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Conference
2019 Inter-Korean Agriculture Cooperation Symposium

On October the 8th the Hanns Seidel Foundation Korea hosted the Symposium “The North-South Agricultural Cooperation 2019” together with the Korean Rural Community Corporation.

The opening speech was held by Kim Insik, the president of the Korean Rural Community Cooperation, Kim Hyunkwon, member of the National Assembly and Dr. Bernhard Seliger, representative of the HSF Korea.

Prior to the regular presentations a special presentation by John O’Dea was held. O’Dea is known as an expert on North Korean matters as he was active as a food nutrition expert in the DPRK for multiple years. During his presentation he further explained his exact work in the DPRK as well as the chances and challenges when working with North Korea. Thanks to Mr O’Deas unique experience he could give the participants of the symposium an interesting and new point of view to look from.

The special presentation was followed by four presentations by different experts on the matter. In that sense Professor Eulchul Lim of the Kyungnam University started with his presentation about the current position and the prospective development of the cooperative economic development zone. Especially regarding the future developments between the two Koreas he emphacized the relationship between the US and the DPRK. All in all, his standpoint was rather optimistic. The next presentation revolved around the same topic but presented it form a new perspective, as Dr. Seliger of the HSF Korea first briefly summarized the current state of the North Korea economy and its background. He further explained the current state and the challenges of the Special Economic Zones by the example of Rason and Hungnam. The presentation of Dr. Soonjik Hong of the Kookmin University on the other hand focused on the trend of North Korean investments overseas, the characteristics of the economic development under Kim Jongun, and the effect of the current development on the Economic Development Zones. As the final presenter  Dr. Gwangho Kim of the Korean Rual Community Corporation introduced a model for agricultural development zones in North Korea.

After a break and a discussion panel the event came to an end. The panelists were Minkwan Kim, the deputy director of the KDB Bank, Seungryeol Na, the gerneral secretary of the Tongil Mirae Forums, Jonmin Baek, director of the Unified Agriculture and Fishery Project Group, Dr. Jaeshim Yoo of Seoul National University und unification researcher Eunhee Jeong. The discussion was lead by Sangman Lee of Chungang University.

 

The symposium took place from 1PM to 5:30PM at Kensington Hotel. Iit was sponsored by the Ministry of Unification, the Ministry of Agriculture and Nutrition, the North-South Fishery Agricultural Cooperation, the Research Institute for Development Cooperation on the Korean Peninsula, the Research Institute for North Korean Agriculture at Seoul National University and the National News Outlet Worldvision.

The Hanns Seidel Foundation Korea was very glad to see so many experts vist the symposium. We are always enjoying exchange thought and knowledge with interested experts and citizens. Also, this time we could bring new thoughts to the table thanks to the special presentation of Mr. O’Dea.