The South-North Cultural Exchange Association (Chairman Kim Gu-hoe) held a ceremony to award scholarships to North Korean defectors at the Yonsei Alumni Hall in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul on the 9th. The association presented scholarships worth 24 million won and Chuseok gifts to 20 North Korean defectors who were recommended that day.
In his congratulatory speech, Chairman Kim said, “I hope that the young college students who have made the long journey of defecting from North Korea in search of freedom will become a harbinger of unification.”
The South-North Cultural Exchange Association has been awarding scholarships to 20 North Korean defector college students every Chuseok without fail for 25 years, from 2000 to this year. Many of the North Korean defector youth who received scholarships in the past are now doing their part as proud members of South Korean society.
Former National Assembly Speaker Lee Ju-young also attended the scholarship award ceremony and gave a lecture titled “Moral Re-Arm Movement and Unification of South and North Korea.” He emphasized, “A person who possesses humanity, empathy, strong subjectivity, and an open mind has the qualifications to become a first-class unification leader,” and “The fact that young North Korean defectors risked their lives to escape North Korea, which is ruled by a hereditary dictatorship, is a great decision to re-arm themselves morally.”
Lee Chung-hyeok, a graduate student at Presbyterian Theological University who gave a speech on behalf of the scholarship recipients, said, “I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the South-North Cultural Exchange Association and Chairman Kim Gu-hoe for extending a warm hand to me when I was lonely.”
The South-North Cultural Exchange Association is an organization established in 1991 to lay the foundation for peaceful unification. With the goal of resolving the heterogeneity caused by the long-term division of the South and the North and restoring homogeneity through reconciliation and cooperation, it has invited prominent figures from society and held hundreds of lectures on unification-related policies. It is also working to foster unification leaders through various activities such as awarding scholarships to North Korean defectors.
Reporter Joo Sung-ha [email protected]
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2024-09-09 13:49:39