During school life, each student has different interests. Each one is searching for what he will do or what he is interested in. Some are interested in global work and presenting Korea abroad. There are many organizations that try to present Korea abroad. The Gazette will introduce one organization, the Korea Foundation (KF).

The Korea Foundation
The Korea Foundation was founded in 1987 to increase understanding of Korea abroad and international friendship by having exchanges between Korea and foreign countries. It holds and supports events for exchanging culture and invites dignitaries to conferences. Moreover, it supports studies of Korea abroad and activities helping foreigners have a better understanding of Korea. It has seven offices abroad in Washington, L.A., Beijing, Berlin, Moscow, Hanoi, and Tokyo.

The Korea Foundation’s Work
●KF Global E-school
KF Global E-school is a system in which students can take a lecture on the Internet. Korean universities and universities from abroad make a partnership to provide Korean lectures to foreign universities. It started in 2011 because of the increase in Korean studies abroad since K-pop and Korean movies have been widely known. The lectures are about Korean politics, Korean culture and traditions, and Korean industry and business. They can be seen by anyone who is a student of Korean or Korean studies courses.

●Global Public Diplomacy Network (GPDNet)
In October 2014, Korea, Poland, Hungary, Portugal, the Philippines, Nigeria, Singapore, Sweden, and Turkey concluded a memorandum of understanding and created the Global Public Diplomacy Network. GPDNet makes cooperative relationships with institutes for global diplomacy like the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, and the Balassi Institute, the Swedish Institute to discuss solutions to diplomatic issues and share ideas about global diplomacy. Every year, GDPNet holds a conference on Jeju Island to exchange ideas about diplomacy.

●Korean-Foreigner Together Program
The Korean-Foreigner Together Program is a program to introduce Korea to foreigners who live in Korea. It has various programs that Koreans and foreigners can enjoy together. For foreigners, there are programs in which they can learn about Korean politics, economy, history, society, and culture. For Koreans, there are opportunities to experience various countries through lectures about culture and programs like Global Challenger.

●KF Global Challenger
KF Global Challenger is a program that gives students practical experience abroad. The program consists of a think-tank internship, a library internship, a Korean education internship, and a museum internship.

The think-tank internship is a program that sends students to well-known institutions like the German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA), the RAND Corporation, and the Chicago Council on Global Affairs (CCGA). The interns participate in seminars about the national security of Korea and America and learn about the relationship between countries in general and between the Republic of Korea and North Korea.

The library internship is a program that sends studentsto libraries abroad to experience the differences between Korean and foreign library systems. The libraries are the Korean Heritage Library at the University of Southern California, Harvard-Yenching Library at Harvard University, and the East Asia Library at the University of Washington.

The Korean education internship is a program that sends students abroad to give them an opportunity to teach foreigners Korean. Interns teach Korean to foreign students, and they can see how Korean is taught abroad. If a person is excellent during the internship, that person can become a guest lecturer where he interned.

Finally, the museum internship sends students to museums abroad. They can experience programs like how relics are preserved or how the relics are cataloged.

In addition to these programs, KF provides global cooperative networking, cultural exchange, support of media to introduce Korea abroad, and programs to help Koreans and foreigners enjoy cultural exchanges. It also helps students from Korea and other countries to understand each other and make better relationships through cultural exchange. Moreover, it donates to organizations or countries to help the victims of natural disasters like earthquakes.

Keimyung and the Korea Foundation
Keimyung University and the Korea Foundation are cooperative organizations. They cooperated in the Korea-Italy Forum, held from May 15 to 16, which was for advancing the relationship between Korea and Italy. They discussed what they have to do for an aging society and green development. On September 4, the Foundation held a briefing session about KF Global Challenger on Seongseo campus. It provided information about the Global Challenger program to students.

Programs for University Students
●Korea Foundation Global Futurist (KFGF Supporters)
KFGF Supporters is the Korea Foundation’s official supporters program for introducing Korea. It was founded in 2012. It is a social media promotion helping university students introduce Korea to the world. The main activities of the supporters are promoting international exchange through SNS, promoting KF through SNS, and attending a monthly social gathering to talk about what they’ve done and new issues in the world. Supporters receive a certificate and are given priority in KF programs.

▶Interview with Supporter An Chi-yeong

An Chi-yeong is a sophomore majoring in political science and is participating in KFGF Supporters. He has done several supporters programs like Happy Messenger and Green Development and answered questions about his experiences.

●What is helpful about participating in KFGF Supporters?
It is good for me to experience what I am interested in and make a relationship with people who work at the Korea Foundation and get information from them. I can participate in KF and meet people who have similar interests to me and study about KF and other organizations. Moreover, I can know my strengths and weaknesses.

●What is different about the Supporters?
Holding a meeting every month is different from other supporters activities like Happy Messenger and Green Development. It is hard to maintain a bond with off-line supporters, but because of the meeting, we can keep in touch.

●What is your main work at the Supporters?
My main work is promoting the Korea Foundation. Moreover, I promote the programs and festivals that the Korea Foundation sponsors. I upload the information on my Facebook or Naver blog. I also actually participate in the festivals or events and collect information to upload on my blog or the news section on the website.

●What kinds of subjects are discussed at meetings?
When we have our monthly meeting, we talk about how to promote the programs or festivals. We give feedback to each other on which way is more efficient. Moreover, we can make UCCs to let people know about what we are doing or about the Korea Foundation.

The Korea Foundation is active in introducing Korea abroad. It tries to give Koreans and foreigners cultural experiences. Moreover, it tries to give opportunities to young students to have practical experience through internships. There are lots of ways that we can experience culture and this organization gives us an opportunity to experience the wider world.