Dear Future Leaders,
Ladies and gentlemen,
It is a great pleasure for me to welcome all of you back to your own country, your home land. Some of you left this country at a very young age and others may never have seen this land before. However, I believe your pride in this country and your affection for Korea have always been boundless.
I am particularly delighted to have you here with us at the time when we are celebrating the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Korea, whose painful historical experiences forced your parent generation to leave this land behind and, nevertheless, which they have always missed.
Dear future leaders,
From the neighboring countries like Japan and China to places as far apart as the United States, Central Asia, Russia, Brazil and South Africa, there are more than 7 million people worldwide who can claim Korean descent.
This consists of almost 10 per cent of the whole Korean population. I expect Korean population abroad to grow over 10 million in not-too-distant future.
Throughout my long public service as Korean Ambassador to the United States in the early 1990s and later as Minister of Foreign Affairs, and then President of the 56th Session of the United Nations General Assembly during 2001-2002 and, until recently before I was appointed Prime Minister, the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General of the UN on Climate Change, I have met many men and women who immigrated to foreign lands and did their best to make their future lives better than their present ones.
Generations later, their sons and daughters are now playing key roles in societies where their parents started their new lives.
In those foreign shores, often far-flung places with a completely different cultural environment, your parent generation worked hard with deep devotion and great assiduity, qualities on which Korean people have always put high value.
Through those efforts, Korean communities abroad set an exemplary model for immigrants in their countries of residence and presented a variety of opportunities across the interconnected societies for Koreans at home. It is a fascinating story of contribution and adaptation.
I believe the reputation that the first generation of Korean immigrants established through their own endeavors have contributed to creating a more favorable environment in which you were able to display your abilities in mainstream society including political, economic, legal circles and the media.
I am more than convinced that future leaders who would lead Korean communities abroad are one of the most valuable assets of the Korean people.
Dear future leaders,
The Korean government is well aware of the importance of overseas Koreans and puts more weight on finding those who hold potential of future leaders and providing assistance for them to make themselves well-positioned in the network connecting Koreans in different places of the world, whether abroad and at home.
When your parents left Korea, Korea was one of the poorest countries in the world on par with Somalia, Yemen, Ethiopia and other LDCs with per-capita income of less than 100 US dollars.
We had to rely on the assistance of the UN and other major allies in defending Korea from the North Korean aggression during 1950-1953 and the UN also came to help us reconstruct Korean economy immediately after the Korean War. The UN to which Korea had owed so much in the past is now headed by Secretary-General Mr. Ban Ki-moon, one of Korea's proudest sons.
Today Korea is flourishing full-fledged democracy and is a country that protects human rights fully. Korea has also made a great stride in economic development.
Today, Korea is the world's thirteenth largest economy and plays a leading and predominant role in the world in such sectors as semiconductor chips, automobile, steel, shipbuilding, petrochemical products, electronics, mobile phones, and heavy machinery, to name just a few. As you may have already experienced while in Korea, Korea is one of the most wired countries in the world and its information and communications industry is one of the most advanced in the world.
On top of that, Korean pop music and movies are now attracting huge audiences from Asia to the Middle East.
We are immensely proud of what we have achieved at home. However, the Korean government is acutely aware that your contributions abroad are critical to achieving a more ambitious goal － re-establishing Korea as an advanced, top-notch global nation, in this era of globalization.
Taking this opportunity, I assure you that the Korean government will spare no effort to strengthen the network of overseas Koreans in order for you, future leaders of next generation, to play a leading role in the coming era.
Dear future leaders,
I earnestly hope that your visit to Korea this year would present an unparalleled and productive opportunity for you not only to build global bonds with participants of the Future Leaders Conference beyond the region to which you belong but also to have direct experience of the warmth and richness of the Korean tradition, culture, and heritage.
I would like to reiterate that we very much value your participation in this Conference, the largest in size in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the founding of our nation, and your contributions to this important event.
We are eager to listen to your voice and viewpoint －especially what you have thought and felt about Korea and how to further enhance cooperation between Korean and Korean communities abroad as well as among Korean communities in different countries － as candidly as possible.
Dear future leaders,
I hope you have fully enjoyed warm hospitality of the Korean people, your people, and had a fruitful time here in Korea. I look forward to your continued interest in and affection for the country of your parents' and your own origin.
In closing, I thank you once again for being here with us and I sincerely hope you will safely return home with a fond memory of Korea.
Thank you.
이 누리집은 대한민국 공식 전자정부 누리집입니다.
