By Reporter Anna Kim

President Yoon Suk-yeol held a dialogue session with the 'Korea-France Future Innovation Generation' held in Paris, France on June 20. 

▲  President Yoon Suk-yeol holds a dialogue session with the Korea-Freance Future Innovation Generation on June 20. Courtesy of the Office of the President

President Yoon also held a panel discussion and audience Q&A with Roxanne Barza, CEO of Station F, Cédric Ou, member of the European Space Agency's Senior Advisory Council (former French Minister of State for Digital Affairs), and Ha-hyun Park, co-founder of Omena (a local French startup).

"Today's tour of Station F gave me a lot of insights (inspiration)," the President said, adding that "liberalism and internationalism are the same word, and liberalism cannot be combined with nationalism, and internationalism cannot be combined with authoritarianism." 

President Yoon also emphasized, "There can be no creativity and innovation in a country that suppresses thought and freedom, and only in a free market can diverse needs and preferences be translated into goods and value be created."

"A free system and a free market mean that countries should provide opportunities and hardware for young people of any nationality in the world to pursue innovation and start-ups wherever they are, and such countries can become leaders in entrepreneurial innovation," the president said. "Korea will support start-ups without limiting them to domestic activities so that foreign youth can start up in Korea and Korean youth can go abroad."

Former Minister Cédric Oh said that it is important to build a common framework to solve common problems facing the world, such as aging and climate change, and to continue to share common values, and that it is necessary to create a legally binding framework that is not limited to cooperation in areas such as innovation and digital. He also said that France has historically relied on large companies to achieve economic growth, but since 2017, it has made many efforts to revitalize startups and foster unicorn companies, such as reforming the tax system and improving the labor market.

Mr. Park (co-founder of OMENA) introduced his experience of co-founding a business with a Canadian and a Frenchman, and suggested that university programs that provide an environment where students with different majors can interact and collaborate are very conducive to start-ups, and that university students can challenge start-ups without fear of failure if they are given the opportunity to devote a semester or so to start-ups by modifying their undergraduate curriculum so that they can put 100% of their energy into start-ups.

Angel Villien (French, NAVER France) spoke fluent Korean and said, "I heard that you went to Seoul National University, and I was an exchange student there for a year in 2017. As Korean culture is spreading around the world, the number of foreigners who want to study and work in Korea is increasing, so he suggested that the government should help make it easier for more foreign youth to study and work in Korea. 

In response, the President said, "Our government is continuing to increase programs for foreign researchers and programs for foreign students," and pledged to continue to increase international exchanges between young people, regardless of nationality, because "government support for cooperation and innovation among young people is ultimately for the good of Korea and the international community."

Sofiane Perta (Morocco, CEO of startup Mockapp) asked the President if there are any areas or technologies that he would like to see strengthened international collaboration and further developed as a product of innovation. 

To which the President replied, "Korea is taking two directions to improve its economic situation and overcome challenges in the difficult global economic crisis, adding "Any technology field is good, and it is important to connect technology to value creation, and I expect young people like you to be interested in fields that have not yet emerged and are unfamiliar to us." 

Demonstrating their excitement and interest in the President's visit, startups packed the 200-seat castle garden-style venue and the surrounding area to listen to the President's remarks, especially when he spoke about the need to support startups.

At the end of the event, the President took photos with everyone in attendance, and even took a selfie with some of the startups to commemorate the day.