The KF Fellows Forum on Korean Studies, was held for three times during the past year. This Forum of the Korea Foundation is an opportunity for The KF Fellows to get together on a regular basis in order to engage in intellectual discussions on their research, as well as to get to know each other better for The KF supports many different kinds of Fellowships. On December 11, The KF Fellows Annual Dinner and Speech Contest was held at Marine Cook, a Seoul restaurant.

The Korea Foundation Fellowships are for field research related to Korea; Korean language and culture education at Korean universities; and diplomats. There are thirty-nine KF Fellows in Korea now, including four research Fellows, twenty-one Korean language Fellows and fourteen diplomat Fellows; excluding those Fellows who have returned home after finishing their research or education in Korea. Of the thirty-nine KF Fellows, thirty-six Fellows participated in The KF Fellows Annual Dinner and Speech Contest, which was held on December 11. The KF Fellows came from thirty different countries, the diversity of which is gratifying to us at The KF, especially the staff members of The KF's Korean Studies (KS) Department, which is responsible for the Fellows. Those of us who work at the KS Department had the privilege of attending The KF Fellows Annual Dinner and Speech Contest and each of us was happy to sit with the Fellow for whom we were responsible for.

Following the welcoming address of Mr. Moon Sung-ki, director of the Korean Studies Department, there were intro-ductions for those special guests who are members of the partner institutions for The KF Korean language and diplomat Fellowship programs.

The KF;s guests from Sogang University included Ms. Kim Sung-hee, director of academic affairs at the Korean Language Education Center; Mr. Baek Seung-joo, program coordinator of the Korean Language Fellowship; Ms. Choi Sun-young, instructor for an advanced Korean class, in which the largest number of Korean language fellows enrolled last autumn semester; and Ms. Lee Ji-hye, who was in charge of administrative affairs for The KF Fellows. The KF's guests from the Language Education Institute of Seoul National University were Professor Ham Changdeok, who is in charge of the Korean language and culture education for The KF diplomat Fellows, and instructor Kim Sooyoung. Director Kim Sung-hee and Professor Ham Changdeok delivered addresses at the Dinner. All of us at The KF would like to once again express our deep gratitude to these six excellent teachers.

One highlight of The KF Fellows Annual Dinner was, of course, the Speech Contest. Four Korean language and diplomat fellows gave their presentations on specific subjects; The KF Korean language Fellows' speeches were on Korea-related subjects while the speeches of The KF diplomat Fellows were on the topic, "My Hometown," along with multimedia and in fluent Korean (!), which they have all learned through the Korean language programs.

The first speaker was Ms. Ivana Gubic, a Korean language fellow; her speech was entitled "My Own Way of Enjoying Korea." Ms. Gubic spoke in an interesting way about her rich experiences in Korea, with charming scenes about the coexistence of tradition and modernity that she discovered while perambulating around Korea. She also highlighted some fascinating cultural similarities and differences with her homeland, Croatia, and Korea, including friendship education, and cafes.

Our second speaker was Ms. Sabita Nakarmi, a diplomat Fellow from Nepal. Ms. Nakarmi gave us all an admirable overview of the ancient and modem culture of Nepal where the historical Shakyamuni Buddha was bom. One highlight of Ms. Nakarmi's speech was when we all had a wonderful and challenging time trying to learn Devanagari, the Nepali alphabet, as she taught it to us.

Thirdly, Mr. Stefano Boggia is a Korean language fellow from Italy and his speech topic was "A Korean I Met." Mr. Boggia spoke about his meeting a Korean female student, of whom he happened to sit next to on a bus when he traveled to Daegu. Mr. Boggia's presentation was not unlike a movie scene from one of those great Italian films. His speech also engendered some interesting cross-cultural queries from the audience.

Lastly, Mr. Ali Ah-Naqshabandi is a diplomat Fellow from Iraq; he explained in detail his homeland, especially its ancient civilization, religion, industry, and weather. We were all quite impressed with his Korean language ability, as we were with the other participants. As we listened to his speech, I felt a desire to visit Iraq, a ''cradle of civilization" with a 7,000-year history,

After all presentations were finished, The KF Executive Vice-president, Cha Du-hyeon, proposed a toast. At my dinner table, I had an interesting conversation with Nahid Taheri, a Korean language Fellow from Iran. Ms. Taheri said that she developed her interest in Korean culture while watching a Korean drama, ''Daejanggeum," which recorded the all-time high TV ratings of eighty percent in Iran. She then studied Korean very diligently at College. While attending the Korean language fellowship program, she was inspired to dream of going on to graduate school and study the Korean media. It is professionally gratifying and personally satisfying to hear such heartwarming stories.

The Four Fellows in the Speech Contest were then presented with their justly deserved awards. The Korea Foundation's Fellowship endeavors were radiantly evident in The KF Fellows who we are privileged to help them take a significant step to fulfilling their dreams.
The group photo is ation of the efforts of the Fellows and The KF, but the real proof is written in our hearts.

Lee Youju
Program officer, for The KF fellowships for Korean language training and diplomats
Korean Studies Department
The Korea Foundation