Activities
Meetings in March

On March 3^rd, Mr. Dong-Hun Lee, Institute for Peace Affairs (IPA), a long-term partner of HSF Korea, visited the Korea Office to discuss with Dr. Bernhard Seliger, representative of HSF Korea, about Unification Education using Augmented Reality in the environment field. IPA has prepared this AR education and successfully published the 1st education material in 2022. This year, IPA will focus on environmental cooperation between the two Koreas on the topics of biodiversity, wetlands, and birds. Dr. Seliger will contribute his experience in AR education.

On March 10^th, Dr. Bernhard Seliger met with Hahm Myong-June, County Chief of Goseong, a divided county between DPRK and South Korea in the divided Gangwon province. Since the beginning of their partnership in 2005, HSF carried out numerous projects on sustainable development in Goseong, like supporting an eco-path in Songjeong-Ri, doing seabird surveys on a regular basis, and supporting a model afforestation after the large forest fires of 2019 and 2020. HSF also helped to foster a partnership between Goseong county and Bayreuth county in Upper Franconia in Bavaria, Germany. This year’s schedule includes participating in the Gangwon international forest exhibition and carrying out projects on biodiversity in rice fields. 

On March 25^th, a meeting took place between Dr. Bernhard Seliger and Prof. James Hammond, Director of the Mount Paektu Research Center in Birkbeck University of London. There is ongoing research on the volcano of Mount Paektu, including international scientists and scientists on the Korean Peninsula. Paektusan is also an important wetland (Lake Chon) and biodiversity hot spot. During their meeting, possibilities for future cooperation were discussed.

On March 28^th, experts in the field of environmental engineering visited HSF Korea to discuss the project on forests as resources in regional community development on the Korean Peninsula and possible cooperation in this regard.

On March 30^th, Dr. Bernhard Seliger followed the invitation of Slovenian Ambassador Jernej Müller to the Slovenian embassy in South Korea, which opened last year. Since Slovenia is a country with large forests and mountains (and thus many beekeepers), the Slovenian state developed a tradition of supporting beekeeping with small projects whenever a new Slovenian embassy is opened. Therefore, they talked at their meeting about possibilities of cooperation in a small beekeeping and forest project in Goseong County, Gangwon-do. Goseong County, a long-standing partner of HSF, experienced devastating forest fires in 2018 and 2019 and is now slowly reforesting the area.

Finally, on March 31^st, Prof. Dr. Taehun Lim, Research Professor at Korea University, paid a visit to the Korea Office to talk with Dr. Bernhard Seliger about politics in Germany and Korea, geopolitics, and DPRK.