North Korean Expert's Participation in Jeju Forum Falls Through
Quick Look
- An attempt to include a North Korean education expert from UNESCO, Dr.
- Chang Gwang-chol, in the Jeju Forum for Peace & Prosperity has failed.
- The Jeju Peace Institute had hoped to have him participate via teleconference, which would have been the first North Korean presence since 2001.
AI-generated summary
Why It Matters
The Jeju Forum for Peace & Prosperity, organized by the Jeju Peace Institute, aims to foster international cooperation for peace on the Korean Peninsula and regional stability. This year's theme is 'Reinventing Cooperation in a Fragmented World.'
SEOUL, June 23 (Yonhap) -- An attempt to bring a North Korean education expert at UNESCO into a major security forum has fallen through, an official familiar with the matter said Tuesday.
The Jeju Peace Institute, which organizes the Jeju Forum for Peace & Prosperity, had hoped to have the North Korean expert, Dr. Chang Gwang-chol, join the upcoming forum on South Korea's resort island of Jeju via teleconference.
Chang serves as chief of education policy at UNESCO, where he has worked at regional offices in Bangkok and Dakar, and held several policy posts at the Paris headquarters. Before joining the U.N. agency, he worked at North Korea's education ministry.
His potential appearance had drawn attention as he would have been the first North Korean national to participate in the forum since its launch in 2001.
It remains unclear whether the plan fell apart because of Pyongyang's deepening hostility toward Seoul, which the North has formally designated as its most hostile nation.
This year's three-day gathering, which runs starting Wednesday, takes place under the theme "Reinventing Cooperation in a Fragmented World," with a focus on peace on the Korean Peninsula and broader regional stability through international cooperation.
Open Questions
- Why did the plan fall through?
- Was Pyongyang's hostility the sole reason?
