한국국제교류재단

In retrospect, 2001 was a momentous year for every member of the global community. It also bore great significance for the Korea Foundation, as the year of the Foundation? 10th anniversary. At the dawn of the new millennium, we shared high hopes and expectations for the future. But we were all saddened by the heinous terrorist acts of September 11, 2001 and the ensuing Afghanistan war.

The year 2001 allowed us to look back and make new pledges of achieving another leap forward. In particular, our mission has become ever more important in today's rapidly changing global environment.

I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to all the individuals and institutions that have rendered their unswerving support to the Foundation during the past 10 years. I also extend my heartfelt appreciation to everyone who participated in the academic seminar and attended the concert which the Foundation sponsored in commemoration its 10th anniversary on December 13-14, 2001.

The international seminar, under the theme "Korea's Interface with the World: the Past, Present and Future," offered us an opportunity to reflect upon the Foundation's programs and activities of the last 10 years and draw a clearer vision of our future goals. We also hoped that the seminar along with the Kumho Quartet concert would serve as a notable cultural event which was capable of bringing together Korean studies scholars from all over the world, who have contributed much to the enhancement of Korea's image.

The Korea Foundation was indeed encouraged by the active participation of scholars and general public in these two events. In particular, we were pleased to see many ordinary citizens, with little previous knowledge of the KF's activities, who now appear to have been awakened through these events to the importance of international exchange programs. We are also grateful for the news media's thorough coverage of the anniversary events.

The September 11 tragedy led us to renew our appreciation of the significance of cultural exchange activities. Promotion of mutual understanding of different cultures through international exchange is no longer a luxury but an absolute necessity that needs to be vigorously pursued with vision and purpose. While the whole world is being steadily transformed into a single global economic community, there are still noticeable differences in culture and ways of thinking along with huge gaps in standards of living, which many have cited as a factor behind the shocking terrorist acts.

During the past year the Korea Foundation has put forth greater efforts than ever before to enhance awareness of Korea overseas, and will remain committed to this task in the years ahead. But I need to stress that no less important than introducing Korea to the world is enhancement of mutual understanding among peoples of the world. It is essential, therefore, to develop projects and programs, with the participation of people of diverse cultural backgrounds dealing with matters of mutual interest. We will also have to focused more on projects that can take advantage of the latest advances in information technology.

Fortunately, the Foundation has been relieved somewhat albeit temporarily, of
potential financial difficulties with a two-year continuance of government support. This was the result of people from every walk of life who recognized the significance of our mission, as well as the many individuals and institutions which stood firmly behind us. The Foundation wishes to assure all of you that during our second decade of operation, we will remain dedicated to the development and implementation of programs which expand Korea-related scholarship and exchanges with developing countries, while
widely utilizing cyber-space applications.