By Reporter Kayla lee   

Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Oh Young-ju met with UNESCO Deputy Director-General Qu Xing, who is on a visit to Korea to attend the Global Meeting for the 20th Anniversary of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, on July 25, and discussed overall cooperation between Korea and UNESCO.

Vice Minister Oh stated that UNESCO is an important and special partner that has contributed to Korea’s post-war recovery and development, and hoped for further development of cooperative relations between Korea, a major donor to UNESCO, and UNESCO.

Vice Minister Oh also expressed appreciation for UNESCO's significant interest and participation in the Global Meeting hosted by Korea to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, and hoped that the "Seoul Vision” to be adopted as the Meeting's outcome document would present directions for intangible cultural heritage to contribute to sustainable development and peace.

Particularly, Vice Minister Oh welcomed the U.S.’ recent rejoining of UNESCO, and expected that Korea would be able to create synergy with the U.S., which shares the values of freedom and democracy, to strengthen the organization's role in responding to various global challenges. 

Deputy Director-General Qu expressed appreciation to Korea, which has been a strong partner of UNESCO since becoming its member in 1950, for continuing its full support for UNESCO's activities, including hosting the Global Meeting for the 20th Anniversary of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage and supporting the U.S.’ return to UNESCO.

Vice Minister Oh stated that Korea will continue to increase its participation and contribution not only in the fields of education and culture, such as global citizenship education, world heritage interpretation, and culture and arts education, where Korea has led discussions within UNESCO, but also in science, including recommendations on AI ethics and open science, as a leading country in science and technology.