By Kim Young-jin
Staff reporter

South Korea should include the topic of education when it draws up the agenda for its hosting of the G-20 summit in November, as the field is inextricably linked with international financial stability, the chief of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) said Sunday.

“Dialogue on global governance cannot be successful if it looks simply at economic and financial issues separately from a global agenda of development,” Irina Bokova, director general of UNESCO, said in an interview with The Korea Times in Seoul. “And so I firmly believe the goal of quality education for all countries should be part of the broad agenda of the G-20.”

Bokova, in Korea on a four-day trip that ends today, said she would raise the issue during meetings with SaKong Il, head the G-20 planning committee, and other high-ranking Seoul officials.

“Of course, the G-20 summits are focused on financial and economic issues,” she said. “But the response to the global financial crisis is all about innovation, modern approaches and competitiveness, and these things can only be achieved through education.”

Bokova is scheduled to attend the opening of the second World Conference on Arts Education at the COEX convention center in southern Seoul, before heading back to Paris later today.

She pointed out that U.S President Barack Obama roughly doubled his country’s education budget as part of its stimulus package after the global financial meltdown, a sign that all countries, both developing and developed, need quality education. “It goes across all borders. Education should really be a political issue for countries as a response to the crisis,” she said.

Bokova, who on Monday attended a ceremony marking the 60th anniversary of Korea’s joining of UNESCO, characterized Seoul’s hosting of the summit as an “historic” event symbolizing the country’s meteoric rise from a recipient of aid to a powerful economy.

“UNESCO did ― and I am very happy to say this ― play a role in Korea’s national development and transformation,” the veteran diplomat said.

The country officially became a member of the organization in June 1950 less than two weeks before the outbreak of the 1950-53 Korean War.

In the aftermath of the devastating conflict, UNESCO helped build a textbook factory in Korea, seen to this day as a key step in reconstructing the country’s education system and starting the process of post-war rehabilitation. Since then, cooperation between Korea and UNESCO has been exceptional, Bokova said, adding that the Korean national UNESCO commission the “strongest, most efficient” among those of all member countries.

Regarding the efforts of the government and civic groups here to retrieve royal texts pillaged by France during the 19th century, the UNESCO chief said the organization doesn’t have a legally binding instrument to deal with such matters.

“If the two parties ask us to mediate, of course we can,” she said, citing UNESCO’s role in a 2005 agreement struck between Italy and Ethiopia to repatriate the Aksum obelisk to the African nation.

“But that was the political will of those two countries. It is necessary, foremost, that there is a process of bilateral negotiation.”

As far as future UNESCO projects are concerned, the former Bulgarian foreign minister said Korea can be of particular assistance in the area of technical and vocational training, an important growth opportunity for developing countries.

“In times of financial crisis this is an important way for developing countries to create economic activity and open up new possibilities for young people,” she said. “Based on Korea’s experience in this field, it can help us set such policies in, for example, Africa.”

Bokova marveled at how the “intimate link” between Korea and UNESCO has evolved over the years. “It’s an extraordinary example of solidarity and humanism that, after such difficult times, Korea is now, through UNESCO, helping others achieve what it has achieved.”

Such a role, Bokova says, reflects the will of the Korean people to engage more and more with the international community.

“People here understand the merit of international exchange, multilateralism, and have a drive to play a role in the world,” she said. “There is an optimism here, a common ‘we can do it’ approach that I think is a great example for other countries.”