UNU Update: Global Seminar in Seoul

	UNU Update
	The newsletter of United Nations University and its network of research and training centres and programmes
		Issue 26: July-August 2003

First Seoul seminar puts
N.E. Asia in spotlight

Discussion session at Korea's first UNU Global Seminar.

Around 100 students and young professionals from Korea, Japan, China and Mongolia attended the inaugural UNU Global Seminar – Seoul Session held July 1-5 at Yonsei University in Seoul and the UNESCO Culture Centre in Ichon, Republic of Korea.

Under the theme Community Building in Northeast Asia: Challenges and Opportunities, participants discussed the benefits and problems associated with regional integration, focusing on peace and security, economics, environment and culture.

The seminar consisted of lectures, plenary sessions and small group discussions. Lecturers included UNU Rector Hans van Ginkel, Tu Weiming of the Harvard-Yenching Institute and other academic and policy experts from Korea, Japan and the UK.

UNU has been reaching out to students and young professionals with its Global Seminar Series for almost 20 years. Starting as annual event in Tokyo in 1985, the series has now expanded to seven locations throughout Japan attracting more than 400 students and young professionals each year.

UNU Rector Hans van Ginkel addresses the
opening plenary of the Seoul global seminar.

The main objective of the seminars is to raise awareness among young people of global issues that are at the core of the work of the United Nations. These include human rights, environment, poverty eradication, human security, conflict prevention, and governance. The seminars also help UNU to strengthen its ties with local academic communities in areas where seminars are held.

The 2003 Seoul Session, organized with the Korean National Commission for UNESCO (KNCU) was the first UNU Global Seminar to be held outside Japan. UNU and KNCU are planning to hold a similar seminar in Seoul in 2004 and are also exploring the possibility of a seminar in another part of Korea. The UNU has also joined forces with the University of Hawaii at Manoa to organize the UNU Global Seminar – Hawaii Session to be held for the first time next March.

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