On October 18, with support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea, the Korea Foundation and the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat (TCS) co-hosted the 2018 Trilateral Forum on Public Diplomacy in Seoul.

People from various walks of life including officials from local governments, journalists, scholars and university students of Korea, Japan and China gathered at the forum under the theme of “Trilateral Cooperation for Enhancing Friendship, Understanding and Trust,” and discussed how to increase exchange among the three countries’ local governments, journalists and youths.

Participants from Korea included Korea Foundation President Lee Sihyung, TCS Secretary-General Lee Jong-heon, Ambassador for Public Diplomacy Bahk Sahng-hoon, and former Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan. From Japan, Lawmaker Matsukawa Rui of the House of Councilors of the National Diet of Japan and NHK Executive Commentator Ideishi Tadashi were in attendance. China meanwhile was represented by former State Councilor Dai Bingguo and former Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Ning Fukui.

The first session of the forum was chaired by Ambassador Ning and was participated in by officials from Seoul, South Korea; Kyushu and Kanazawa, Japan; and Yangzhou City and Jilin Province, China. They discussed exchange and cooperation among the three countries’ local governments in the fields of economics, culture and sports.

The second session was attended by journalists from Korea’s Gangwondomin Ilbo (Gangwon Provincial News) and the JoongAng Ilbo, Japan’s NHK and the Mainichi Shimbun, and China’s Xinhua News Agency and China Radio International. Participants shared their opinions on the three countries’ press and exchange in the new media sector. In particular, they discussed how to cooperate in public relations activities on the occasion of the successive hosting of Olympic Games in the three countries – the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, and 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

The third session was attended by young participants from previous trilateral youth exchange programs such as the Campus Asia Program for the three countries’ university students, a trilateral mock summit meeting hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea, and the Youth Ambassador Program organized by the TCS. The future leaders were able to actively express their ideas on how to increase cooperation among Korea, Japan and China.