Overseas Koreans Foundation

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The Overseas Koreans Foundation (OKF) ( Korean 재외 동포 재단 ) is a non-profit organization of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) in South Korea .

Goals and Activities

Since its inception, the Overseas Koreans Foundation has supported Koreans living abroad through educational programs, sponsoring cultural events, and supporting networks of influential Koreans abroad. The organization also supports programs for young people of Korean origin who come together in so-called camps from all over the world in South Korea, where they can get to know each other, learn something about the country and make new contacts. A so-called Leadership Forum is also part of the Foundation's program , as well as a motherland tour for adult Koreans abroad since 1998. The aim of the organization is to enable around 7.5 million Koreans abroad to bond with their original home country.

history

The Overseas Koreans Foundation was founded in 1997 as a non-profit organization by the then Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MOFAT). The basis for this establishment was laid in the early 1990s, when under the administration of President Kim Young-sam ( 김영삼 ) new strategies and instructions were developed to support Koreans abroad in the context of Segyehwa ( 세계화 ) (globalization). Then, in December 1995, the government announced a plan to strengthen bonds between Koreans at home and Koreans abroad, but which, among other things, sparked controversy over whether or not foreign Koreans should have dual citizenship. In 1996, the Kim government finally decided that foreign Koreans' status policies should be aimed at encouraging Koreans abroad to become citizens of the host states. With the Overseas Koreans Foundation Bill 1997, the foundation was then establishing the foundation laid. In September 1999, the Overseas Koreans Law passed by the government of President Kim Dae Jung ( 김대중 ) followed , which described the rights and interests of Koreans abroad. In October 2002 the Foundation established the Hansang Network , through which Korean experts in business, industry and science can exchange ideas around the world.

First trip home program

After the end of the Korean War, many Koreans lived in abject poverty, and so from 1953 the Korean government gave up around 160,000 children in 15 host countries for adoption. The giving up of children for adoption was also not stopped after South Korea had long become a rich industrial nation. When the Korean government became aware of this flaw in the 2000s, a program was started through which the formerly adoptees could now visit their home country with government support to search for their roots and possibly get to know family members. A Korean foundation and the Overseas Koreans Foundation sponsored the program.

literature

  • Lucie Cheng, Arthur I. Rosett, Margaret YK Woo (Eds.): East Asian Law . Universal Norms and Local Cultures . Routledge , London 2003, ISBN 978-0-367-02692-9 (English).
  • Tsuneo Akaha, Anna Vassilieva, among others: Crossing National Borders . Human Migration Issues in Northeast Asia . United Nations University Press , Tokyo 2005, ISBN 92-808-1117-7 (English, online [PDF; 2,3 MB ; accessed on November 2, 2019]).
  • Eleana J. Kim: Adopted Territory . Transnational Korean Adoptees and the Politics of Belonging . Duke University Press , Durham 2010 (English).

Web links

  • Homepage . Overseas Koreans Foundation,accessed November 2, 2019(Korean).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kim : Adopted Territory: Transnational Korean Adoptees and the Politics of Belonging . 2010, p.  179 .
  2. ↑ Homepage . Overseas Koreans Foundation , accessed November 2, 2019 (Korean).
  3. ↑ a b Akaha, Vassilieva : Crossing National Borders: Human Migration Issues in Northeast Asia . 2005, p.  199 .
  4. ↑ Chuwoo Lee : East Asian Law . Universal Norms and Local Cultures . 2003, p.  108 .
  5. ↑ Akaha, Vassilieva : Crossing National Borders: Human Migration Issues in Northeast Asia . 2005, p.  197 .
  6. ↑ a b Sandra Schulz: Adoption - The Seventh Child . In: Der Spiegel . No. 9 , 2009, p. 52 ( Online [PDF; 698 kB ; accessed on November 2, 2019]).