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NEAR Secretariat Attends Public Diplomacy Symposium for Local Governments on November 202020-11-23

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Secretary General Kim Ok-chae and the NEAR Secretariat staff attended the 2020 Public Diplomacy Symposium for Local Governments, which was co-organized by Gyeongsangbuk-do Province and Keimyung University on Novermber 20. The symposium aimed to help local governments expand their awareness of public diplomacy. Notably, Mr. Kim participated as a panelist and discussant.


The presenters of this symposium including Lee Youngho, the Secretary-General of the Jeollabuk-do Center for International Affairs and the former South Korean Ambassador to Yemen, highly valued the existence of NEAR, which is responsible for exchange between Northeast Asian regional governments, mentioning the roles of NEAR as a platform for public diplomacy for regional governments. He also presented ways to make the most of NEAR.


Secretary General Kim emphasized that as the exchange that takes place among regional governments is “grassroots exchange,” which can transcend political and diplomatic conflicts faced by central governments, the heads of each self-governing government should be aware of the importance of grassroots diplomacy. Furthermore, he stated that the more difficult the relations between countries become, the more energy they should channel into exchange between regional governments as part of public diplomacy.