The NEAR Secretariat and its expert on China, Bang Hye Rin, attended the 2026 KF international exchange workshop for working-level officials hosted by KF ASEAN Culture House.
A total of 48 international exchange officials from regional governments such as usan Metropolitan City, Gyeonggi Province, Jeollanam-do, and Gyeongju and 32 institutions including the Gyeongsan Culture & Tourism Foundation and the Asia Culture Center, universities, and public institutions participated in the various programs of the workshop with a theme of ‘understanding 2026 global landscape and public diplomacy directions for local governments and regional institutions’.
On Day 1, Lee Seung-guen, Professor of Keimyung University and Ha Sang-seob, Assistant Professor of Korea National Diplomatic Academy gave lectures. In the following day, Kim Tae-hwan, Professor Emeritus of KNDA delivered a special lecture and introduced major businesses being conducted by KF, and Choi Jong-hyun, Former Chief of Protocol, Ministry of Foreign Affairs provided a special lecture on protocol.
In the roundtable session moderated by Research Professor Kim Hwa-jung of Ewha Womans University, representatives from the Daejeon Foreign Residents Integration Support Center, the Busan Global City Foundation, and the Pyeongtaek International Exchange Foundation participated to share various cases and expressed mutual recognition of the need for closer cooperation. They also agreed to promote the development of joint projects and strengthen cooperative networks in the future.
Through its participation in this workshop, the NEAR Secretariat strengthened exchanges with domestic organizations related to international cooperation and laid the groundwork for expanding collaboration in the fields of international exchange and public diplomacy.