KUFONE Wins Top Prize
at the 2019 KFGF Achievement Awards
A large number of young people with an interest in public diplomacy participated in this year’s Korea Foundation Global Futurists (KFGF) program. Joining in a variety of activities for six to seven months, these young men and women helped the Korean people become better acquainted with public diplomacy and promoted cultural exchange with citizens from around the world. Their devoted efforts were recognized at a disbanding and awards ceremony on November 22, where the KUFONE team won the top prize. Let’s hear what the KUFONE members have to say about their work and achievements over the last year.
Q. Congratulations on winning the top prize. Would you introduce the KUFONE team and your teammates?
KUFONE is an acronym for “Korea United Foundation One.” It signifies our intention to be united as one and to strive to make the Korea Foundation’s activities widely known around the world. In Korean, KUFONE sounds the same as the word “coupon.” We want to provide foreigners with useful assistance in the same way that coupons are used when needed, one after another, from a coupon book. We are four university students: Lee Hyun-gyung majoring in political science and diplomacy; Lee Seok-jun in international relations; Kang Yoon-a: in international trade; and Kim Na-hyung who studies the arts.
Q. You have been active for the last six to seven months as Global Futurists and today marks the end of your activities. How do you feel? Could you share with us the most memorable moment or a time when you felt your work was particularly rewarding?
Lee Hyun-gyung: Time went by so fast. I had wanted to work for the KF for a long time and was able to gain access to a large portion of the KF’s programs directly and indirectly through KFGF activities. I learned how public diplomacy, which I first understood only conceptually, is conducted systematically in the real world.
Lee Seok-jun: I remember each and every moment. As a student majoring in international relations, I personally found something missing in my classroom studies. While working as a KFGF, I feel I uncovered that missing element. It was nice to take part in diverse events and have on-the-spot experience in working-level diplomacy.
Kim Na-hyung: I’ve worked as a supporter for various programs in the past and felt sorry that most of them were held strictly in Seoul or another specific area. It was great that the KFGF programs covered not only Seoul but also many other areas including Busan and Jeju Island.
Kang Yoon-a: We carried out our first team mission at the ASEAN Culture House in Busan and had a lot of difficulties because of the terrible weather. As a KFGF, I think I’ll be able to adapt what I’ve learned about public diplomacy and its practical elements to my studies, especially as I’m majoring in international trade.
Q. Could you share with us something new that you learned or realized through your KFGF activities?
Lee Hyun-gyung: I’ve learned a great deal about how the projects and campaigns of diplomatic institutions are realized and implemented. I was also able to confirm with my own eyes at the KF Korea Workshop that there are many foreigners who are keenly interested in Korea.
Lee Seok-jun: I learned a lot and took time for self-reflection after observing foreigners who were seriously interested in Korea, Korean culture, and Korean Studies, approaching and studying these topics earnestly unlike those who simply take in what is featured in mass media. I’ve made up my mind to study harder so that I can provide more accurate and detailed information to those dedicated foreigners.
Q. How do you think you will remember your days as KFGFs?
Lee Hyun-gyung: I’ll remember the time as an experience that helped me see, hear, and realize the practical aspects of diplomacy and public diplomacy, which I first understood only vaguely and conceptually. I’ll also remember it as a significant stepping stone in setting my own path for the future.
Lee Seok-jun: “On-the-spot,” “practicality,” and “experience” will be the keywords in my memory of KFGF activities. The experience has become a great motivator for me as it taught me diplomacy from a perspective that was different from the academic angle I learned at school.
Kim Na-hyung: I’ll study diplomacy in much greater depth and intensity than I did in the past. I expect that my KFGF experiences and on-the-spot activities I participated in will turn out to be more useful and applicable to me.
Kang Yoon-a: It was a meaningful and useful experience for me. I have great hope that as the number of youths active as KFGFs increase in the coming years, people’s interest in, and understanding of, public diplomacy will be enhanced.
Q. Lastly, would you each give us your definition of public diplomacy?
Lee Hyun-gyung: I would say it’s something easy. We don’t have to regard public diplomacy as difficult, serious, and complicated. It shouldn’t be thought of as difficult because it can be as simple as first taking precautions not to cause harm or be a nuisance to others, in our own country or abroad.
Lee Seok-jun: My definition of public diplomacy is innocence. Foreigners who like Korea and take interest in the country are innocent and our will to help them is also innocent. When citizens of all countries join hands in public diplomacy, with an innocent yearning instead of a focus on self-interest and profit, trust will be built between all nations.
Kang Yoon-a: For me, public diplomacy is like the wind. It blows in and out naturally like the wind whose origin is unknown. When a person is a positive influence and helps others, the wind will blow farther.
Kim Na-hyung: I think public diplomacy is about connection. It connects and expands exchanges between nations and between people. I participate in diverse art and culture programs for international exchanges in school. I think these exchanges have a special power, one that moves and connects the hearts of world citizens, free from political calculations
Interviewed by Kim Daniel
KOREA FOUNDATION
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