KOREA FOUNDATION

Amid the new hope and resolutions accompanying the approaching new year, 2019, the Year of the Pig, the ASEAN Culture House (ACH) wishes you and your loved ones a very happy and blessed new year!

Following its foundation on September 1, 2017, the ASEAN Culture House spent its inaugural full year of 2018 tirelessly working to provide a wide array culture programming under its mission to serve as a bilateral platform of exchange between Korea and ASEAN. The ASEAN Culture House offered a slew of ASEAN society- and culture-based exhibitions, as well as varied colorful events, featuring around 40 different programs that provided the opportunity to more readily access ASEAN’s uniquely held traits, ranging from film screenings and performances, ASEAN traditional cuisine and culture workshops, to special lectures that advocated cultural understanding and instruction on practical language use. The ASEAN Culture House has continually devoted itself to promoting understanding of ASEAN culture among Koreans from all walks of life. As a result, the ACH was able to witness upwards of 25,000 visitors join in the numerous programs offered over the course of the year.

2019 celebrates the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Korea and ASEAN, hinting at a particularly meaningful year for the ASEAN Culture House amid plans to hold the Korea-ASEAN Special Summit in commemoration of this landmark event. With the aim of promoting mutual understanding between people of different nations, a core value of President Moon’s New Southern Policy, plans are in the works to further diversify the range of cultural, academic, and human resource exchange programs, while also advocating a broader scale of participation among Koreans. Special exhibitions are also planned under the theme of common cultural facets among the ASEAN nations, in addition to the standardization of contests and events that are open to the public. Practical language programs, featuring ASEAN based languages, will also be expanded from the current two languages to as many as seven, with additional education curricula for ASEAN cultural understanding and leadership programs geared toward ASEAN-native, multi-cultural families and children. Lectures promoting understanding of ASEAN nations, which had begun exclusively in Busan, are to spread nationwide to areas including Seoul and Jeju Island, as a part of the ACH’s efforts to establish a more intimate relationship with the public. We ask that everyone continue to provide their active interest and unwavering support over the coming year, amid the ACH taking the forefront in the exchange and partnership between Korea and ASEAN. As 2019, the Year of the Pig, promises to be a year full of great fortune and overflowing riches, we would like to wish everyone a blessed new year full of health and happiness.

Director-General of the ASEAN Culture House, Seung-hoon Ham