Korea to Expand Journalists Exchange, Cooperation with Greece, Russia, Bulgaria



In a meeting with Vsevolod Bogdanov, chairman of the Russian Union of Journalists, May 28, 2004 at the Divani Caravel Hotel in Athens, Greece, Lee Sang-ki, president of the JAK, agreed on the exchange programs. They were attending the 25th World Congress of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ).

Under the theme "Journalism on the Move: Building Solidarity to Meet Global Challenge," the week-long Athens IFJ meeting, which kicked off May 25, drew about 250 delegates from 105 countries.

The following day at the same hotel, Lee met with Manolis Mathioudakis, president of the Journalists' Union of the Athens Daily Newspapers, to agree on the regular journalists exchange programs.

"With the agreements, Korean journalists are likely to have more contacts with journalists in Russia and neighboring countries," Lee said, adding that the regular journalists exchanges would greatly help contribute to peace in East Asia. The JAK has maintained regular journalists exchange programs with China, Vietnam and the United States.



Under the agreement, Lee said, a delegation of about 10 Korean journalists would visit Russia and Greece, respectively, as early as next year, on a reciprocal basis.

The JAK, Korea's largest body of working journalists, plans to invite some Russian and Greek journalists to the 2nd East Asia Journalists Forum scheduled for late October in Korea. The JAK launched the annual forum last October in Seoul, the first of its kind involving Northeast and Southeast Asia, drawing about 40 journalists from 14 countries, including observer nations like the United States, Australia and Germany.

On April 28 this year, a similar agreement was made at the JAK office in Seoul between JAK President Lee and Valery Agarkov, deputy editor-in-chief of the Foreign Policy Department of the Russian news agency ITAR-Tass.



As recently as June 10, Lee also made a cooperative journalists exchange agreement at his office in Seoul with Maxim Minchev, director general of the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). BTA is Bulgaria's national news agency established on a decree by Prince Ferdinand I in 1898. Its operation is regulated by a statute adopted by the 36th National Assembly on June 29, 1994. The agency is an autonomous national news organization, whose director general is elected by the Parliament.

Meanwhile the JAK plans to invite several journalists who attended the Athens IFJ Congress as observers or panelists for the 2nd East Asia Journalists Forum. The JAK tentatively set the dates for the annual forum Oct. 27-Nov. 1 in Seoul and Jeju.

"As part of our efforts to expand international exchange programs, we will bring as many IFJ delegates as possible to the forthcoming forum, thereby making it a genuine regional gathering for journalists both in East Asia and the rest of the world," Lee said.

In recognition of the importance of the launch of the forum, the IFJ, headed by Australian Christopher Warren, nominated Kang Seok-jae, chairman of the International Affairs Committee of the JAK, as the IFJ's Asia coordinator at the end of the Athens IFJ Congress. In IFJ Asia's monthly e-bulletin dated June 4, it said Kang was nominated to be a contact point for improved regional networking.