KOREA FOUNDATION

The Korea-Russia Forum 2017 was held in Jeju on October 26, co-hosted by the KF, the Asia-Pacific Research Center of Hanyang University, and the Russo-Korean Society.
   Under the theme of “The Inauguration of the New Government in South Korea and Directions for Strategic Cooperation between Russia and Korea,” participants from the two countries engaged in in-depth discussions on “Russia-Korea Diplomatic Cooperation to Cope with the Recent Changes in International/Northeast Asian Affairs,” “Strategic Economic Cooperation between Korea and Russia in the Moon Jae-in Government,” and “Eurasian Economic Integration and President Moon Jae-in’s New Northern Policy.”
   The Korean side was represented by 20 distinguished guests, including KF President Lee Sihyung; Woo Yoon-Keun, Secretary General of the National Assembly; Eom Gu-ho, Dean of Hanyang University Graduate School of International Studies; Baik Joohyeon, former Ambassador to Kazakhstan; Ko Jae-nam, Professor of the Korea National Diplomatic Academy; Chae Wook, Honorary Distinguished Professor of Kyung Hee University’s Graduate School of Pan-Pacific International Studies; and Ahn Byung Min, Chief Research Director of Korea Transport Institute.
   On the Russian side, 10 dignitaries attended the forum, including Alexander Panov, former Russian Ambassador to Korea; Maxim Volkov, Minister-Counsellor and Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of the Russian Federation; and Valery Garbuzov, Director of the Institute of US and Canada Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences; and Alexander Zhebin, Director of the Center for Korean Studies (CKS) of the Institute of Far Eastern Studies (IFES) of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow.
   The Korea-Russia Forum was launched based on an agreement between the two countries’ foreign ministers in 1997 to build a comprehensive high-level dialogue channel. Since its first meeting in Moscow in 1999, the forum has been held alternately in the two countries. Marking the 16th anniversary of its founding this year, the Korea-Russia Forum has established itself as an all-encompassing dialogue platform pursuing the cooperative settlement of common issues and promoting bilateral relations.