Korea, Uzbekistan pledge deeper cultural ties
Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister Chae Hwi-young, right, meets Uzbekistan Culture Minister Ozodbek Nazarbekov at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Seoul, Tuesday. Courtesy of Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism
Korea and Uzbekistan agreed Tuesday to deepen cooperation across culture and the arts, with library development, language education and a possible year of cultural exchange among initiatives under discussion.
Chae Hwi-young, Korea’s culture minister, met with Uzbekistan Culture Minister Ozodbek Nazarbekov at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Seoul on Tuesday morning on the sidelines of the Korea-Central Asia Summit.
Nazarbekov said Uzbekistan, where the number of people reading has been growing, was seeking Korea’s interest and cooperation in international development projects involving libraries.
He also proposed creating a joint working committee to expand cooperation across cultural fields between the two countries.
Chae said Uzbekistan, home to a large ethnic Korean community, was an important partner for Korea and expressed hope that the summit would help broaden cultural exchanges.
Chae said possible areas of cooperation included designating a mutual year of cultural exchange, developing a Friendship Library project and expanding King Sejong Institute locations to promote Korean-language education.
The meeting came one day after Korea and Uzbekistan signed a memorandum of understanding on tourism cooperation on Sept. 14 during the summit.
The ministry said Tuesday that the agreement is intended to strengthen practical cooperation between the two countries following their 2012 tourism cooperation agreement.
The ministry said discussions on cultural cooperation would include possible projects in libraries, cultural exchange and Korean-language education.
This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.