'Courage, hope and endless support'
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The judges for the 3rd Korea Multicultural Youth Awards are, from left, Cha Yun-kyung, president of the Korean Association for Multicultural Education and professor at Hanyang University; Lee Yoo-ri, president of the Vietnam Women’s Union; Kim Joon-sik, chairman of Asian Friends; Choi Jin-young, director of Seoul YMCA’s Youth Activity Department; Joo Gun-ihl, a representative from Seoul YMCA; Lee Seung-hun, executive secretary to Rep. Jasmine Lee; and Kim Hae-sung, president of Global Sarang. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
Judge's comment
By Kim Joon-sik
It was my great honor to serve as a judge for the Korea Multicultural Youth Awards for the second consecutive year, because I have found that most young students with multicultural backgrounds are growing up healthy and superbly despite our society’s general concerns over perceived differences.
This year’s contenders were proud sons and daughters of immigrants from countries including Ghana, Sudan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Russia, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Japan and China.
They are all promising students who speak Korean fluently but also devote themselves to the study of other foreign languages. I have no doubt that they are all going to be valuable assets to Korea’s bright future.
They are students who have proven their academic ability, shown leadership in the classroom and dedicated themselves to our society with volunteer services. They will all be great leaders in the future.
Some of them also have proven their qualities in the fields of sports and arts as well. Their talents are sure to glorify Korea.
But, still, there are some 20,000 unregistered immigrant children in Korea, left out in the blind spot of society when it comes to such things as social security, education and healthcare. We, as a member state of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, should not spare our efforts for them.
In the “2014 International Immigration Report” announced on Dec. 1, OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria said, “Immigrants are not problems, but assets,” and pointed to Germany as an example. Germany has in recent years had among the highest number of immigrants (in 2012, it accepted 359,000 immigrants, the second largest number after the United States) in the world. Now, Germany has a solid economy and has recorded the lowest unemployment rate among the EU member states.
Likewise, multicultural young people will be great assets to the future of Korea. We should give them courage, hope and endless support.
Thus, The Korea Times’ Korea Multicultural Youth Awards is a great opportunity for promoting diversity and supporting talented children from multicultural families.
Last, but not the least, I would like to give my humble congratulations to the award winners.
Thank you
Kim Joon-sik, chairman of Asian Friends, heads the jury for the 3rd Korea Multicultural Youth Awards.