic of Korea Lee Tae-Ho, the Ambassador of Russia in Seoul A.Kulik and the Ambassador of the Republic of Korea in Moscow Lee Sek-Pae. Before the start of the main section, the Chairman of the coordinating committee of the Dialogue Russia-Republic of Korea, former Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Russia Lee Kyu-Hyung also made a presentation.
The Forum comprised two working sections. The first session devoted to politics and moderated by the Head of the Department of Diplomacy, Professor A.Panov, had for speakers on the Russian side the Vice-President of the RIAC G.Ivashentsov, the Associate Professors of the Department of Japanese, Korean, Indonesian and Mongolian languages V.Sukhinin and I.Dyachkov, the Head of the Center for Korean Studies at the Russian Academy of Science A.Zhebin and Professor G.Toloraya. During the second session devoted to cooperation in the field of economics, science and culture, presentations were given by the Associate Professor of the Department of Oriental Studies A.Vorontsov, the Associate Professor of the Department of World Economy L.Zakharova, the Senior Lecturer of the Department of Japanese, Korean, Indonesian and Mongolian Languages, Professor of the University Hankuk Y.Pakulova, the Associate Professor of the Department of Japanese, Korean, Indonesian and Mongolian Languages A.Sinyakova and the Senior Lecturer of the Department of Oriental Studies, Deputy Dean of the School of International Relations V.Nelidov.
The conference came to a close with speeches by the Head of the Department of Diplomacy, Professor A.Panov and the former Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Russia, Chairman of the Global Association of Innovation Networks Pak Nobyuk.
